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!

There was a man (or maybe a woman?), who lived in Hanwell and was known among his (her?) friends for the compulsive behaviours. His mates didn't know the extent of those obsessions as the worst extravagances were taking place overnight. After midnight, when almost all the shops in Hanwell were closed, the man was heading to the petrol station on Church Road and buying a pack of Strongbow Dark Fruit and a handful of Mars bars to indulge in an uncontrollable feast behind a bus stop opposite the station. Fearful of being identified by fingerprints, the man always tore nine single-use plastic gloves off the diesel pump, then disappeared in the bushes surrounding St Mellitus Church.

How else would you explain copious amounts of cider cans, chocolate bar packaging, and - most importantly - plastic gloves that three GoodGymers found on a Monday night near the Ealing Foodbank in Hanwell? Harvey, Kash and Sevan were sure they solved the mystery of the Strongbow-Mars-bar-gloved-man, but could not figure out why the enigmatic individual hadn't disposed of his rubbish in the bin at the bus stop. Finally, Harvey, while pulling aside brambles to reach the obscured rubbish in the bushes, revealed a children's drawing with a slogan: Put litter in the bin. Suddenly, everything made sense. Who would have thought the bin was put at the bus stop to provide a place to throw away litter and keep the church and foodbank area tidy and welcoming?

It turned out that Ealing Foodbank not only needed a litter pick but would also benefit from weeding and cutting back overgrown bushes around the church. The GoodGymers would have loved a gardening session to uncover the Put litter in the bin sign and more rubbish to collect. Unfortunately, all their equipment consisted of litter pickers and waste bags. Harvey, Kash and Sevan made the best out of what they had and in an hour collected two full bags of rubbish to make the area surrounding the foodbank a more pleasant space.

The Southall parkrun-to-foodbank team that carried donations from Southall Park to St Mellitus Church was a special one as it had a walking option for those who were happy to take it easy after running 5k at parkrun or were injured.

Two parkrunners made their debut as GoodGymers today! Anuj and Beata, who are fantastic team-players, stuck together for the entire course, and later were very patient waiting for the event to finish to set off with the gang.

Louise, who wants to run all parkruns within M25, decided to visit Southall last minute and signed up to two Ealing community missions. She also helped with token sorting to speed up the team's departure to foodbank.

Kash, who was leading the walk to the foodbank, was barcode scanning. She also had a chance to grab the parkrun megaphone during the brienfing and announce the GoodGym-parkrun-foodbank initiative.

The GoodGymers met Jags who was helping with preparing today's course and then ran the parkrun. He had to run to another community project after the parkrun but it was great to see him again.

An extra addition to the team was the run director Sunday who stepped in to the role last minute. He was also the one who spontaneously joined our group and bought his donation quickly on the walk to foodbank - he's a star!

Despite our group had the shortest distance to cover, we left our parkrun as the last attendees and walked, so we arrived at the foodbank as the last group. Last but not least! The teams from other parkrun-to-foodbank runs still waited for us at Momentum coffee shop and. It was nice to see friends and have a treat after the morning of running and walking! Such a fantastic initiative set up by Harvey!

Sevan was leading the Food Bank Run from Gunnersbury parkrun this morning. Despite it being his local parkrun, this was only the 3rd time that he was running it. There were only 2 sign ups on the GoodGym website, himself and Ealing's Running Mayor, Tom Kerry, so he reminded the Run Director to give GoodGym and the Food Bank Run a shout out during the briefing. With that done, Sevan hoped that more, generous runners would materialise.

After a muddy 5km circuit, Sevan waited. And waited. And waited at the finish. Then, 2 runner-donators appeared, which was a relief. A little later, Rachel from the Ealing Half Marathon charity brought 7 more, making 11 in total! Word had gotten around on the Gunnersbury parkrun socials.

The group were a varied bunch. Most from around Ealing, with some that had never explored the streets and areas that the run to the Food Bank would take them through. Others came from further afield, with one Feltham runner and 2 parkrun tourists from South Wales who were in London for a gig.

With everyone rounded up and a photo taken, the group set off on a gentle run to the Food Bank. They were the first group of the four to arrive and hand over their donations. Different strategies were on show with battered cereal boxes and nappies brought by those who went for bulky-but-light. Heavy-but-compact on the other hand had prioritised tins and bottles. Between them, they ended up with a good variety of donations to help those in need around Ealing.

The Osterley and Northala groups arrived soon after and they headed to Momentum for coffee and a second breakfast, where they met up with the group from Southall

This was one of four group runs from parkruns near to Ealing Foodbank, a collaboration with WeRunEaling and joining Runr's national campaign. Our GoodGym runners were joined by friends and parkrunners to volunteer/run at Osterley parkrun. Then we jogged to Ealing Foodbank and joined up with our friends from Gunnersbury, Northala Fields and Southall parkruns to drop off our food donations. What followed was a well deserved coffee and nibbles at our very finest local cafe, Momentum.

Travellers and local GoodGymers met Sevan at Ealing Food Bank in Hanwell. Once a frequent GoodGym task location, it was good to be back in the familar car park and litter magnet that is the Food Bank entrance.

Sevan was joined by Cherian, who was joining them for a whole day of Ealing Good, essential Food Bank key holder, Shan and John who found himself in Hanwell on the way to an FA Cup match. Shan also brought some black bags which were double the normal size, which made them hard to handle. The fifth member, Kash, brought the litter pickers and luckily a roll of blue LAGER Can bags too.

It was a litter pick like many others and also unlike most others as there weren't too many beer cans and bottles. Most of the waste was either snack food packaging from the nearby bus stop or disposable gloves from the petrol station across the road. Lots and lots of gloves 🧤

Lots of small bits of litter were collected to fill 2 LAGER Can bags and half of a giant black sack, leaving the Food Bank looking much more welcoming for its volunteers and clients.