On a very windy Sunday morning our GoodGymers at Acton junior parkrun did everything to prevent the scanned finish tokens from flying away. Another would-be escapee was the GoodGym flag weighed down by the shoes we collected to be recycled with Jog On. The last challenge of that morning was not letting the flyers to be blown by the wind at our third session.

After a break for a coffee, Alan, Mohamed, Sevan and Kash ventured to the streets of Acton to distribute 400 leaflets to spread the word about the Reduce and Recycle Hub before 7th of December. In the spirit of sustainability, they decided to:

• Recycle the task listing to include leafletting for another partner at the same time
• Reduce the time needed to help promote two sustainability initiatives in Acton
• Reuse the bundle of flyers they had collected after the Tuesday session for Library of Things!

The highlight of the Reduce and Recycle Hub flyer that caught the public's attention was the Jolly Christmas Jumper Swap. Hopefully the residents so excited about replacing their last year's jumpers with a new (preloved) outfits will find their way to the hub in the couple of weeks.

The Library of Things features didn't go unnoticed either!

Lady 1: £8.50 for a wet and dry vacuum per day is good.
Lady 2: If only I could hire someone to do it!
Sevan: You can't hire the people only the stuff.
Lady 2: For enough money, you can hire anyone.

Any takers?

Across the country, it was a Bert windy today and Acton Park was no different. Sevan and Mohamed arrived early to find Geoff, today's Run Director, almost finished with the course set up. The funnel poles were in the ground and Mohamed placed the "Caution Runners" signs at the top and bottom gates. Everything else was at risk of blowing away, including the runners and volunteers, so there were no cones to mark the course or lightweight table for the token sorting.

Harvey took advantage of the conditions, deciding to fly down the hill to the start line, where there were a good group of brave runners. 38 of them were blown around the course including Chikako who was the VI guide and Alan, whose tail walker tail was blowing in the wind. They flew past Mohamed and Joanna who were marshalling. They then tumbled over the finish line and into the funnel, where the other GoodGymers were at work. Sevan and Harvey were timekeeping, Divy was handing out finish tokens and Kash in her favourite role scanning barcodes.

There was little to pack up, so results were quickly submitted and then it was onto collecting all of the shoes that were brought for recycling.

In 2024 Library of Things celebrates 10 years of making borrowing useful household items available for everyone in the area. It's cheaper than buying, convenient and kinder for the planet.

This year, Ealing Broadway became yet another of the 19 locations. Shortly after the launch of the new spot, Ealing folk has been renting on average 30 library items per week: drills, sewing machines, saws, hedge trimmers, and audience favourites: the steam cleaner and pressure washer!

Could this get any better? Of course! More people could learn about this fantastic initiative. Kyra from the Library of Things met five GoodGymers at the Ealing Broadway shopping centre, which transformed over the weekend into a Christmas market. The temperatures dropped so much this week that no one doubted we entered the winter season. Kyra was very pleased to see that our team braved the cold to support the Library of Things in spreading the word about the new location.

Supplied with stacks of leaflets, walkers Chris, Kash and Sevan, runner Mohamed and cyclist Gus teamed up with Kyra for a walking task on the streets towards Ealing Common. Keeping hands warm while trying to separate the individual leaflets was a challenge. Luckily, no fingers were frostbitten or dog-bitten during the flyer delivery. By the end of the session, only a thin stack of leaflets remained, which GoodGymers promised to deliver with a bunch of extra flyers to other towns in the borough at the nearest occasion.

We are hoping that Ealing residents will forget Black Friday and swap the shopping craze for more sustainable renting things binge!

This morning's Pitshanger Junior parkrun had a glut of volunteers. In fact the run director, Karen, was heard to say:

"We have so many volunteers today that we have a page 2!"

As there were so many helpers, the 3 GoodGymers all ended up at the same marshal post. Each took different routes to get there. One was signed up as a marshal on the roster, one hadn't signed up and the other one was running late and arrived after the runners had set off. They grouped together to give the children and parents and extra loud cheer at the first/last marshal point on the course.

86 children in all finished the course and there were almost as many adults running the 2km too. Impressively, one child counted 25 high fives on their way round from 8 official marshal points.

After a quick refuel, Kash and Sevan headed onto the day's next task woodchipping a new path at Pear Tree Park.