After meeting the Friends of Grove Farm and LAGER Can members at the usual meeting spot, Anna was on hand to provide litter pickers and some bags for the rubbish and litter collection. The group divided into two teams to work along the different paths through Grove Farm, picking up the leftover rubbish. Working along the main road, it was definitely clear that someone had a Bounty craving, with many wrappers found along the same area!

Working our way into the fields of Grove Farm to clear more rubbish dropped in the sides of paths, the team all ended up at the front entrance of the site, to help clearing the fly tipped rubbish.

After bagging up the large items and collecting additional litter around the area and at the sides of the main road, the team wrapped up for the photo… And with a total of 32 bags collected, another great achievement by the team!

Although I wasn't intentionally avoiding it, I was spared the sink duty at the Soup Kitchen. I folded the tables and put away the chairs, then I was ready for the hoovering. My first partner, Charles the blue hoover, couldn't keep up with the pace and switched off in less than 5 minutes. When I tried to troubleshoot the problem, Steven appeared and explained to me that Charles does it every time and needs around 20 minutes to cool down.

My second attempt was a collaboration with the good, old Henry, who exhibited more stamina than Charles. I cleaned the whole food parcel room and a half of the main hall with Henry, before handing him over to my friend to finish that area off.

We were done around 4pm and with nothing else to do for us, Arul suggested we could clock off early.

As a very infrequent Friday Hub volunteer, I was surprised to find myself to be among the most senior servers at the Ealing Soup Kitchen on the day, at least in Angela's eyes. A couple of regulars had dropped out of the rota, so two friends I introduced to the ESK today and two other volunteers had to step up for the job. The serving crew did fantastically, no matter the limited experience. The genuine smile and enthusiasm of my colleagues were in demand!

Spaghetti bolognese with beef or vegetables were on the menu. The vegetarian option disappeared quickly. Luckily, the vast majority of the clients were after the meaty version.

The two hours of lunch serving went quickly with clients constantly moving in and out the busy dining area. By the end of the shift we were surprised by the number of steps we did as waiters. It was a lively and rewarding activity for me and my friends.

The first shift of the Friday Soup Kitchen saw two sports t-shirts: red and black bringing the GoodGym energy into the Crypt of St John's. JP cycled to the session and Kash walked there after her morning workout at the outdoor gym in the park. The morning exercises already done, and in both cases, all for free!

Kash started at 10:00, dividing the donated fresh food from the Felix Project into smaller bags to be distributed across the food parcels for the clients. The frozen chicken wings were stuck together yet suspiciously animated (as they jumped onto the table if not handled carefully) when Kash tried to separate them.

JP was preparing the clothes section, breezing through the bags of donated menswear, sorting items and putting them on hangers. He occasionally questioned the category of some of the jackets. Is it mens? Is it womens? A quote about sunshine, sewn inside one of such jackets, deemed it not very masculine, JP thought. The difficulty levelled up when he came across a bag of "unmentionables" to sort. Luckily, Kash arrived in the clothes room just in time to deal with the ladies undergarments.

With all the prep completed ahead of time, JP moved onto the tea station and entertained the clients with a friendly chat and hot, often sugary beverages.

On Tuesday evening, under the dim glow of streetlights, Steph, Sevan and Kash set off from Ealing Broadway, equipped with litterpickers and a good dose of energy. The runners met Claire and Bryon at St Mellitus Church in Hanwell to assemble a team for another litterpick adventure. Undeterred by the darkness, the group brought light to the community by tackling the litter problem at the Ealing Foodbank head-on!

Despite hoping that the litter situation had improved since their last visit five weeks ago, they were surprised to find just as much rubbish, if not more, given the volume of bulkier items scattered around. In addition to the usual wrappers and bottles, the gang unearthed some unique discoveries: a clothes dryer in surprisingly good condition and a few abandoned bras! Among the typical finds were countless plastic gloves scattered around the area from the nearby petrol station. That left the team, especially drivers, scratching their heads, wondering who needs to use those gloves.

In total, the crew collected two full waste bags of litter, as well as a few “unbaggable” items. After a successful session and a good workout, the GoodGymers treated themselves to some well-deserved pizza at The Green W7. A great end to a productive evening!

Acton saw 3 goodgymers Sevan Kash Steph Ducat running in the streets on a Sunday afternoon : what are these 3 amigos up to?!They were just running to meet at Mr E to tidy his garden. He was waiting in the front garden and speaking to his neighbor who was delighted we were coming to help him as the overgrown garden was invading his side of the garden. He gave us massive and strong bags and some tools to tidy the garden. When they walked out into the garden, we all thought : we wont be able to clear and bag this in 90 minutes. It looked like a jungle and you could not see what was at the end of the garden, that is how overgrown it was...no passage at all to get through. What was living in this jungle? Would the GG soldiers be able to push back the wild bramble? Very decided, the trio attacked the jungle where they found flying insects, strong rotten smell, massive thorns and discovered a predators hiding place and a trap for them. The smell came from both the rotten apples on the floor, the still water from pots laying around. Both Kash and Steph got caught in a trap when pushing back the wild jungle : was this made by the predator to protect its territory? Is that blood on Steph's trainers? Once all cleared, the traps could be clearly be seen. This was the backyard of one or several foxes and they had dug 2 tunnels which caught the goodgymers and the blood was the juice of the rotten apples on the floor. As the troopers pushed back the jungle they discovered a shed which could not be seen at the start of the mission. The mission that seemed impossible on arrival, was completed successfully with 10 bags filled with wild bramble and only a few scratches on the arms and legs of the troopers and the predator did not show up during the mission. Think the foxes will be in for a surprise but the clean up as no jungle anymore!!