Tuesday 3rd September
Report written by Kash
The Brentford Festival, which the GoodGymers helped set up had ended on Sunday, but the festival gazebos that had partied very hard were now a bit lost in the aftermath. They were the last ones to leave the field by Blondin Park Community Pavillion and now had no idea how to get home. After two days of gazebos not returning to their container, the event manager, Linda, decided it was time for a GoodGym intervention.
Seven GoodGymers (and one GoodGymer-to-be?) ran, walked or cycled to Blondin Park to give the gazebos some comfort and gently pack them away into a cosy storage. Steph gave each gazebo a warm hug to prepare them for spending the upcoming months in the dark sleeping bags, just unfolded by Sevan. Before the tents could make it to the container, Claire and Lena moved festival tables inside first and stacked them neatly.
With the tables sorted out, the whole team moved on to unfolding and folding back the six-legged gazebos (the monsters-size Gazebos which you should write with a capital G!) to adjust their frames and shake any water off the roofs. The latter looked like an attempt at a mini-storm simulation, with the canvas fluttering dramatically and raindrops sprinkling the faces of GoodGymers caught in a torrential downpour. Was it a prelude to the wet winter tasks outdoors? Hopefully not!
Martin and Gus specialised in compressing the Gazebos and squeezing them into the giant gym bags. One of those covers had a broken zip, and despite Gus' heroic attempts to make it work, the ultimate solution was to use the old-school bungee cord. Steph got caught up in Lena's ritual of wrapping the gazebo bag with the rope and almost ended up as an annual sacrifice to GoodGym gods. Luckily, with his running mastery, he managed to escape last minute!
Five gazebos, dressed in covers or not, made it safely to the container, where they were left to sleep and recover from the festival. It was then that Linda found a couple of rogue gazebo limbs outside! The GoodGymers couldn't tell which of the gazebos might have misplaced parts of their frame, so the spare legs were placed together with the rest of the festival tents to await their next big outing.
Speaking of outings, that Tuesday was a special night for GoodGym Ealing with a pub quiz as a reward for another fantastic month of doing good!
Next Tuesday we are visiting the Impact Theatre again to do prep for painting - sign up here!
If you cannot wait for a group task with us until next week, pop to Horsenden Farm for a task and social lunch with The Horsenden Loaf pizza!
The Blondin Consortium formed in 2018 and started raising funds to build the Blondin Park Community Pavilion. With the help of so many people we have been able to see our dream come to fruition and were able to open for business in September 2021. Run by volunteers this is an exciting community success story with all profits reinvested back into Blondin Park.
See moreWed 4th Sep at 8:31am
Welcome Lena
Wed 4th Sep at 9:11am
Welcome Lena!
Wed 4th Sep at 5:44pm
Thank you everyone for being some wonderfully welcoming and Kash for inviting me to such a fun session - and with a bonus social after! I had so much fun!
Ealing
Help run drop-in service on a Friday where homeless can get free clothes and wellbeing services