Bethan Critchley

7 H&F goodgymers met at Age UK H&F this evening to lend a hand tidying their garden up before a garden party for their key stakeholders later in the week. Special shoutout to Divy, who joined us today for his first ever goodgym task - welcome! The group were led by Biscuits, who explained the two main focuses; firstly to weed the paved area to make it look nice and tidy, and secondly to wash down the white plastic tables and chairs which had been exposed to the elements over the course of the British summer. With an interesting array of tools (including some screwdrivers, and even some sticks!) half of the group set to work on the weeds whilst the others donned rubber gloves and began washing down the chairs.

In no time at all the weeds had been removed from between the patio flags, which in part was powered by the Heroes chocolates that Biscuits was kindly handing around to us all! Biscuits began sweeping the weeds together and removing them from the patio with a dustpan, which meant that the rest of the team could focus their attention on the tables and chairs. Andrew, Katie and Cookie eyed up one particularly grubby looking table, making sure that I captured a before photo displaying all its filth before they set to work - "this will make a great before and after photo Beth!" - and so it did!

As we worked away on the tables and chairs, we shared many stories of satisfying cleaning jobs. Conversation turned to tools that would make this task even easier... we pondered whether we could persuade the stakeholders who would benefit from our cleaning at Thursday's party to fund a pressure washer purchase. We learned that these are referred to as "water blasters" in New Zealand thanks to Analiese - a term which we thought sounded more appropriate for a brand of super soaker toys! 😆

It's surprising what can be achieved in one hour with seven pairs of helping hands - the weeding was complete and all the tables and chairs had been scrubbed and rinsed down. We finished off the chocolates, took a quick group selfie and then headed off home for the evening. Thanks to Biscuits for hosting us, feeding us chocolate and coming up with the pun. Great work team - hopefully see some of you at the TRAID tasks tomorrow, or back here at Age UK H&F to help with the party on Thursday!

Today the chicken did see the salad - there was plenty of lettuce keeping it company on Mrs M's list! After a quick medication drop off at her door, Mrs M briefly chatted me through her shopping list as usual. She explained to me that she still doesn't have any water... after a slight mishap with her shop last week, she was running especially low today. I vowed to bring back as much water as her shopping trolley could carry, along with her other items. Tesco yielded almost everything - although the visit today was not as pleasant as usual, as a very grumpy employee who was manning the busy self checkouts complained that I was packing slowly when I was loading up the trolley... I didn't even stop to take a photo this week, so quite why he thought that I was being slow is a mystery - and what terrible customer service!! Once the trolley was loaded with 10 litres of water and most of Mrs M's food requests, I had to pop into Sainsbury's for some wholemeal pittas and and a couple of sweet potatoes to round off the list. Done and dusted!

In fact, they weren't just cheap, they were free!

Mrs M's prescription pickup today was from a different Boots store to usual - after a trip to the regular Boots store on Euston Road, I was informed that the store was closing down and Mrs M had already been transferred over to the other Boots, so I had to venture deeper into St Pancras station. Once I found the second store it was simple enough to collect, and I was on my way to Mrs M to drop off her medication and pick up her shopping list and trolley.

Welcome to GoodGym Hammersmith and Fulham! We're a friendly and social group who combine exercise with helping out in the local community. We meet every week for a physical task helping communities in Hammersmith and Fulham.

THE TASK

This week we're heading to Fulham Palace and combining a parkrun and gardening task!

WHERE TO MEET

Meet by the Fulham Palace moat bridge (Bishop's Avenue, SW6 6EA) at 8.45am - look out for the red and black GG tees! We'll do intros and have a quick warm-up.

THE RUN / WALK

You can choose to run or walk the 5km Fulham Palace parkrun. It's free! but please register on the parkrun website for your barcode before you first come along.

Please comment below if you would like to meet us after parkun for the task.

Approx timings

8.45am - Meet by the Fulham Palace moat bridge (a short walk from Putney Bridge underground)

9am- Fulham Palace parkrun

9.45am - Cool down and stretch, plus a short fitness exercise!

10am - Task at Fulham Palace (meet outside the front of the Palace courtyard if meeting us for the task). Gardening jobs with Senior Gardener, Pete!

11.30am - End - at Fulham Palace

If you have any questions, please drop me a line: bethn@goodgym.org.

IMPORTANT! ⚠️

Please bring your own gardening gloves 🧤.

Please note, there will be nowhere secure to leave bags, they are left on a groundsheet during parkrun so please do not bring anything valuable!

The public toilets in Fulham Palace are open from 9am.

Ms J greeted me at her door with a small list as usual this morning. There has still been no return to her favourite lamb chops; instead I was in search of tinned red salmon and some onions to go along with the usual suspects of bananas, wholemeal bread and a pint of milk. Waitrose had everything Ms J required this week, and therefore the shop was done in a flash. As I headed up to her flat to drop off her shopping, I happened to meet another visitor who was heading to see Ms J, so I quickly said my goodbyes and wished them both a good weekend before heading back to work.