TRAID are pioneers in selling second-hand clothes, putting pre-loved vestments back on racks so they get another shot at being seen out and about (rather than rotting away in a wardrobe somewhere). But while TRAID might not approve of fast fashion, they still have to move with the seasons, and that means boxing up their current stock so new recruits can have their moment to shine. And there was quite a lot of that stock at the Kilburn TRAID! So Beatriz, Chris, Emily, Faz, Lee and Tabitha rolled up their sleeves so they could roll up some sleeves - as well as the other parts of the clothes they were packing away. That was only half the battle though, with no time for hangers on, as our six got to grips with endless, endless hangers that needed storing too. They really pulled their trousers up though (as well as the many second-hand trousers that needed dealing with), sorting the job in double-quick time. In fact, it looked like they might be ready to (cat)walk away ahead of schedule – until disaster struck. Faz’s jacket…had gone missing.
It’s the one thing we didn't want to happen. But no clothing left behind, so we ripped those taped up boxes back open, sending garments flying as we desperately attempted to find it. A real needle in the haystack operation, if the needle was something you could wear, and the hay was also stuff you could wear. Thankfully Tabitha emerged triumphant, clutching the missing coat above her head. The evening was saved, the circular economy was back on track, and we could be on our way again. See you again in January, TRAID!

It was all about the wildlife in Chiswick tonight as we delivered information locally about hedgehogs underneath the beaver moon!

Wild Chiswick is an organisation which works to protect vulnerable animals in the area. There have been recent sightings of hedgehogs for the first time in years at Strand on the Green and Jo, who runs the project, wanted to make sure the population continues to grow. Our job for the night was to deliver information leaflets to houses in the area so they knew how to care for hedgehogs, improve their habitats and help them thrive!

We divided up into teams and, like the well oiled machine we are, started delivering the leaflets at impressive speed.

We were done before we knew it, so meeting back up with Jo, we posed for some photos under Justin Beaver. (thanks for the punspiration!)

Then it was back to the town hall for a short but sweet tabata session working our major muscle groups.

The good news? The task was very effective - Jo got an enquiry about creating a habitat before the evening was out! Amazing work.

We have a couple of weekend missions coming up. Fancy taking part in a huge bulb planting task at Chiswick House??

Or maybe some hedge care in Heston is up your street.

Either way you'll be kicking off the weekend doing something positive for your community and getting in a great work out!

Last night featured a collab with This Girl Can to highlight the #Lift the Curfew campaign, a mega skip challenge, and GG Hounslow becoming a media sensation - all in one evening! You can't say we don't pack it in at GoodGym sessions.

Our task was at Strand on the Green school, where the plan is to create a safe pathway from the tarmac to the field for the children. To do this the caretaker needed to clear a lot of unwanted items into a hired skip. This is where we came in!

First, we met at the gates of the school with Jasmira, from Sport England. She gave us an introduction to the Lift the Curfew initiative, which aims to raise awareness about the safety issues women face when getting active in darker months and to help reduce the barriers to exercising. This is something that we definitely support, as

Everybody has the right to run

Jasmira was there to take some footage of us hard at work - so we got to work! There was loads to shift, from heavy wooden structures, to plastic fencing, weird massive hanging baskets and even a traffic cone (a nice reminder of our student days. You can see it perched atop the skip in the photos!)

It was quite the workout, but when the skip was eventually filled we still had just a little bit more energy left for our fitness session. This week it was Halloween themed, packed with silly spooky moves but still guaranteed to work all the major muscle groups!

Shout out to Luis, Emily and Lucy who put in star turns in front of the camera. Can't wait to hear your wise words go viral.

We've got a couple of lovely missions coming up - can you help?

• On Saturday 15th November we're off to do a massive bulb planting challenge at Chiswick House

• On Saturday 22nd November we have the opportunity to help out at the field where Bend it like Beckham was filmed with an exciting task trimming and maintaining a 100 metre hedge!

Last night we were back at Strand on the Green school to help out with a huge wood staining job. There were huts to treat, there were sheds, there were tables and chairs - who wooden want to help out?

Headtorches on, we divided up into a leaf clearing and wood staining teams and got straight to work. With so many hands making light work, it didn't take too long to get all the structures done. So while the sweeping team carried on scooping up every last leaf, the staining teams moved over to the sensory garden to work on the weeds.

Thistles, bind weed and dandelions dispatched, the end of the session was signalled by....was that a donkey? Not a sound we expected to hear in the middle of Chiswick, but given our recent animal sightings nothing surprises us anymore.

We downed tools and went round the corner for our fitness session which last night was speed based. Learning what it feels like to run at different paces between 60 and 100 % effort helps us control our running, maximise efficiency and stamina and helps us understand just how much we have left to give at the end of a run, race or parkrun! We started off at 50% effort and slowly built up, trying to increase our speed by 10% each time. There was some impressively controlled running from the team last night, and some even more impressive turns of speed. Great work everybody!

Next week we're back at Chiswick House - hope to see you then!