goodgymers from several boroughs, kingson, merton, ealing brought and donated to the food bank whilist doing their own.

This afternoon 5 goodgymers met to help other local residents to clean and tidy up this well used public space. We found several items that corresponded to recent events in our yearly calenders. This was all done whilist chatting and then finished off as always with a nice but naughty treat from the lady at the cafe here, managing to dodge the rain [ bonus]!

Hanwell School of Boxing, a volunteer-led charity offering sports activities to young people of all backgrounds, moved to their current site in 2011. Tonight's task owner, Linda, had been one of the key players in making the move happen. She told us about the building’s history and the improvements made over the past fourteen years. But nothing lasts forever. The wooden posts that have stood at the entrance since 2011 were now rotten, and Linda thought it was time to replace them with five plastic bollards.

Five GoodGym runners who braved the drizzle on their 3 km run to Hanwell split into engineering and sweeping teams. The builders, Steph Ducat and Kash, had the job of removing the aged wooden posts and then digging a trench as per Linda's instructions. Paving blocks, no longer held in place by the poles, and tree roots were only minor challenges, solved by a mattock found by Linda and Steph's jigsaw puzzle skills. The real enemy was the stubborn old concrete, not easily removable to make space for the new bollards. The good news? Nothing is set in concrete at the GoodGym tasks, and there's always an option to change the approach.

After consulting Linda, the engineers agreed the best way forward was to set the new posts in place with minimal digging, then pour a mix of cement and water around them. Steph and Kash flattened the soil and laid the first layer of mixed cement - without a trowel! Who needs a trowel if you can use a random square piece of foam found on premises? The technique Linda suggested for the second layer was to scatter the cement around the poles, then pour water on top. The speed-engineering brought concrete results: maybe not the straightest poles, but certainly stable!

Meanwhile, Thaiza, Harvey and Sevan did what GoodGymers are best at in autumn: leaf sweeping. With rakes and brooms in hand, they set a goal to clear the whole tarmac surface leading to the boxing club. Ambitious! The leaves might not have been heavyweight, but there was an abundance of them. The sweeping team bagged as many leaves as they could fit in Linda's car, who would then distribute the green waste where it was needed. The rest of the fallen leaves had to be swept to the side - maybe for another time to bag. The result? A leaf-free driveway to the boxing school!

Before the team set off for another soggy 3km, Linda invited them inside the club and traditionally offered them hot chocolate and minced pies. The sweet treat was a lovely reward that powered the GoodGymers all the way back to Ealing Broadway.

Throughout today 9 goodgymers from Kingston and several others areas in this beautiful country of ours , took time out to buy and drop off items for the food bank.

No demon running here, just some older friends and some newer friends chatting on and having a smile! This was the second special collaboration social stations run for GoodGym Ealing and We Run Ealing. This time the aim was no more than run to every station with Ealing in the name!

The first one, Ealing Broadway, was easy - we all met there! And what a turn out! We more or less stuck together and completed a big loop. Even a last minute drizzle didn't dampen our spirits.

We will return, not with the the thin white duke (a link to the obscure title of this report), but with another round of Acton and Ealing station runs next year!