On Monday evening, Divya and Kash rushed from work to get to West Ealing for the Soup Kitchen service for the homeless. Both landed in the clothes department: Divya on mens and Kash on womens.

As the temperatures started to drop, warm jumpers, coats, thick socks, gloves and hats were in demand. Luckily, the Soup Kitchen had a decent amount of those today. The toiletries table was also well stocked up with an abundance of shower gel scents so that clients could pick their favourites.

The shift finished with wiping and folding the tables, sweeping the floor, and, of course, squeezing the bags with packed clothes into the Cupboard of Doom™. The last activity resulted in a surprisingly neatly organised cupboard - it looked so flawless that the volunteers started worrying that they had forgotten to pack something up!

Very busy day at the the Friday Hub as several volunteers weren’t able to make it. It was a bit chaotic but the team managed! Jacquie started by preparing food parcels then helped on tea duties before serving lunch. Jacquie was a busy bee today.

Another good session today for Jacquie Started on teas, helped serve food, wash up, give out food parcels and then clearing up. So a bit of everything. Meal was cauliflower and Stilton soup then Shepherds pie (meat or veg) with Swissroll for dessert. It was very well received.

Although I wasn't intentionally avoiding it, I was spared the sink duty at the Soup Kitchen. I folded the tables and put away the chairs, then I was ready for the hoovering. My first partner, Charles the blue hoover, couldn't keep up with the pace and switched off in less than 5 minutes. When I tried to troubleshoot the problem, Steven appeared and explained to me that Charles does it every time and needs around 20 minutes to cool down.

My second attempt was a collaboration with the good, old Henry, who exhibited more stamina than Charles. I cleaned the whole food parcel room and a half of the main hall with Henry, before handing him over to my friend to finish that area off.

We were done around 4pm and with nothing else to do for us, Arul suggested we could clock off early.

As a very infrequent Friday Hub volunteer, I was surprised to find myself to be among the most senior servers at the Ealing Soup Kitchen on the day, at least in Angela's eyes. A couple of regulars had dropped out of the rota, so two friends I introduced to the ESK today and two other volunteers had to step up for the job. The serving crew did fantastically, no matter the limited experience. The genuine smile and enthusiasm of my colleagues were in demand!

Spaghetti bolognese with beef or vegetables were on the menu. The vegetarian option disappeared quickly. Luckily, the vast majority of the clients were after the meaty version.

The two hours of lunch serving went quickly with clients constantly moving in and out the busy dining area. By the end of the shift we were surprised by the number of steps we did as waiters. It was a lively and rewarding activity for me and my friends.

The first shift of the Friday Soup Kitchen saw two sports t-shirts: red and black bringing the GoodGym energy into the Crypt of St John's. JP cycled to the session and Kash walked there after her morning workout at the outdoor gym in the park. The morning exercises already done, and in both cases, all for free!

Kash started at 10:00, dividing the donated fresh food from the Felix Project into smaller bags to be distributed across the food parcels for the clients. The frozen chicken wings were stuck together yet suspiciously animated (as they jumped onto the table if not handled carefully) when Kash tried to separate them.

JP was preparing the clothes section, breezing through the bags of donated menswear, sorting items and putting them on hangers. He occasionally questioned the category of some of the jackets. Is it mens? Is it womens? A quote about sunshine, sewn inside one of such jackets, deemed it not very masculine, JP thought. The difficulty levelled up when he came across a bag of "unmentionables" to sort. Luckily, Kash arrived in the clothes room just in time to deal with the ladies undergarments.

With all the prep completed ahead of time, JP moved onto the tea station and entertained the clients with a friendly chat and hot, often sugary beverages.