Once upon a time in a town far far away….Chiswick, 15 GoodGym’ers met to do good on another Wednesday evening. We welcomed those who had travelled from far and wide, from the Boroughs of Richmond, Lambeth, Ealing and Hammersmith, and absent friends tonight, we miss you Emily, Luis, Dave, Adam, Jen, Kate, Amanda, Chester and Mabel, and not forgetting our Senior Supervisor, Ana!

The GoodGym’ers went on a long and arduous quest (well basically across the road) to the land of Turnham Green and were told by their Fairy Godmother, Jan that certain prickly creatures in the green needed to “thiss off”.

Armed with many pairs of gloves and forks, the army of more than 7 dwarves got hard to work, thistling while they worked, wrenching up everything with spikes which posed a danger to children. They had to be careful though because lurking within the thistles and weeds were the masters of disguise, the identical looking knapweeds, these needed to be left for the butterflies of Chiswick.

Not everyone was happy, some were grumpy, some were sleepy, some were sneezy (bloomin' hayfever!), and some were downright bashful. But one by one the Dwarfs worked together to clear the meadow of the prickly pests before they downed tools and hot footed it across the Green to be chased by the wicked hedge cutter/huntsman (AKA Andy and David) boo hiss!! Calls of “he’s behind you” echoed around as a friendly game of squat in the mud took a turn!!

Was it Stockholm Syndrome, or were the Dwarfs beginning to fall for Wicked Stepmother Beth, who had taken lovely Ana’s place? For they followed Beth on a march around the village, from the green to the stream and back to the high road, high road, high road. Having dodged dragons (aka cars) and conquered mountains (aka the underpass under the A4), the fateful adventurers forged westwards back towards their long-deserted starting point of the town hall.

As some began their long journey back to their Borough to ensure they were home before midnight, many sought food and drinks as a reward for all their hard work in their village local, The Old Pack Horse.

And they all lived happily ever after....in the pub. The end.

"That’s the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up". Walt Disney.

Thank you to Matt, Eloise, Alex, Michelle, Remy, Andy and Georgia for helping to write "Once upon a time at GoodGym Hounslow". I hope you enjoyed the slightly different read! Who know's what will be next?! Maybe the stories of "Finding Luis" or "Wreck-It Adam"....

News Line Is It Anyway? 📰

1. Tomorrow is the August GoodGym Social - all the details are here.
2. This Saturday - help support London Frontrunners to put on their PrideRun 10km 2019! Volunteers are needed for the event set-up & baggage tent. Please sign up here.
3. Sidekicks are needed for the wonderful disability sports 'Superhero Tri Series' on Saturday 17th August. All the details are here.
4. This month's GoodGym Long Run is on the morning of Sunday 25th August, it is a tour of the Docklands area, followed by lunch. There are 3 distance options, 26km, 16km, 10km, all the details are here.

Next week, your amazing and lovely trainer, Ana will be back to lead you - I promise she'll really be back this time! You'll be heading to Gunnersbury Park where there's lot of gardening work to be done, please sign up here. A big thank you for having me these past few weeks, it's been an absolutely pleasure and so much fun! Have a lovely rest of your week and weekend 😊.