Ealing Soup Kitchen is a brilliant charity that looks after vulnerable and homeless people in Ealing. Every Friday, they run a drop-in service at St John’s where guests can enjoy hot meals, free clothes, showers, barbers, games, workshops, and advice.

This week, Thaiza, Steph Ducat, and Iram divided and conquered the tea shift. Thaiza manned the tea and coffee station, keeping cups filled and spirits high, while bravely navigating a plate of mystery biscuits... what looked like chocolate chips turned out to be fruit and milk chocolate in disguise!

Meanwhile, Steph Ducat earned the title of Coleslaw King, helping prepare a delicious dinner of curried goat, baked chicken, and chickpea curry with rice and peas. When the food delivery finally arrived (two hours late!) it was all hands on deck. Iram and the team worked at full speed to portion and pack meals, marking each crate with food items to keep track. There was so much food that the bags were bursting by the end of the shift!

Steph Ducat stayed for last shift : the cleaning shift. After cooking, serving and eating you have the cleaning up to do. A few volunteers stayed to clean up the foyer, serving area and the kitchen when loads had to be cleaned. Sonia said with her lovely english/venezuela accent : too many pots and pans today!! It was the case as it didnt help that someone put the dishwasher on drain/clean mode which meant a lot more to be done by hand. In the end the kitchen was spotless, the sticky pans were shinning again and we could all go home to relax after a hard shift in the kitchen.

The Friday Hub did not have the GOATS Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and yes it was on the menu, but the real GOATS today were the Goodgymers as they dug deep as super busy day, regular volunteers missing and less volunteers in some areas. Lunch service was the 2nd shift for the 3 GOATS. Iram went from the parcel section to serving food and going through the kitchen to help clean. Thaiza went from serving Tea and Coffee, followed by helping in the clothing section and then then being in a busy kitchen. Steph Ducat was in the kitchen since 10am cooking/preparing food to then plating food with some washing up too. Todays Menu was Carribean style :

                                                                                                                                - Vegetable soup(carribean version)
                                                                                                                                - Curry Goat with rice and peas or plain rice 
                                                                                                                                - Vegetarian curried chick peas with rice
                                                                                                                                - Baked Chicken
                                                                                                                                - Fried Dumplins
                                                                                                                                -Main dishes had a side salad and a portion of coleslaw
                                                                                                                                -Apple struddle with ice cream

The food went down like a treat and not much left for take way. The team are definately are the GOATS today as we nearly served 190 persons.

A usual evening shop at Sainsbury's, but with Mr G falling out of love with cavolo nero. Also, featuring Kash helping Mr G set up a weekly reminder with an outrageous beeping sound to prompt Mr G to request his regular groceries delivery mission early in the week.

The regular team of volunteers at St Mary’s Church were a little short-staffed for Wednesday’s Polygonian Friends Lunch, so I popped by to lend a hand.

First up was the sandwich-making factory line: a well-oiled machine of buttering, layering, slicing and arranging triangles fit for royalty. I also took great pride in assembling an artistic fruit bowl overflowing with pears, grapes, and satsumas.

Once the guests arrived, I was on soup and tea/coffee duty. There was, however, a large amount of confusion about which was the carrot and coriander soup and which was the vegetable soup. Naturally, we all assumed the orange one was carrot... but in a shocking twist, it turned out the brownish one was corriander with a hint of carrot! Cue much debate and taste-testing as everyone tried to get to the bottom of the great soup mystery.

All in all, it was a lovely way to spend my lunchtime and it was a pleasure to catch up with the regulars!

Tonight GG Ealing were back in St Mary's churchyard for the first time since their new vicar had taken up residence and since the mammoth churchyard tidy that led up to it. With autumn in full swing, it was time for a last round of weed removal before everything goes into hibernation over the winter.

As well as some Ealing regulars, Sarah, who'd ventured across London on the Elizabeth Line from Greenwich, joined the group of runners and took some atmospheric photos to boot! At the church, tools were taken from storage, head torches were turned on and the team were ready to go. At that moment, a runner came around the corner and was scared that they'd be impaled on Steph's fork!

"Oh, that's dangerous!" - Runner

Forking averted, it was time to start the hunt for brambles and nettles. On one side of the churchyard, there was a path with a few specimens that were dug out or pulled. As they worked their way further along and between the Victorian graves, a plot full of nettles was found, which kept everyone busy for the rest of the session as they were dug out by the roots.

As is the way at St Mary's, one wheelbarrow full of cuttings was stacked around a trunk to compost down and feed the tree, while the rest were left on other conveniently placed compost piles. Next Tuesday, join us to move compost into the Walled Garden in Walpole Park, which'll be a great workout.