A welcome start to 2025 group runs for GoodGym Richmond as we met at Tap Tavern to warm-up together and run the 3.5km route to The Purple Elephant Project, supporting children's mental health.

Task owner Jane met us at the centre with a great list of tasks ready for us to get stuck into in the children's play garden: clear up the leaves, reattach the privacy screening, fix up the den with astroturf underneath, re-support the bird feeder and move a gazebo to the shed. Between a team of happy and well-warmed-up helpers the tasks were all complete in 45 minutes, with a short stop for leftover Christmas chocolates and biscuits from Jane before the group ran back off past Twickenham stadium to Richmond town centre, a lovely steady 7km run.

After Saturday morning’s mission was left unfinished due to a lack of tools, the good folk of GG Richmond (and a couple of guests from other boroughs) rallied to organise a bonus mission to get the jobs done.

There were several tasks to complete for The Purple Elephant Project, a children’s mental health charity working across the London Boroughs of Richmond and Hounslow, supporting over 100 children and their families every week with therapeutic interventions such as Play therapy and Art Therapy.

Harvey, Chris and JP set to work on building the shed, which could not be started on Saturday. They laid the foundation trays and weighted them with gravel, and got the base of the shed into place against the wall.

Meanwhile, Rachael, Adam, Monika, T and Rob swept up leaves on the driveway, gathering them into sacks for disposal. The flowerbeds were also raked clear of leaves so that they looked pristine, and a general tidy up was going on all over the site at the same time.

Over at the shed, walls had been added along with some front panels, and the team were hammering panels onto the support beams to form the roof. Genius Chris realised the felt should only be tacked on one side so the roof could be fixed into place without puncturing the felt before it was tacked down.

Another task was going on in the garden by this time, which according to our reporter on the scene, T, was the best bit of the task! She, Kate and Monika were gluing loose beads into a water run, providing a delightful water feature for the kids making use of the garden. Using No More Nails, the team formed a system with T putting dots of the glue on the missing spots and the others adding the pebbles.

Back over at the shed, hinges were added to doors and doors were added to shed.

Organiser Jane had supplied cupcakes for energy and plenty of squash to wash them down. It was soon time for the group photo, which was taken in front of the Purple Elephant sign.

Back at the shed, the fiddly task of adding closure bolts and a clasp. Then a search for nails as the team raced against the incoming darkness to get the remaining jobs done - tacking the roof felt in place and adding panels on each corner as a finishing touch.

Well done to everyone for taking time out to do some good on a bank holiday Monday!

We braved the downpours for a task at The Purple Elephant Project, a children’s mental health charity near Twickenham Stadium. We met Jenny and Jane from the charity there and Harvey who was over from GG Ealing.

Unfortunately, assembling their new shed proved harder than it sounds and we hatched a plan to buy materials including gravel and will be returning on bank holiday Monday to finish the job.