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!

We were back at Chiswick House last night for another lovely GoodGym Hounslow session, and what a treat we had in store: two tasks, both indoors! It was especially good timing with the evenings drawing in.

Chiswick House is a wonderful local resource and the team keep our green spaces thriving, protect their heritage and make them welcoming places for the whole community to enjoy. By helping with the behind-the-scenes jobs, we’re doing our bit to support a special place for local people.

We met up with Poppy and split into two teams to tackle our tasks for the evening.

🌱 Team Seeds

Half the group headed inside to sort through seeds collected from the garden and carefully pack them into pouches. These seeds will either be resown to help grow more beautiful plants or sold to raise funds for the charity. It was peaceful, chatty work, with plenty of time to catch up and discuss everything from the Pope to our upcoming birthday! Proof that chatting while GGing throws up some of the most interesting conversational topics.

🌿 Team Willow

Meanwhile, over in the barn, the other team got busy stripping willow branches before carefully manoeuvring them into arches. These will be planted to support the flowers in the herbaceous borders, helping them grow securely.

This task took a fair bit of skill and dexterity, but GoodGym Hounslow were more than up to the challenge! There were expert demonstrations of willow stripping, along with a spot of country dancing - anyone else remember the Stripping the Willow formation?

It was a thoroughly wholesome and productive evening, with plenty achieved and lots of good company along the way.

🏃 We rounded off the evening with a run back to base, breaking it up with a variety of fitness stations. A little extra exercise to finish off a brilliant session — and some very impressive pictures to prove it!

Next week: We’re heading to Duke’s Meadow to clear a space for young people. Another great opportunity to give something back to our local community, get moving and have a good chat along the way.

See you there, GoodGym Hounslow! ❤️