This year, the Santa of Acton brought the ladies from the neighbourhood a special gift: an invitation to free fitness classes in January. And no, it wasn't a free month membership that gyms tease people with at the start of each year, but a 6-week programme for 40+ women who want to improve their health while enjoying themselves in a great company.

Santa's four elves: Maria, Sevan, Steph and Kash, took Father Christmas' sack full of leaflets and swooped across the night sky, dropping the flyers through chimneys in Acton's Mill Hill area. Hopefully, the ladies for whom the classes had been designed weren't away for Christmas, and if they were, hopefully the leaflets won't get lost in a sea of other ads before January!

The temperatures tonight might have scared off a few new GoodGymers, as out of eight signups, only five regulars showed up. Freya, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash ran from Ealing Broadway to Acton to meet Maria, who ran to the task straight from the gym - she is unstoppable! It would have been great if more ladies in Acton and neighbouring towns had so much motivation to stay fit and healthy! Well, that's what this Tuesday session was about!

Action West London asked us to help distribute flyers announcing the January edition of a free health & fitness programme for women. The sessions, this time including dance classes and pelvic floor exercises, will take place at St Mary’s Church Hall in Acton and give the residents an opportunity to stay active, healthy, and connected.

Before we ventured into the streets off Horn Lane, we congratulated Freya on her 50th good deed. She got to wear the GoodGym Ealing elegant black sash, marking the fantastic milestone, ahead of claiming the famed black GoodGym t-shirt. So far, Freya has been known as a dedicated Tuesday group runner and a Soup Kitchen supporter. Who knows what new, exciting sessions the future has for her! Well done, Freya, and onto the next fifty to claim your wings!

Throughout one hour, each of us walked about 3km, and the air became colder and colder. Having covered Rosemont Rd, Mayfield Rd, Creswick Rd, Julian Ave, Shalimar Gardens and Hereford Rd, we called it a day and ran back to Ealing Broadway to warm up again.

We will be back in Acton to further spread the word about the January sessions for women in three weeks - sign up now to join us!

Next week, we will run or walk to Walpole Park to replace woodchip on the paths in the Walled Garden. Shovelling and wheelbarrowing will be an excellent way to get active and stay warm! Join next week's session here!

On Sunday, 26th October, the clocks went back. According to the This Girl Can campaign, that night marks the time when almost three-quarters of women in the UK change how and when they get active outside out of fear about their safety.

To raise awareness about that gender activity gap and urge communities to change behaviours towards women that make them feel unsafe outside in the winter months, Let's Lift the Curfew movement, together with GoodGym and England Athletics, hosted over 320 events across the UK. One of them happened in Ealing!

We were looking forward to our group run, excited to see a fifty-fifty split between boys and girls in our sign-ups. Ultimately, we ended up with twice as many men as women, which might have been a stark illustration of the This Girl Can research, highlighting the barriers to getting active that women may experience outdoors after dark.

Undeterred by fewer than expected women showing up, we ran to Acton, 3 km each way, to find other ways to encourage women to stay active and healthy. We had 450 leaflets from Action West London, inviting Acton women to participate in free, inclusive fitness programmes: from strength and mobility classes for women aged 50+ to courses about strengthening the pelvic floor.

To distribute the leaflets promoting the events, we set off for a 3 km walk through Horn Lane and the streets East of it, occasionally astonished by hop-on hop-off buses cruising through nighttime Acton and slightly disappointed by the poor numbers of Halloween decorations. We managed to drop all the flyers through the letterboxes and are hoping that the initiative will help more local women discover opportunities to stay active, healthy, and connected.

Next week, we will slightly shift the theme of our group run and visit the Lammas Orchard a.k.a The Garden of Eden, where we will be clearing the spaces around mature fruit trees and more recently planted saplings, then mulching around them. Sign up now to join us!

This was a last minute or short notice request from Action West London for their Electrical Fixing & Training workshop on the 9th October, but Goodgym Ealing are always up for a challenge and listed the community mission. I, Steph Ducat was leading the solo mission as on my own but it kept me busy. Started at Greenford Re-Use and Recycling Centre with 150 leaflets and targeted the residents around the area. So one person with 150 leaflets and covered 3km by foot. Do good stay fit!! So that is 50 leaflets/km : sounds like running or walking stats. It was windy so had to hold tight to the leaflets like the panda holding to the fence I pictured on the route. After a 3km walk from house the house all the leaflets had gone from my hands : gone with the wind?

3 GoodGymers
400 leaflets
6 km of running
50 minutes of walking
3 cats encountered
1 creepy artificial dog revealed
2 giant Easter eggs found

That's what it takes to tell Acton residents about the Spring Community Day next week, with a free bouncy castle, face painting, music, fun, community groups and organisations like the Ealing Repair Cafe and more.

See you at the next group run to Hanwell to help sort equipment for the one and only Hanwell Hootie festival!

MarketW3 at Acton Market is a space for traders, freelancers, local businesses, community events, music, fashion and international food reflecting the energy and diversity of Acton. It is funded by the local charity Action West London’s (AWL) for whom we run regular community missions to spread the word about their Reduce and Recycle Hub.

Reduce and Recycle Hub takes place first Saturday of each month and features activities like clothes recycling with TRAID, lessons on how to fix your clothes by Ealing Repair Café and a Book Swap with Churchfield Community Association. The hub exists to encourage residents to use their items for longer, reuse them for different purposes, recycle them properly, and ultimately reduce waste.

This time GoodGym Ealing, for the first time, claimed the invite they received a long time ago from Action West London members Zahra and Mary. Three GoodGymers, Sevan, Madhan and Kash, sported their red t-shirts today to match the GoodGym flag presented at the MarketW3 stall kindly provided by AWL. While Kash was meeting some new and some familiar faces (such as Juliet from Friends of Friars Gardens, a task owner of an event in September), Madhan and Sevan were trying to capture the attention of passers-by. They reported the highest success rate with young female residents.

The GoodGymers handed over promotional postcards to potential new volunteers. They also talked to possible new beneficiaries, explaining the referral process for older people who need help with physical tasks. The GoodGym team learned about what they could improve when they decided to join the hub next time. The only thing that was and will be out of their control is the weather!

Can you volunteer the rain away? - Zahra
I'm afraid not! We just brave it. - Kash