They say good things come in threes. How about fours? Four GoodGymers, four kilometres run and four bags of litter collected. Doesn't that sound like much bigger wins?

Alan and Maria from GoodGym Hounslow joined Ealing regulars, Steph and Kash, for the last chance to do a group run in 2025. The route took them from Ealing Broadway to the notorious alleyway between the Holy Family Primary School in West Acton and the A40.

The litter hunt brought a variety of findings: a hula hoop, a lamp, tennis balls, and last year's Christmas tree, complete with presents (empty cans and bottles) underneath. The fantastic four finished off the fruitful litter picking session with an uphill run back - a group run in North Ealing doesn't count without a little hill session!

With 2025 rubbish done and dusted, we're looking forward to the first group run in the New Year, and hoping you'll join us for a woodchipping task in Walpole Park!

Sevan and Kash were back for another instalment - or shall I say installation - at Ms K's in Acton, after last week's battle against a wardrobe. Sevan, confident about their still-fresh experience in IKEA wardrobe assembly, started looking ahead, already thinking about starting the bed building, after they would complete the second wardrobe, similar to the one they had built previously. Too soon!

As the GoodGymers hadn't completed all the inside features of the first wardrobe, they spent almost half an hour building its drawers. Why did it take so long? The instructions weren't provided in the pack, so the final look of the drawer and the steps to make it happen had to be figured out. Thankfully, Sevan was pretty good at that.

Armed with a memory of the previous flatpack building session, Sevan and Kash quickly assembled the identical case of the second wardrobe, happy that all the parts fitted together right away this time. While Ms K entertained the GoodGymers with her stories about her accounting assistance and math tutoring she had offered in the past, the duo got busy building the shelves for the wardrobe number two.

Everything was going smoothly until they discovered that the last shelf turned out uneven. Sevan admitted he hadn't done his maths right when calculating the position of the hole where he was supposed to put the screws (8+9=16?), while Kash enthusiastically followed his mistake and started screwing in the fixings without double-checking the assumptions. Ooops - a bit of a blunder in front of such a math buff as Ms K!

Despite the slip-up, the GoodGymers promptly corrected the error, and soon two wardrobes stood next to each other with shelving and drawers ready to put clothes in! The doors were still missing, but the practical Ms K was happy with the outcome, knowing it enabled her to start transferring her outfits temporarily kept in the living room into her new bedroom.

A lighter than usual task at Care4Calais today. Task owner Tamzin gave everyone an early finish as it was Xmas and also for good behaviour through the year. There was still plenty of work to do though and packages to prepare for recipients who are experiencing their first UK winter.

The legend that is Santa had delivered a big batch of padded jackets to Care4Calais. Just what was needed to keep everyone warm during the current spell of cold weather. Steph, Maria, Kash and Sevan opened half finished packages and squeezed jackets into each one. Lesser known fantasy figures then came to help the GoodGymers as Shoe Fairies delivered boxes of trainers, which is exactly what the next batch of requests needed.

Other legendary occurrences during the task included Kash exclaiming that she'd "never been so tall" as she carried a box on her head which hit the ceiling. Later, Tamzin told Steph and Sevan to "finish him off". A reference to fixing a poorly picked package for a child still needing a school bag, not a command to take them out!

Normal service will be resumed in January when we'll be back helping Care4Calais. Depending on your definition of "normal", that could be just as fantastical and amusing as today's session.