Lucy Hill

Over the years we have helped prep the historic mural outside Turnham Green station, then help with its upkeep. The time has come for us to give it a good clean. We'll help carry over buckets and ladders, give it a good tidy up, then move everything back again. This will help make the area clean and welcoming for people in the area.

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…

Rushing from a litter pick around Kennington, but arriving still ten minutes before the start of this session, Sam was surprised to see Kaz waiting inside the "Walled" garden. He still is adjusting his running pace as he ran from Clapham. Yet, I guess it's best to be early than late as Simon kindly reminded us at the end of the session.

We had a couple of newbies to "Thorlands", Emma cycled all the way from Rotherhithe to see what the hype was all about after reading about our weekly sessions in the "Oh My Goodness" weekly emails from Sam. Tilly brought her cousin, Lucy along as she done a parkrun, her regular shopping mission in Clapham and had brunch with her aunt and cousin, who convinced her to tag along for this session! Great to have you both and thank you for tackling the bindweed and brambles, respectively.

We were back in the "Forest" garden to continue with the over-arching vision of turning this "Forest" garden into a space for residents and locals to enjoy. Our teams were split as:

Kaz and Lindy had to save 60 samplings bunched up in 6 spots as well as a young hazel tree and a weed-looking like plant before they could churn over the soil and take out the roots. They worked so hard that Kaz didn't know how much strength he had that he split his pitch-fork in half 😲 yet, this didn't stop him as he just took another fork as well as the mattock to find those roots.

Emma and Lucie took care of the bindweed either side of the fence and discarded them in a bin liner as bindweed come back with a vengeance. Once they were done there, they split up and Emma was delighted to saw some wood whilst Lucie with her tough gloves tackled the bramble roots.

This was where Tilly started, but her gloves weren't as tough as Lucie's, so she moved to try out some sawing until all the wood was done and her final task was to clear out the moss on the terrace tarmac as we start to prep this area. Lucy started with chopping and shaping the buddleia tree to look like the buddleia tree by the "Kitchen" garden and after some delicate pruning, she came to the bramble bashing team as it was all hands on deck to get those bramble roots out!

Finally, Lucy arrived slightly late, but that didn't diminish her contribution as she joined the bramble and composting team - ensuring that the right plants were composted in the right heap. Brambles in the white tonne bag, bindweed in the bin liner and all the rest on the compost heap.

We ended the session earlier as Simon noted that we needed to clean the tools after using them to ensure they last longer and thus, the final 10 minutes are dedicated for that.

Simon won't be around next Saturday, but Ruth and Bridget will hold the fort whilst we continue to tackle the brambles, roots and moss in the "Forest" garden. If the compost heap has mulched down, we can start putting down another layer of cupboard and mulch.

We have been asked by Enable Leisure and Culture to help Mrs J shop for some groceries. Mrs J needs some essential food items to be bought and delivered back to her. Mrs J is paying via bank transfer/cheque so the volunteer will need to pay for the shopping (up to the £20 max limit) and then get reimbursed by GoodGym, so please only sign up if you are happy and able to do so.