Jonathan

It's lovely to see tasks we have done over the years develop and evolve throughout Hounslow, and last night was the perfect example of that. A few years ago we ran to the area under Turnham Bridge station - at that time it was a pretty unattractive mix of many layers of old fly posting, peeling paint and not a little amount of bird poo. We helped strip it all back so that a new beautiful timeline of Chiswick mural could be installed by a local artist. Since then, pre pandemic, we have been back to give it a good clean and help with its upkeep, and, despite the freezing conditions last night, it was time for its annual spruce up.

We met first at our usual spot, and first off it was time to give GoodGym hero Alan a huge cheer for reaching that magic milestone - 50 good deeds. Over the course of those good deeds, Alan has run many, many kilometres (even completing his first marathon), hundred of squats and made a massive difference to his community. A huge well done! It was also lovely to see so many faces from Ealing GG - welcome! We started off with a much needed warm up and before we set off for the mural, discussed which wonder of the world, famous or historic place we would love to be transported too. The Temples of Kyoto, Rio and even, er, Peckham were on the list.

Carrying buckets, mops and sponges, we headed down to the mural to find the artist who created it, Sarah, waiting for us with (thankfully warm) water and a ladder. Gloves on and scrubbers at the ready, we wiped, washed, scrubbed and polished until the whole thing was looking sparkling. One happy group photo later, and we were done. There was an optional, but very tough, fitness session which involved flying thirties combined with conditioning exercises, and then a run back to base. Well done on a large-scale but very effective job last night everyone! Next week we're back for a task we'll be going to more regularly at Cultivate London, to help them ahead of their move. You can sign up for all the inevitable fun right here. Run happy, everyone.

The awesome foursome of Analiese, Bethan, Cookie and Lucy made the long hard slog (a whole mile) up the road from Hammersmith to Shepherds Bush and TRAID-ed the Hammersmith branch for the Shepherds Bush one!

Here we met up with Hounslow’s wonderful Emily and Ishan, and welcomed Chiara along to her first goodgym task too! The task was the same - all the clothes needed to be removed from the hangers and piled on the floor, and once the rails were bare, we would fill up the boxes with the clothes.

There were a couple of fun fashion items in the mix at the SheBu store. Cookie took fancy to a peaky blinder-esque flat cap, Bethan found her perfect pride outfit and Lucy eyed up a wedding dress designed for someone at least two foot taller than her. There were also some gold hot pants that would put Kylie to shame, and got shirty over the incorrect grammar on one of the tops!

Katie ‘I’ll meet you at the task’ Hodges arrived too, and threw herself into the task… literally into the big cardboard box along with a pile of tops and trousers. Before long the clothes section was nearly sorted, and we couldn’t wait to get our out foot in the shoe section.

All of us were involved in the madness this time, pairing up big boots, sparkly heels and lots of similar looking brogues. Before you could click your heels, we had several blue sacks full of second hand shoes. Cookie threw a final bundle of clothes into the last box, and the TRAID staff taped it shut.

Another mission completed - boot-iful!

A mission well traid and tested - we were back at Hammersmith TRAID to help with their quarterly restock. H&F local legends Analiese, Bethan, Cookie and Lucy were joined by Ealing’s man-on-a-mission Harvey and Monika from Richmond, plus we welcomed along Layla for her first ever GoodGym task!

The staff got us to work - this time the tactic was to pile all the clothes up on the floor, taking them off hangers and once the rails were emptied, the plan was to stuff the boxes with said clothes.

We showed off some slick moves, with the two handed unclip on the trousers and skirts, to some less slick ones, such as the frantic untangling of a label caught in the hanger. Harvey had hangers, Cookie culled clothes, Monika made do with menswear and Bethan bagged up boots.

Lucy and Layla on the other hand had the task of shoe-pendous job of pairing up shoes. One shoe from each pair was on the shelf, and one in a box. In the worlds hardest and longest version of some sort of memory matching game, we got our brain cells going trying to find the other half for each shoe. Joined by Bethan and Analiese, we learnt a lot of things - about teamwork, perseverance, and communication. But mostly we learnt that there are a bloody lot of black boots that look the same!!

In possibly record time, the shelves and rails were bare. Boxes and bags filled, and some very pleased looking staff members! For some of us, it was home time, but for others we had a TRAID off to attend…

Which famous person, dead or alive, would you like to take out to dinner? On a chilly night in Hounslow, this was the question we discussed as we warmed up ready for the task ahead.

Freddy Mercury, both Queen Elizabeths, Ferran Adrià and Michelle Obama all made the guest list, along with a few lucky others. The invites in the mail!

Our job for the evening was at Cultivate London, a social enterprise which works to improve health and wellbeing across London by encouraging and supporting local communities to engage with their green spaces. So, after a quick mile's run, we arrived to meet Michael, who gave us a demonstration of the task.

In yet another step towards GoodGym horticultural excellence, our job was to plant no less than five boxes of alium and hyacinth bulbs. We quickly separated into stations, each tackling filling, planting, covering and transporting. It was hard to know when to stop, but after more than 200 pots planted, along with some very exuberant singing, we decided to call it a night.

A swift run back to base and we were ready to warm up with a short but intense tabata session followed by an upper body blast. Great work tonight team, next time you see a beautiful alium or hyacinth somewhere in hounslow, there's a good chance it could be one we planted!

Next week you might want to wear an extra layer or something waterproof as we're off to give the mural at Turnham Green Station a good clean. You can sign up for all the fun here. Until then, happy running!