Seven GoodGymers made it to AFC Powerstation on a chilly morning, ready to warm things up with some community spirit. We stepped inside and got straight to work, accompanied by the beat of a Zumba class pumping away in the next room.

Monika, Chris, Suze and Adam formed a laminating squad as disciplined as an army, tackling sheets of music with military precision. Meanwhile, Maena, JP and Manuela got to grips with a rainbow of coloured powder, carefully pouring the vibrant shades into bottles. One team was making the music last, while the other was adding a little colour to the world.

The chatty bunch worked like clockwork, laminating, pouring and chatting away as the Zumba beats kept us moving steadily. But when the music finally stopped, we were left in silence. Something had to fill the gap! So, naturally, our thoughts turned to one of the songs we’d been laminating: the legendary "Banana Boat Song".

We went off to a cosy coffee shop to sip warm drinks afterwards for a rewarding bonding time.

We were off to Twickenham on Monday night to meet Emma from Box Walks. Box Walks for those not in the know are a Richmond based charity that takes the now iconic but now unused red phone boxes and turns them into interactive nature walks. Back in the summer, we had taken a tour of the Richmond boxes, and now it was time to take on Twickenham.

Our job for the evening was to give each box a clean and keep them in ‘box fresh’ condition. A quiet Monday night in Twickenham might not be the usual idea of ‘painting the town red’, but armed with cleaning spray and wipes, dusters and brooms, and tins of iconic post box red paint, we got to it. We started with ‘Cara The Climate Change Box’ before heading down the Green to ‘Ralph The Resource Circularity Box’.
Some of the boxes needed a bit more TLC, with graffiti, stickers and other unorthodox anti-social behaviour needing some clean up too. If we weren’t going red, we were influenced by The Rolling Stones, and were painting it black. Fun fact, the Stones have a well connected history with Twickenham having had residency on Eel Pie Island, and playing sell out shows at the stadium!

Once we’d completed the two boxes on the green, and completed the quizzes for each box (did you know that less than 10% of our rubbish is actually recycled?!), we made our way along Heath Road to the Church Street box, ‘Polly The Pollinator Box’, before getting her all sparkling spick and span.

A successful evening of doing good, getting fit and educating ourselves. Thanks to Adam for leading the runners, and welcome back Louise who was visising for the evening from deepest darkest East London!