Sevan and Steph Ducat were the 2 Goodgymers only left at the Christmas Craft Fair.They were not wining even if long day and getting closer to the closure of the fair. But before packing up at 830, they still were pouring mulled wine like there is Pinot tomorrow. The mulled wine levels were going down, but it was time for the stall holders to un- wine after working hard and selling their craft today - Working nine to wine? They were having a grape time : drinkin’ mulled wine and feelin’ fine.Sevan and Steph kept providing mulled wine, hot chocolate and minced pies and slowly packing items away. Even the wine was getting into the spirit of the season.

The second shift at the refreshments stall at the festive crafts fair in the William Hoabbayne Centre saw a swap of two merry vendors: Lena and Sevan. The performers at the gallery also changed. At 5:30 pm, the famous Ukulele Band entered the stage. Those GoodGymers who frequently visit The Green W7 pub after Tuesday's group runs to Hanwell know very well who I am talking about. Next to the festive classics like Feliz Navidad and I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, the group performed their signature song: Jolene.

Mulled wine was a best-seller among drinks, which made Steph and Lena develop new solutions for whipped cream and marshmallows that were not going to be used up for hot chocolate toppings. They designed cream & marshmallow minced pies that sold pretty well. Chocolate chip cookies were also a hit - whether it was because of their affordable price or superior taste - we don't know.

The finish of the Ukulele Band act meant a big order on the house: plenty of mulled wine and hot chocolate for the musicians. Paul handled the large hot choc order while Steph and Sevan scrambled to heat and pour numerous cups of wine. Several artists changed their minds on their way down from the gallery and decided they deserved mulled wine after a long performance rather than hot chocolate.

The refreshments table was visited by several familiar faces like the Hanwell community members: Rick, Amanda and Dee, who were our task owners in the past. We also served warming drinks to Sean and Fiona from Ealing Wildlife Group and our GoodGym friends: Milly and Caz.

Paul and Kash had to leave at 7 pm. Before clocking off, Paul warmed up the last batch of hot chocolate and Kash, who was until now in charge of charging the jolly customers, gave Sevan a quick run-through on how to handle the kash or kard payments. A seemingly quieter part of the evening started.

A unit of five elite elves entered the William Hobbayne Centre at 1 pm on Sunday to transform the community space into an indoor Christmas market venue for artisans from Hanwell and Ealing. The first stage of operations was all about unpacking goodies from cars, moving chairs and generally relocating various items: from mulled wine bottles to beer bottles. And let's not forget about the hot chocolate! The upcoming festive crafts fair was going to be properly merry!

The team was blocked from setting up the tables for the stall holders until 2 pm because of a taekwondo class in the main hall. Instead, they helped with the set-up in the backroom, where one of our GoodGymers, Milly, today visited the Hobbayne Centre as one of the local craftspeople. Lena has shown unwavering patience, untangling a cable of Christmas lights and then braving the weather to embellish a rail outside the centre despite gusts of wind and rain. Her festive decoration must have grabbed the public's attention as later the event had a good, steady stream of visitors.

Five minutes to 2 pm the event organiser, Siena, gathered the crew and briefed them about the plan of action. The elves were to take over the taekwondo training space, move the chairs out, bring the tables in and unfold them as soon as possible so that the local crafters could start preparing their stalls.

With the main hall maneuvres completed quickly, the elves moved to the kitchen and started getting tipsy (I mean busy!) preparing the beverages. Steph Ducat and Paul heated the mulled wine and did careful quality checks that revealed that the drink was warming and excellent in taste. Nishy and Lena took on a more advanced task of preparing hot chocolate in a Heinz-branded soup warmer. The team trusted Nishy's (who is a talented baker) skills to figure out the proportions of milk and chocolate powder. The process required a lot of stirring, which Lena, again, did with compelling persistence. Kash came in at the end to give the concoction a more energetic stir. The chocolate drink turned out smooth and tasty, but it had nothing to do with "hot". June, the task owner, suggested heating it up in a saucepan and then pouring the batch back into the soup warmer to keep it at the right temperature. The trick worked like magic and concluded the preparations, shortly before the arrival of the firsts visitors. Check out what happened next!

The fifth and final task of the day at Hobbayne's Christmas Fayre was to clear away all evidence that there ever was a festive gathering of local merchants. The sellers packed up their own stock, meaning that the main areas for the GoodGymers to focus on were the kitchen and tables.

From the previous reports, you may have read that there was much mulled wine flowing. Steph took on the job of cleaning the tea/mulled wine urn, while Sevan helped to get the mulled wine stains off the tables. Then they worked together - and with other Hobbayne volunteers - to fold and put away the tables.

Some stall holders needed a hand to get their produce back to their cars, which the team were happy to help with as it meant that one more table could be cleared away. Another thing that needed clearing were the remaining mince pies, so Steph and Sevan took one for the team and helped dispose of a couple 😋

The last task was moving Hobbayne's stacks of chairs back into the main hall. With that done, the tidy up was complete and the before and after photos of the day looked almost identical.

The set up shift was complete and now it was over to the opening of the Christmas Craft Fair for The William Hobbayne Charity.

Goodgym’s are well into their second decade of doing good, we have a bit to go to catch up with The William Hobbayne Charity - Doing good helping residents of Hanwell since 1484!

The doors opened and the empty halls around the Craft stalls soon began to fill up.

The amazing Choir trio got everyone in the festive mood. The rendition of “Walking in the air..” made me want to watch the snowman (I will have to wait till Christmas Day).

An amazing atmosphere from locals residents who turned out to support their local charity.

Goodgym was in charge of the refreshment stall and we were on hand to ensure their was Mince Pies, Hot Chocolates, and Mulled wine for for all (with a little bit of necessary quality control sampling)

A joyous afternoon that put everyone in the festive spirit….

Cristes mæsse

The noun Christmas, deriving from the Old English Cristes mæsse (the mass or festival of Christ), took hold only in the early twelfth century.

Hanwell: the final frontier. These are the voyages of GoodGym Ealing. Its all-time mission: to explore strange new tasks, to seek out new impact and new communities, to boldly go where no GoodGymer has gone before!

On a starless night, four brave GoodGymers responded to a distress call from the William Hobbayne Centre, which was under constant invasion of moss and weeds. Harvey, Kash, Sevan and Steph Ducat took off from Ealing Broadway running through the streets of Ealing. With the human traffic at the beginning of the route, they didn't dare to attempt the warp speed. Neither did Christos, who walked to the session. Beaming directly to the site was not an option for tonight.

Arriving at the task, the team met June from the Hobbayne Charity who equipped them with weapons of moss destruction from the shed. The GoodGymers huddled together for a tactical briefing.

"Set your head torches to stun," Kash commanded.

The beams of light cut through the darkness, revealing the opponents: the lush green moss and tall weeds. Armed with hoes, giant brooms, snow shovels and sheer determination, the GoodGymers worked methodically, as if clearing a strange new planet's surface for habitation. Sevan encountered an unusually looking blob of strange matter on the concrete, but no one could identify what it was.

"It's life, but not as we know it."

The group decided to conform to the Prime Directive and leave the life form alone, in case they could cause it harm or vice versa. They focussed their energy on moss scraping instead. As the minutes passed, the yard began to transform, and soon the light from the head torches illuminated the cleaner surface beneath their feet.

After one hour had passed, Christos, Harvey, Kash, Sevan and Steph called it a night, leaving the once-chaotic yard in a state of peace once more. The tactical operation to restore order in the backyard galaxy was a great success. The GoodGymers, together with June, beamed up to a local pub for a chat and a few bites of pizza, and then ran or walked back home.