On a surprisingly warm October evening, three runners and one cyclist from GoodGym Ealing supported charity Action West London by posting flyers through letterboxes to promote an upcoming Fitness Fun Day in Acton. The free, family-friendly event offers workouts for all ages and abilities, including beginner’s yoga, family interval training, Legs, Bums & Tums, HIIT, a Relax & Stretch session and more.

Jo, Sevan, Steph and Kash ventured into the streets of Acton, passing hidden murals and tributes to poets along the way. They covered Derwentwater Road, Stuart Road, Newburgh Road, Woodhurst Road, parts of Shakespeare Road, Spencer Road and, finally, Milton Road.

Our literary tour ended on Milton Road, where we hoped to give Paradise Lost a more cheerful ending. With the flyers delivered, all that remains is to hope that Acton residents will accept the invitation to get active at St Mary’s Church Hall on 17 October. Perhaps this time, Paradise will be found.

Do you remember the times when we used to leaflet for the Reduce and Recycle Hub in Acton? Well, in September 2026, we had a chance to spread the word about its spiritual successor, organised by Action West London. On 26th September, Acton Market was going to host a sustainability-themed community day where residents could book free repairs of household electrical appliances or learn how to mend items with Ealing Repair Cafe. The event would also be an opportunity to understand what happens to what we put in the recycling bins and pick up practical tips on how to reduce waste and save money.

Five Ealing GoodGymers: Maria, Scott, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash welcomed a GoodGym tourist from Greenwich, JC, who took the opportunity to join our group run as the work brought him to the heart of Ealing. The running team met with the others at the site of Acton Market, overlooked by St Mary's Church and Pokopia Garden - both past or present GoodGym task locations.

The gang worked on their step count, walking through the streets north of Churchfield Road. Leaflets have been dropped into the letterboxes on Derwentwater Rd, Newburgh Rd, Spencer Rd, Cumberland Rd and Maldon Rd. The six GoodGymers enjoyed a small tour exploring several Acton mural locations and saying hi to the local cats. Despite the first properly rainy day since June this year, the evening brightened with blue skies and golden sunshine cheering the team up. No GoodGymers or leaflets got soaked that night, and all the flyers ended up in letter boxes, carefully avoiding the "No junk mail" signs.

Next week we are going to do some walking again, but we'll be changing the theme and the scenery - the Tuesday group task will take us on the route of the Ealing Half Marathon to help put up signs on the lampposts ahead of this year's race. Sign up now!

Our mid-August Tuesday evening group run was the perfect time to let women of Acton know about the upcoming final term of the Movement on The Mount, starting in September. What is Movement on the Mount, you may ask? The project is all about helping local people get more active.

Action West London runs programmes for women who may face barriers such as low confidence, language difficulties, low income or caring responsibilities. The organisers want to encourage women under 16 and over 65 coming from varying backgrounds to try free classes, including street dance, bodyweight circuits, yoga, stretching and relaxation, and many more.

GoodGym Ealing supported the programme once again, with 7 GoodGymers distributing approximately 400 leaflets around the letterboxes in the neighbourhood.

Since the theme for today was movement, Harvey, Sevan, Steph Ducat and Kash ran to the task together, Giles - sporting his new GoodGym t-shirt - ran directly from home, Maria walked, and Scott cycled. But that's not all! We also stopped along the way to tackle exercise stations, including jump squats, squat holds, wall sits and incline push-ups - all making use of the urban environment around us! The flyering itself added around 3km of extra walking to everyone’s day.

Impact

Earlier in the year, we asked Action West London to share some statistics about the women who registered for Movement on the Mount after our leafletting tasks. Here is what we heard back:

• 22% of the people who signed up found out about the programme from the leaflet
• 37% of them didn't currently exercise
• 68% were non-white
• 31% were white British
• 22.4 % were in the 45-54 age group
• 15% were in the 55-64 age group

What's coming up next?

There are more opportunities to get active with GoodGym in the coming weeks!

Thursday 20th August Getting Hanwell School of Boxing into shape 💪 Help a sports charity with the tidy-up ahead of restarting classes in September

Saturday 22nd August Volunteering at Southall parkrun led by Steph; 🧭 Explorers wanted! 🥾 Clear a path for the rangers 🌿 Afternoon session at Grove Farm

Tuesday 25th August Wee Forest, Big Problems 🌳✂️ Keep a special community garden accessible to and usable by all, led by Sevan

Are four GoodGymers enough to let 400 Acton households know about a free community day on The Mount in July in an hour? Certainly! But let's start with some context. Action West London received funding to bring local people together, raise awareness of community safety, and connect residents with organisations that can support their wellbeing. To do so, they organised the community day and needed GoodGym's help to spread the word by posting leaflets through letterboxes.

A group of flyering experts, Conor, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash, met in Acton near the famed Pokopia Garden to beat the odds and distribute all the leaflets they had received — in 60 minutes or less. Steph and Kash ran from Ealing Broadway, Conor walked to the session, and Sevan even squeezed in an extra evening mission ahead of the group task. What a legend!

