Cheski Kennedy

GoodGym Hammersmith and Fulham

Hammersmith and FulhamMission
Kash
Sevan

Camellias Keep Falling On My Head

Saturday 16th May

Written by Sevan

The last mission of the day for Kash and Sevan had an intriguing title, "Cut, trim and shape garden". How does someone shape a garden? Would they become garden designers? The GoodGymers needed to find out and arriving at Mrs J's home, they could guess what was meant. There were two trees that had been shaped like balls.

Mrs J greeted them and explained that she'd become partially sighted 18 months ago. It meant that she could see some things well and other things were more difficult. Gardening was no longer possible for her and that was tough as she loves gardening, which the GoodGymers could still tell by looking around. Under the cover of grey clouds, Mrs J eyes told her that was too dark to do any work. For Kash and Sevan, even though it was overcast, there was definitely enough light for a few more hours, so they got started.

As expected, Mrs J wanted the GoodGymers to reshape the topiary at the front of the garden. The balls had grown and lost their shape, so an expert was needed to smooth their fuzzy edges. As Kash loves trimming hedges, Sevan volunteered her for the task, leaving him to the "cut, trim" part of the mission.

Kash grabbed Mrs J's shears and a step ladder for the high work, starting with the camellia tree. Sevan worked in the flower bed below, pulling out weeds and having a steady drizzle of camellia leaves and dead heads land around him. As Kash reviewed her work from different angles, trying to create the perfect sphere, Sevan moved onto the other flower beds and trimming the bushes and shrubs in Mrs J's front garden.

Part way through the mission, the pitter patter of camellia leaves changed to the more traditional raindrops falling on the GoodGymers' heads. Mrs J came out and suggested to Kash and Sevan that they stop. As the rain was light and there wasn't much left to do to complete Mrs J's 3 priorities, they powered through to achieve Garden Shaper status and leave Mrs J's garden weed free.

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Hammersmith and FulhamGroup run
Jalal El Farmawi
Cheski Kennedy
Kesani Devadas
Matthew Stuart

Brolly Good Fun ๐Ÿ˜„

Wednesday 13th May

Written by Cheski Kennedy (she/her)

Last nightโ€™s volunteering session at Bassuah Legacy Foundation started in the most British way possibleโ€ฆ by talking about the weather for a solid few minutes ๐Ÿ˜„ One minute sunshine, the next wind and rain โ€” classic!

When we arrived, we discovered weโ€™d just missed the BBC apparently ๐ŸŽฅ๐Ÿ˜… Timing is everything!

Once inside, we split up to tackle different jobs around the shop:

๐Ÿ›’ I took charge of the shop front and even managed to sell an umbrella to a customer โ€” honestly, given the weather, it practically sold itself โ˜”๐Ÿ˜‚

๐Ÿ‘• Meanwhile, Matthew, Kesani and Jalal were hard at work downstairs sorting through clothes and clearing space in the corridor. We separated items ready to sell from those to be recycled, while also clearing out rubbish and making the whole area feel far more organised ๐Ÿ™Œโ™ป๏ธ

By the end of the evening, the difference was huge โ€” more space, more sorted stock, and less clutter for Tina to worry about ๐Ÿ’›

๐Ÿ“ธ Best of all, we left Tina in such a great mood she didnโ€™t want us to go! Plenty of laughs, smiles, and selfies to finish the night off too ๐Ÿ˜„โœจ

Another brilliant evening of teamwork and community spirit โ€” already looking forward to the next one! ๐Ÿ’ช

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Hammersmith and FulhamGroup run
Jalal El Farmawi
Cheski Kennedy
Kesani Devadas
Matthew Stuart

Pane and Simple โœจ๐ŸชŸ

Wednesday 6th May

Written by Cheski Kennedy (she/her)

What a session! We met at Shepherds Bush station and made our way over to the Masbro Centre for a proper spring clean. ๐Ÿ’ช

The task list was packed: we tackled the windows till they sparkled, swept the outside areas, hoovered the corridors, cleared all the tree debris, and made sure the plants got a good watering ๐ŸชŸ๐Ÿงน๐Ÿชด. Everyone got stuck in and the place looks so much brighter.

