Disclaimer: Parts of this report may be slightly embellished for the purposes of pun placement. It’s all for the greater good ;)

A lovely, albeit sticky run, had 13 of us begin the night with a civilised light warm up with a few dynamic stretches. This was immediately followed by a game of Stuck in the Mud that would have put any primary school playground version to shame.

We then headed off to OPEN Ealing Arts Centre, where we were tasked with cleaning the tables used for the kids’ workshops. Although it was clear that many of the children had decided that the tables were their canvas, we got to work on the mess with nothing but Sainsbury Basic sponges, sugar soap and a sense of optimism. The blue paint proved to be a tough adversary, but with Lisa’s motivational mid-task squats, we all got a second wind and unlike the tables, didn’t fold. We left the tables looking good enough to eat off, well maybe not eat off, but certainly good enough for a spot of creative writing say.

Before leaving, a lecturer gave us a brief talk on the classes available at the centre, and not understanding that we’d all run there, offered to contribute some petrol money: “Do you need Monet for Degas to make the Van Gogh?” Not wanting to leave the wrong impression, we politely refused.

The 12 of us then began the journey back to base, on the way we formed Indian files. We made it back to Haven Green in time for us to fit in a few more sets of lungey squatty stretchy thingy ma bobs before we all departed for home.

If anyone says that GoodGym Ealing didn’t do a good job this week, they don’t have a leg to stand on!