For all four, the 3km walking task was exactly what they needed after their workdays to clear their minds. GoodGym took them into a magical world of adventures where, to complete their quest, they had to face a variety of beasts: invisible dogs barking suddenly behind doors, foxes and cats of varying levels of wildness, including tigers and lions. Check the photos if you don't believe me!

The GoodGymers even ventured into space, where Steph handed over leaflets to alien children who were super excited about the prospect of face painting and a bouncy castle at the upcoming event — again, the proof is in the pictures! One hour was enough to get the job done and dusted, and the residents of Derwentwater Rd, Stuart Rd, Newburgh Rd, Chaucer Rd, Spencer Rd, Woodhurst Rd, Shakespeare Rd and Myrtle Rd were informed about the community day — at least those without a "No junk mail" sign on their letterboxes!

If you fancy coming along for a task in Acton on another date, check out one of the fortnightly sessions at the Pokopia Garden. Next Tuesday, we're venturing to Hanger Hill for an evening of citizen science — it's really easy, and anyone can get involved. Check out the session details here.

After a brief warm-up at the heart of bustling Ealing Broadway, five GoodGymers set off for a sunny run to Acton. Among them: a guest from Barnet, Jacqui, who came to celebrate Steph's 1004th good deed with the Ealing team! We couldn't keep up with Steph's tasking pace, and hadn't managed to update the celebratory red-and-gold cape, so our Frenchman had to fly to Acton with merely a "1000" on his back!

The mighty cape turned out to have a mind of its own, and - maybe aware of incompatibility with the extra 4 good deeds - tried to fly away before the runners reached Ealing Common. Luckily, Sevan backmarked the group, while Conor and Kash obliviously pressed ahead, so no capes have been left behind.

The running team stopped opposite Acton Park (known to GoodGymers mostly as a junior parkrun location) to meet cyclist Maria and runner Harvey. The mission brief was simple: post flyers through houses' and flats' letter boxes to promote Movement on the Mount - a programme supporting women facing challenges accessing exercise, for example, women with low confidence, caring responsibilities, limited income, or from diverse cultural backgrounds. The execution of the task was less straightforward.

The seven leafleteers entered the so-called Acton's Bermuda Triangle: a treacherous area around Birkbeck Grove, Mansell Road and Beardsley Way, where GoodGymers had been lost in the past during flyering tasks, especially after splitting and venturing to a nearby estate. Having covered that part of Acton multiple times since then, our team learned how to navigate those streets - but this time it led to overconfidence as we ventured into forbidden postcodes!

"W4... Hmm, isn't this Chiswick?"
"The leaflet says the eligible attendees are women living in W3."
"Uh-oh!"

Feeling like outlaws, we scrambled to get out of the Hounslow Borough, trespassing on Southfield Recreation Ground - also mostly within W4. It was a nice extra run, though! The route took us back to W3, but we landed in a primarily industrial area and had to wander around looking for residential streets. Eventually, we finished off the leaflets and emerged back on the main road in Acton.

A short run via Uxbridge Road took us to ActOne Cinema - not for the movies, but for a pit stop at their lovely, quiet cafe to celebrate Steph's milestone. Having refilled ourselves with light refreshments (and a box of popcorn on the house), we ran back to Ealing Broadway.

Next week's Tuesday session is at Cultivate London's plant nursery at Popesfield Allotments to continue tidying up the space - sign up here to join us!

The GoodGymers who ran last night from Ealing Broadway to Acton were wet in seconds after leaving the covers of Spring Bridge Mews. True or false? False. They had been soaked long before meeting at the starting point.

Yes, that group run was certainly in the "wet one" category, and yes, the weather was less than ideal for a leafletting activity. Fortunately, shortly after Sevan, Steph, and Kash arrived in Acton and met Maria with an umbrella, the rain eased, and the four were able to kick off the task.

On behalf of Action West London, we've been walking around Acton to post flyers about another round of the Movement on the Mount, a free community exercise programme helping women overcome barriers to being active through weekly fitness sessions at St Mary’s Church Hall. The registrations for next Movement on the Mount were about to close in less than a week, so the deadline was tight to get the word out.

We hit the streets North of Springfield Gardens. Some were a good fit for the target audience (Essex Rd, Hereford Rd, Shalimar Gardens), others not so much (Creswick Road, Pierrepoint Rd, Lynton Rd, with big houses and flats with no outside postboxes).

By the end of the task, our leaflet envelopes were empty and our minds full of hope that women who may face challenges accessing exercise, such as low confidence, caring responsibilities, limited income, or their cultural background, will find their way to the Mount.

According to Steph's stats, each of us walked 3.33km during the task - that's halfway to beast mode, if you know what I mean!

Next week we're heading towards Northfields and Blondin Park for a run, a woodchipping task, and most importantly, hot chocolate! Sign up now!