It was time for the quarterly TRAID restock, and as usual GoodGym Hammersmith and Fulham were up for the task of helping clear the hangers ready for a load of new outfits to take their place. Six of West London’s finest were here to help put, although not Area Activator Cookie - he was doing a different kind of restock and replenishing after his amazing weekend feat. For those not on the know, Cookie completed the Barcelona marathon the day before. Brilliant work, and a good excuse to miss a double good deed I suppose!

Harvey, Analiese and Divya got to work on the racks straight away, each with their own technique to get the clothes on the floor. Kudos to Divya too for being the most efficient hanger collector that TRAID Hammersmith has ever seen!

At the other end of the shop, Lucy, Emily and Jenni had taken the greatest task. You know it’s a good job when not one, not two but four people say ‘I love this task for this job’! Why it was the matching shoes game. As always, there were black boots galore. As always, there were a couple of shoes gone astray not to be found until the very last minute. As always we got several big blue bags full up of pairs of trainers and pumps and plimsolls.

Back to the shop floor, the shoe gang finished up and went to help get the last of the racks emptied and the clothes piled up into the trolleys. It was almost time, and it seemed that none of us wanted to settle for just one good deed this Monday. The final skirt hit the floor (nicely done Emily) and with a great big thank you from the Hammersmith team, the six of us head off the mile or so up the road for part two of the TRAID double whammy to Shepherds Bush!

Bethan was alone in the TRAID Shepherd’s Bush. That didn’t matter. She was happy to get her good deeds in solo or with a gang. Luckily for her, as she started to take dresses and lengha tops from their rails, she realised she had some friends to hang out with!

Opening the door she was greeted by Lucy and Emily who had arrived on bike from the Hammersmith store for part one of the TRAID double whammy tonight. Door locked, the girls got involved with clearing the racks… and then Bethan had to answer the door again. Here was Harvey, fresh from his run. And just as Bethan locked the door and went back to her good deed, the rest of the group arrived - Analiese, Divya and Jenni!

Nicely warmed up from the task just moments before at the Hammersmith branch, we got to work quickly as helping clear all the clothes from the rails. Blouses were boxed. Polo shirts put away. T-shirts tidied up.

The favourite shoe task ended up with five of us helping out here. I don’t want to sound sexist, but all the ladies were excited about pairing shoes, whereas Divya and Harvey were quite happy on rail clearing duty!

With all the shoes paired that we could, and all the clothes off the racks, the last job was to fill one last box. Divya helped the TRAID staff to tape up one last cardboard box, and the huge pile of attire was swiftly moved into it. Many hands make light work, and we were done by 7:45! GoodGym, you guys box!

We made short work of dismantling part of the now redundant computer room at the local primary school. With the advent of more laptops at schools these rooms are now redundant.

Its official, at 28 I have now been made to feel old.

Thanks to Biscuits and Analiese for coming, always wonderful having you!

St Simon's Church shift - Promo'd to supervisor! :-)

We were back alongside the Crabtree, who surely must be grateful that the area below their pub gets regularly swept for litter. I've been told that previously they offered pints to us for all our efforts and I think this is something that should start up again!

I joke of course, the main impact is that we tidy, even if its a small bit, bits of plastic and litter that otherwise would choke the river.

Congratulations as well to Olena on attending her first ever Goodgym group run! Were happy to have you :)

Within just one hour, it is amazing what a difference you can make. Without the support of GoodGym, I imagine it would be very difficult for Mr S to collect his food parcel as he is visually impaired, and therefore finds it challenging to complete such tasks.

I set off on my bike with an empty backpack towards to St Michael and St George’s Church, a frequent location for Hammersmith & Fulham GoodGym group tasks. It was lovely to see the church hall being used during the day, as when I arrived there were a number of Hammersmith & Fulham food bank volunteers as well as local residents inside, who were collecting their food parcels and having tea & biscuits.

Once I explained that I was there to collect a food parcel on behalf of Mr S, one of the food bank volunteers gave him a call to see what his food preferences were. Whilst the food parcel was assembled, I was asked a little bit about GoodGym and what we do, so I had the the joy of explaining our volunteering to the food bank group. They were very interested in our work, and so I pointed them towards our website and passed on contact details - who knows, perhaps this could be the start of a new regular task for us! 😄

The food parcel was full of tinned and dried essentials - rice, tinned tomatoes, tuna, milk, fruit juice etc. - so hopefully they will keep Mr S going for a little while. With a very full and heavy backpack, I made the short cycle to Mr S’ flat to drop them off. He was very grateful for the delivery, thanking me warmly before I was on my way again.

It was certainly a very rewarding way to spend an hour! 🙂