Today, Stephanie joined the All Aboard Club to help prepare for their event at Brookwood Memorial Hall.

We began by unloading boxes filled with the train’s components and tracks before putting our best Tetris skills to the test as we attempted to navigate chairs out of a tightly packed storeroom. After a few strategic “pivots,” we successfully freed the chair trolley and set out the seating.

With the room ready, construction of the track could begin. As always, it was a fun and creative challenge, with the layout taking shape in its own unique way—finished with just ten minutes to spare before the first excited guests arrived.

This event marks the second-to-last session All Aboard Club will be able to host at Brookwood so we’re determined to make the next track even more special!

All Aboard Club

This mornings All Aboard session in Brookwood was the last one until September 😒

Wayne & Anne met Richard and the rest of the volunteers at the community hall to set up the last session of the term 😊

Todays train track looked amazing as it was the last one the imagination and creativity came flooding out amongst all the volunteers 🚂

Anne ran to the task doing a total of 8k run 🏃‍♀️

Further volunteering opportunities for All Aboard Club will resume from September 😊😊

A lone GoodGymer put on his greasy overalls and headed to the London Transport Museum Depot this morning. Sevan met with the team from All Aboard Club and had the pleasure of placing the sign on the road to direct today's attendees up to the depot. On the way back, a child who was very early asked if he could go and play already - an hour before opening time - so Sevan had to tell him to be patient and keep watching the passing tube trains. There's a perfectly placed bench to do just that.

Up in the track building area, loops were the order of the day. Sevan created 2 that then evolved during the build, with more and more people coming along and adding bits. Unlike most All Aboard Club sessions, the track was ready 20 minutes before doors opened. So early that not even the children who sneak up the stairs ahead of time had turned up yet. All of the builders had a few minutes to sit back (next to the fan) and appreciate what they'd created.

So, what happened to the boy who was so eager that he was outside an hour early? He wasn't the first one in, nor the second. He was number 3 and went straight to the box of locomotives and carriages to make his perfect train. Maybe the big trains outside held his attention for a bit too long.

This morning was mine and Callum's first mission in Woking, supporting the wonderful work of the All Aboard team in Brookwood. We got stuck in, building the tracks with the team, letting our creative brains chug along. It was very inspiring to see the children enjoying the team's work, in a space where they can relax and express themselves. This is such important work, bravo!

After a couple of months break, GoodGym Ealing were back at the wonderful London Transport Museum Depot in Acton to partner with All Aboard Club. Overlooking the full size tube trains and buses, the task as always was to build a unique and giant train set for autistic and SEN children.

As usual, everyone started building their own vision, then tried to work out how to connect it to everyone else's pieces of track. Michelle and Sevan started working on neighbouring towns, so had the "how on earth do we connect these?" problem early on, before going on to create and resolve chaos in other parts of the train network.

One of the regular volunteers had grand designs for his track and he wasn't afraid of telling people about them. He told Sevan, then other volunteers how his 4 parallel stretches of track would branch off and merge together with other parts, leading to task owner Richard to say:

"Less talk, more build" - Richard

...and so he did, turning what was in his mind into blue plastic art.

Once set up, the All Aboard Club attendees almost arrived on time, which is rare as they're so excited to get to play with the trains. They were only 5 minutes early today. Another surprise was that they didn't immediately start to rip up and change the lovingly created track. Maybe the troublemakers are away this month 😂.

If you'd like to become a big child for an hour, you can join us next month to help All Aboard Club get their big train set ready at the London Transport Museum Depot. Sign up here for the 12th of July.

All Aboard Club 🚂

This morning Wayne, Alys, & Julie met Richard from All Aboard Club at Brookwood Halls to help build the big train track for the kids to enjoy 😊.

We were joined by a few other volunteers from local organisations. We Helped unload the car and between us took ll the crates into the hall and strategically placed them around.

Alys & Julie started to place the chairs around the hall for the parents then it was time to build. We all started in different area's and started to lay the tracks. within 30 mins the track was looking great. The track had plenty of loops and turns it must of been one of the most technical and interesting tracks we had done, it looked great.

This coming Wednesday we will be doing a leaflet drop around the Goldsworth Park Area for Sam Beare Hospice 😊