We were greeted by Jane (Head of Therapy) who introduced us to the Purple Elephant Project. Its focus and core values behind an intrinsic nature of supporting families and the key message being that 'children should be heard'.

In quick succession, we got down to the list of prepared tasks. The major areas included tidying up the garden and indoor play therapy centre, filled with toys, art materials, sand trays, and other creative tools were located. We also had senior play therapist Tracy on board, who performed an initial assessment with us to identify what sections needed tidying up. A stop and think exercise before tackling a job was a good shout. Our mission was to create an environment where therapists could reach out to the objects in those sections, that would later help the children to express their emotions and process trauma. We agreed and got cracking with the jobs.

Honor went guns blazing and took care of the therapy garden (and bringing along her own mower) whilst Mazin helped inside. Some of the tasks required fixtures and fittings to doors, shelves, units, a new screen along the fence, a replacement garden hose, the cooperative outdoor games, bedding, planting, mowing, general cleanup etc.

It certainly looked holistic by the time when we were done. It was a magnificent show of support from the entire team including our young special guests, Esra and Felix who helped create a magical atmosphere! Their bursts of role-play and act out scenarios clearly on display meant that everything was tickety-boo. The adults continued to tackle the rest of the jobs and before we knew it, it was close to lunch.

A job well done!

Ultimately, it was two Teams on either end of the Church grounds making a small difference. One mission was to clean up the war memorial and the other, involved two sections where we had to lift up some of the turf a few inches off the ground.

Thanks to the tools we had available. This included a post basher, a tape measure, a string for the border, some wooden posts and a small shovel. It was pretty evident that the surrounding lawn around the Church was steeped in history so we took note of that from the beginning. The two areas in question was pretty close to a previous trench that Goodgym previously got involved back in 2024, where we also spotted the sow that reaped its rewards with full flower.

We took a section of the lawn at the back of the church (or depending which way you look at it) and started digging. We found no artifacts, perhaps some dust from previous stone diminished.

Shortly afterwards, we completed our mission. The vicar invited us in for some refreshments afterwards. It's pretty amazing when a team comes together!

A busy evening by the river this evening as the group set off along the sunny path past pubs, cyclists and picnic-eaters, as well as dancing midges, mozzies and mayflies as the path opened up towards Petersham.

Arriving at the Sea Scouts, Scout leader Russell had already put Chris and Mazin to work mixing concrete and wheelbarrowing it across the field where the scout group were adding to the adventure practising archery! The rest of us go stuck straight in too with active tasks happening everywhere: shovelling the fresh concrete into position for the new firepit, measuring up, pumping up the dinghy, moving bags of soil around, moving logs about on the trolley and clearing invasive balsam plants.

An all-round perfect example of a GoodGym task, keeping us all fit by doing good! We are back there on Saturday morning to help further, sign up to join the fun!