GoodGym can be a total drag sometimes… But in a good way!

Nine of West London’s finest GoodGymmers were helping out on Saturday at the inaugural West London Queer Project Pride Month 10k walk, in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Two good causes to help out with then!

Our role for the day was to Marshall the walking route, and make sure the 250 or so walkers made their way along the Thames path and back safely. The walk started at Furnivall gardens, and along Hammersmith bridge, cheered along by Holly and Analiese, down to Barnes bridge where the pair that were Divya and Luis made sure no one got ran over. Then it was along to Chiswick before crossing over at Chiswick bridge (excellently marshalled by Emily), before being redirected along the Thames path by Michelle and Harvey, back to the north side of Barnes bridge where Jonny directed the walkers along to Dukes Meadows. The final Marshall Lucy stood at the 8k mark and helped motivate the walkers along for the final 2 kilometres (‘only 2k left til the pub!’).

As the final walkers passed by each Marshalling point, the Marshalls moved along, and there was soon a party of us finishing the walk with the tail walkers and reaching the Black Lion to the Pride Party already in full swing!

The walk was done, the buckets were filled for motor neurone disease, and there was a Drag Queen inviting us in to the pub garden to celebrate the day. We changed from our red GoodGym shirts into rainbow patterned pride shirts, and the only task we had to do now was to eat, drink, sing along, dance and enjoy the drag acts!

What a gay day, and we were very proud to support pride and be a part of a wonderful day. Thanks West London Queer Project!

Although we might have not have been to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, GoodGym still got to attend… to help Myeloma UK pack up and dismantle their ‘A Life Worth Living’ garden, which has been on display during the show.

Although we do a lot of gardening tasks with GoodGym, this one was a little different. First of all, we were provided with high viz and steel cap boots as per health and safety on the site, and we all got our own access passes too. If that doesn’t make you feel professional, what does?! We also made sure we had plenty of water and suncream, as we didn’t want any one to get sun-fern or de-hydrangea-ated. Flower powered up, we were ready to get going.

There were various tasks to be getting on with, but the three main jobs were:

• Digging up the plants from the garden and repotting them so they could be taken away

• Preparing trolleys and trays for the plants to go on, and loading the potted plants onto them

• Watering and wrapping the plants on the trolleys, ready to be taken away to their new home.

A lot of the task was ‘organised chaos’, but we stem-braced the challenge, and were happy to grow with the flow (especially Ishan who made a new best friend in the hose pipe!). It wasn’t just the physical side of us that got a work out, as we had to problem solve and reload a few trolleys to make sure all the plants fit! We could have lost the pot, but working with fronds we were re-leafed to get the task completed.

It was bloom-ing interesting to see how they packed away, and how hard you have to work to look after these plants. A reward for our endeavours, we were soiled for choice with some complimen-tree sweet treats, and a few wonderful bouquets that would otherwise have gone for composting.

A tree-mendous task on a bee-autiful day. We just plant get enough!

It's all hands on deck with Cultivate at the moment - we're helping this charity which repurposes derelict land and provides learning opportunities for young people to move everything on site to their new home.

As usual we met at the Town Hall, but not quite as usual the sun was shining and it was well and truly shorts weather!

We set off towards Enfield Rd, managing for once to avoid the railway crossing closing (at least on the way out) and arrived to meet the rest of the team on site. We had a few moments to spare so opted to do our fitness session before the task for once. We chose a spot and spent the time working on our core muscles - essential for preventing injury and improving form and therefore efficiency.

Romina arrived just as we were finishing up and told us about our jobs for the evening. They included some shifting of pots and pallets, some light weeding and a total overhaul of the shed.

Everybody got to work and before long the place was abuzz with activity. The shed was emptied, cleaned and then carefully restocked and the transformation was complete - have a look at those before and after photos!

Next week we're back again to help out some more.

There are loads of jobs to do at Boston Manor Park this weekend and we're very short on volunteers. If you have a little time to help them out they'd really appreciate it! You can find all the details here.

Enjoy the warmer weather GoodGym!

It was an extra special session last night in Hounslow yesterday, as we celebrated the 100th good deed of our one and only Prof Alan - give him a whoop, give him a holler, give him a cheer! Alan, after hundreds of hours of gardening, shifting compost, mulching, painting and litter picking - not to mention all the miles run in between - you have well and truly earned your wings! We were also delighted to welcome Madhan from Ealing GoodGym for a very special milestone - a huge congratulations Madhan on reaching that magic 50 and earning yourself a brand new tshirt! It was great to welcome you to the Hounslow group.

We are dedicating a few of our Wednesday sessions to helping Cultivate London ahead of their relocation to a site down the road. Time is ticking for them to shift all their plants and other resources as the buildings developing the nursery site edge ever closer. We have a couple more Wednesday with them, and there is still plenty to do - but rest assured they are extremely grateful for the help. This morning I got this message from Romina:

"Just a quick message to say thank you very much to your group. We were amazed of what we were able to achieve at the end of the day, it might have been a petty task to sort and move pots but it made the difference. We are very proud of our connection with GG."

It's lovely to receive feedback like that and a good reminder that whatever the task is, we are making a difference. Well done, team!

Big thanks to Lucy for the Lion King/100 wings run report pun this week! It was close to being Michelle's pun for the title ('A task with huge POT-ential) - the inspiration for it was evident as soon as we arrived and found a looming pile of pots waiting to be sorted and stacked for transfer. There were pots as far as the eye could see, pink pots, square pots, giant and tiddly pots. As Lucy said, it was enough to drive us potty!

While most of the team were forming a highly effective pot sorting squad, Kash and Madhan were using their considerable strength to shift three bath tubs and other bits and pieces over to the school. There was a slight delay when we got there and I couldn't figure out how to open the gate, but luckily Madhan came to the rescue, swiped us straight in and saved the day.

Time ran away with us and before long we were overdue for our run back to base. It didn't take us long to get there and finish off the night with some stretches. Don't forget there are missions every weekend now until mid-June, so there is lots to choose from. Next week we'll be helping at Cultivate again, hope to see you there! Until then, have happy weeks everybody.