Big shoutout to Kesani on their first GoodGym run tonight! ๐ŸŽ‰ We had a great chat about AI on the walk over. And reminder: you can absolutely walk to the task if running isn't your thing - all paces welcome. ๐Ÿšถโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿƒโ€โ™‚๏ธ

We even had a mini photoshoot courtesy of Rob ๐Ÿ“ธ - check out the photos in the report for our best cleaning poses and victory smiles!

Well done to everyone who came out. Masbro Centre is looking fresh and ready for the community thanks to you all! ๐Ÿ™Œ

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Hammersmith and FulhamMission
Anastasia Hancock
Nick Moore

Springs in our steps.

Wednesday 29th April

Written by Nick Moore

A very pleasant sunny morning was the background for Ana and I to move a double mattress and divan base from an upstairs bedroom down two flights of stairs and outside for a local council collection - Mr A's wife was on hand to guide us on what she wanted doing.

After moving a single mattress and bed that were lying on top of the double bed into the next-door room, we got hold of a rather limp mattress (which did have handles though, always a bonus) and managed to navigate that down the stairs and into the garden.

The divan base we discovered folded in two, but wouldn't split apart - although we gave it a good go by cutting through the material, only to frustratingly discover a rather large spring ran down the middle, and we'd still be there tomorrow if we started unwinding it...

Not to be deterred, and reciting the GoodGym mantra that it must've somehow got into the room, we folded the base in two, moved a wardrobe to open the door wider, and shuffled our way down the flights of stairs, taking advantage of the fold in the middle to manoeuvre around a u turn on the landing, and parked it in the garden, propping the still floppy mattress next to it.

Some polythene sheets were provided to cover it in case of rain, and we applied our wrapping skills as best we could to stop it blowing away. Mr A's wife was delighted with our efforts - we were both just glad to have solved all the various parts of today's divan puzzle!

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Hammersmith and FulhamGroup run
Jalal El Farmawi
Cheski Kennedy
Matthew Stuart

Earth Day? We Weed-ly Delivered! ๐ŸŒฑ

Wednesday 22nd April

Written by Cheski Kennedy (she/her)

Last nightโ€™s session was all about getting our hands dirty (literally!) and giving nature a helping hand ๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿ’š

We headed to the Tiny Forest at Norland Open Space to tackle a tennis court-sized area of weeds โ€” all in the name of boosting biodiversity in the space ๐ŸŒผ

๐Ÿ’ช Matthew, Jalal, and I got stuck in and managed to clear half the area, which felt like a serious win!

๐ŸŒพ And when we say there were weedsโ€ฆ we mean it. We built piles nearly half the size of me ๐Ÿ˜… โ€” a proper jungle before we got going!

๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ•ท๏ธ As we worked, we discovered loads of wildlife โ€” spiders, snails, and caterpillars โ€” a great sign that the biodiversity here is already thriving and ready to flourish even more ๐ŸŒฟโœจ

๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ The evening wrapped up with a sunny but very windy run back, the kind that makes you feel alive (and a little windswept!)

All in all, a brilliant effort from the team. Excited to keep the momentum going and get the Tiny Forest looking absolutely superb! ๐ŸŒณ๐Ÿ’ซ

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Hammersmith and FulhamMission
Alan Armstrong

Purr-fect shopping

Monday 20th April

Written by Alan Armstrong

What better way to enjoy a lovely bright morning than a short stroll to the shops for a new GoodGym beneficiary? It was lovely to meet Ms H and her shopping list was relatively straightforward. She wasnโ€™t at all fussy about brands or type for her own groceries but the key request was for tins of a specific gourmet food for her cat.

Located all the items without problem and it was great to chat to Ms H, who was very grateful for our help now that she struggles to carry her shopping herself.

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