Ijo joined the GoodGym gang from the morning shift at 1 pm and stayed in the kitchen area alongside Jacquie. She had been on serving duty and then jumped straight to washing the dishes. The ESK-savvy Jacquie didn't need to be told even once what to do next, she mastered the smooth flow from one important task to the next. While the other volunteers were still chatting and finishing off their lunch, Jacquie was spotting the tables that needed tidying up and wiping them right away.

Kash was operating in the other rooms: first on clothes, then the food parcel distribution. The regular volunteer Arul had let Kash know that at 14:45 they were going to take the chicken and frozen pizzas out of the freezer and add them to the shopping bags for the clients. Arul took the role on the frontline, collecting clients' tickets (which some of them had misplaced), and Kash handed out the cooking and non-cooking grocery bags.

Once the food parcels were finished, it was time for the raffle with unique prizes: the Vanish detergent powder!

Jacquie arrived earlier and stayed for the lunch service. Lots of fun today despite it being busy. Ijo joined and was on top of the cleaning in the kitchen. Chicken or veg stir fry in wraps with salad were served to the clients.

Today was the busiest day ever for Ijo since she joined Goodgym. People just kept coming. Today menu was Chicken/ Tofu fried noodles, dessert was carrot cake. People loved the noodles very much, they gave two rounds of applause to the chef of the day - Arul. Roberta also completed 3 shifts today at ESK : bravo!! Roberta was on bingo and food parcel, then I helped cleaning in the kitchen. They kept calm and curry on with noodles

Friday Hub and the weather was stormy outside. 2 goodgymers in the Pie of the storm that was going on in the crypt of the church as many people and very busy. Alot of new faces around. Ijo joined Roberta who was already there from 11am. Pie or not pie : halal lamb or vegetarian shepherd's Pie was on the menu, followed by a mixed fruit salad.

Today was a super busy day. Jacquie was there from 11am and joined by Ijo at 1pm. They both satyed until 3pm There were lots of volunteers today but even more guests came to enjoy the food. Packing food parcels, sorting clothes and helping out in the kitchen. washing up while food being served also one of the tasks for our volunteers. Menu today were chicken stir fried noodles and vegetarian stir fried noodles, followed by dessert (carrot cake/ berries crumble with custard).

It's been eight years since the very first GoodGym Ealing group run to Boston Manor Park on the 9th August 2016. Such a chunk of history had to be celebrated with style!

A thank you to our supporters

• The venue was kindly provided to us by The William Hobbayne Charity at their community space.
• The birthday cake and snacks were supplied by June Martin from the charity.
• The local pub The Green W7 donated their delicious wood-fired pizza to feed all of us!

Sevan volunteered to drop from the running group of tonight's group run to run to our task and party venue with a peculiar companion - a giant golden "8" helium balloon, causing a sensation amongst Hanwell children.

Mike did the honour of blowing the candle as the longest-serving Ealing GoodGymer at tonight's party, and Milly brought some GoodGym-themed bits and bobs for everyone, donated by the previous leader of our GoodGym, Liv.

What makes us great?

After the birthday speeches, the guests were asked to share with everyone what they think makes GoodGym Ealing great. Here are some facts:

• How nice everyone is
• Having a shared purpose
• The people
• The company
• The passion of all Ealing GoodGymers
• Socialising
• Seeing a group of people spending time to give and help
• It's the people, of course!
• Being able to volunteer with lots of great projects thanks to GoodGym
• The "good" in GoodGym Ealing

Let the games begin!

After last year's quiz, Kash and Sevan decided to up their game and have three teams (Harvey's Angels, Amaretti and W7 Men) compete in four disciplines:

• I Spy, a warm-up silly game. Our fitness leaders never forget about warm-ups, right?)
• Build a polytunnel from recycled materials (think milk bottles, a rainproof poncho, pastel de nata packaging, egg boxes, etc.) in 10 minutes. Every GoodGymer involved in setting up the real-life polytunnel at Western Road in Southall can attest that such a task can be more demanding than it seems!
• Take a photo with as many mouths and as few noses and shoulders on it as possible.
• Write a GoodGym-themed haiku.

All the teams showed fantastic teamwork and unbridled creativity, GoodGym Ealing style.

Here is to the next 8 great years! 🍻