Friday Hub is popular with some Goodgymers and today was one of those days with loads of us turning up early to setup and prepare the day ahead. Jacquie was on tea service duties where you had a choice of various cereals and biscuits. Anna was on her first session at ESK where she helped Doreen in the clothing section. James and Steph Ducat were on food grocery preparation but also helped removing price tags off t-shirts for Doreen. We also separated eggs 🥚 so we could give them out with the food bags.

The Monday morning food bank setup at St Mary’s was briefly at risk due to the late arrival of the delivery van with supplies from the central warehouse in Ealing.

Anna, Martin and JP (visiting from Richmond) were on hand and chatted with the other volunteers as we heard occasional updates on the van’s location and progress.

Eventually a cheer went up as the van arrived and we got to work rapidly unloading a bumper load of fresh and packaged food, including mango pieces, bananas, ready to eat meals and a huge load of coriander.

We quickly packed up the now-empty van with reusable boxes and plastic crates and sent the driver on his way, relieved that the food bank slot would go ahead as usual - and raced off to our next activities.

Our litterpicker rebels were at it again this month and scopped rubbish there and then in the borough. But isn't it nice to receive some recognition from the public when you are picking up rubbish. Janet was pleased to get a nice thank you from a passing by cyclist when she was clearing rubbish along the canal near Hanwell. The Egyptian geese nearby might have been thinking the same but we will never know. Gracie mille to all and hopefully you do get thank you on your litter picking missions

Each Monday morning, GoodGym lends a hand at the South Ealing Community Food Cupboard, helping the volunteers sort and organise surplus food for the local community.

The delivery was running a little late this Monday, but there were plenty of volunteers on hand to make up for lost time. Once the van arrived, they got straight to work and made quick progress unloading and packing everything away.

There was a good selection of fresh fruit alongside a particularly impressive amount of soup. By the time we finished, the shelves were well stocked and the fridge was packed full too!

p.s. thank you Denzel for taking photos and sharing what happened!

Between Friday the 18th and Sunday the 21st, Goodgymers were spotted at different areas near water to take samples and test the water quality.Freshwater watch : checking the Nitrate and phosphate levels. Goodgymers having a sample day :

• Maria sampling Thames water near Kew Bridge
• Alan was at Gunnersbury Pond
• Sevan on the canal nor far from Elthorne Park
• Steph Ducat was on the Grand Union Canal between Southall and Hayes

Phospate levels pretty all the same for all and the nitrate levels with slight variants of pink but no signs of pollution at the areas sampled. No one ended up in the water - all nice and dry and having a sample day.