Tuesday 1st October 2019
Report written by Liv Parker-Scott
Last night we ran to help Hestia’s Dame Gertrude Young House, a shelter for single men who have become homeless which helps them to get back on their feet and rebuild their lives. They focus on empowering them to develop relationships and life skills they need to get their lives back on track.
You lot are something pretty special, coming out in that miserable weather! We had a small but mighty team of 8 GoodGymers last night and kudos and welcome to Alison who came out to join us for the first time in those conditions!
We started by congratulating all the Ealing Half Marathon runners from Sunday, Jenni smashed her first half, Shan got a PB and Michael got pretty close. We also had Andy visiting from GG who ran Windsor half on Sunday too. They were all out for a nice recovery run with us tonight but congratulations to everyone else who ran at the weekend!
After a quick warm up where we spoke about our favourite things to do when it's raining (luckily running followed by a nice hot shower was featured) we took the short route up Castlebar Hill to the task where Sandra was ready in waiting for us with sponges and cloths to give all the doors in the building a good clean. Lots of scuffs and marks to tackle it we got straight to it.
Hitting the mark
We worked in small teams across all the floors scrubbing all the marks we could find, the trouble is once your start seeing them it's hard to stop! We covered all the doors in super quick time and finished with a quick polish of the banisters. It's just a little job but it's something the staff may not have time for and we are happy to do anything to support this great facility. We had a few outside tasks lined up on the site this evening but we'll come back and do those when the weather is a little more friendly!
We finished with a nice run back down hill before seeking shelter in a nearby for carpark slope hill sprints mixed with circuits of different exercises in between, a great way to sneak in a blast fitness session on this wet evening!
The project supports and empowers service users, to develop their skills, promote their independence and make a positive contribution in the local community, with the ultimate aim of moving on positively and avoiding repeat homelessness.
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Help run drop-in service on a Friday where homeless can get free clothes and wellbeing services