GoodGym Ealing were back at IMPACT Theatre following IMPACT's well deserved summer break to help them and their service users on the next step of their mass redecoration. It was a night when little went to plan.

Keyless Entry

Task owner Peter opened the door to let Steph, Kash and Sevan in and said that he'd been on quite an adventure already this evening. The keys to IMPACT had been locked inside, so Peter had to locate another set on the opposite side of the borough, driving through rush hour traffic to collect them.

Paperless Sanding

Next, Peter realised that he'd forgotten to bring the sandpaper, an essential part of today's task of preparing IMPACT's dressing room for a new coat of paint. Peter set the trio up with tea and coffee while he went to source more sandpaper in Tesco. No luck there, so after a root through the cupboards, 3 sheets of sandpaper were found. Enough to keep the team in red out of trouble for a while.

Timeless Décor

Finally, the GoodGymers had something to do which wasn't slurping tea. Peter led them to the dressing room, which for now, was less glamourous than it sounded. That's due to change after it's big makeover to have mirrors, lights and a changing area. For now, it was a big, pink box.

With their 3 sheets of quite fine sandpaper and little time remaining, Steph, Kash and Sevan got to work rubbing down the walls. They managed to rub down one short wall and part of another, getting rid of the bumps as they did. At times, they couldn't see how much IMPACT their sanding was having until they saw the fine layer of pink dust on their hands and ran their fingertips across the wall.

There's plenty more to be done to get the walls ready for painting. Whenever the next task is listed for, hopefully we'll all be having a good day.

Sanding at the theatre Branded a volunteer What will they say Monday at work?

Someday, when the toilets are painted Somehow, someway, our two worlds will be one

I sit, I wonder whyyyyy… Oh why you left the walls so smooth Oh, GoodGym, baby

A great philosopher once said:

You gotta roll with it. You gotta take your time. You gotta spray where you spray. Don't let anybody get in your way

Tonight, GoodGym Ealing heeded the wise philosophers words while at Impact Theatre. We were there to work on a corridor. A corridor that our some of our members remember prepping over recent years.

We were only 8 who ventured up to Perivale so that we wouldn't get in each others way during the task. We were to wield paint rollers and cover the walls with white paint, replacing the old terracotta colour that was peeking through the undercoat.

We quickly got our equipment ready with Kash pouring paint into roller trays. Jenni, Emily, Madhan, Kat and Sevan grabbed rollers and paint brushes while Cam and a vertically challenged (so he claimed) Mike grabbed rollers on extendable poles to reach the heights.

For the first 20 minutes, it looked like we were removing more paint from the walls that we were adding to them. More and more terracotta paint appeared and we were all a bit worried. While we discussed what to do next, we saw that some of us were sprayed with paint, while others had managed to avoid getting any white freckles.

As the first coat dried, we were able to paint over it and get the second coat to stick. Finally we were making progress and the walls actually looked whiter than when we had arrived! With the second coat still wet, we decided the most productive thing we could do was take the time for a tea break.

We sat in the kitchen area with Peter from Impact Theatre. He told us about the roles that Impact's actors had had on TV and how they had adapted during Covid. Luckily they'd survived and are planning for their next theatre production in the summer.

After 15 minutes, Jenni went back to check on the walls and see if we'd be able to add a third and final coat. Unfortunately not, so we packed up and washed the paint rollers, promising Peter we'd be back to finish the job in the coming months.

We always get a warm welcome at Impact Theatre, a wonderful community arts project. Tonight we were adding a second coat of paint to corridor walls in readiness for Impact's big community day on 9 July. The place has to look its best when you have visitors arriving! At times, we struggled to see which bits we'd painted and which we hadn't. But, in true dogid GoodGym style, we pressed on and got the job done!

We love going up to Impact Theatre to help out. Three of us ran up there from our regular meeting point and we met three more there. Tonight we started to decorate a corridor to brighten it up. There were lots of signed photos of celebrities on the wall to unscrew and take down, including Daniel Craig as James Bond, filling in the holes (can you get the pun now?! Thanks Ben!) and then doing a first coat of paint on the opposite wall. We'll be back to finish the job off in a few weeks.

Today 6 enthusiastic members on the Bromptom teamed joined GoodGym for the first time to get stuck in helping at the IMPACT Theatre in Perivale!

IMPACT is a registered charity dedicated to promoting a positive image of disability, developing communication and building self-confidence, through participation in performing and creative arts. Today the Brompton team really got to experience what IMPACT is all about as we not only helped them with the task of moving a lot of props into storage but they were also treated to a private viewing of their current immersive exhibition.

What you stairing at?!

The first part of our morning at IMPACT involved a lot of lifting and a lot of stairs! The props they needed help moving were to be shifted to a different building up some stairs so each move definitely had us getting our exercise in for the day. It's what GoodGym is all about! This is the sort of task the team here really appreciate help with as it allows them to spend more time doing fun stuff with their amazing service users.

Then it was time to fully immerse ourselves!

After we'd moved all the props to their new home (in super quick time I might add!) it was time to get a first hand experience of what the theatre is all about. Kim, the theatre's manager, and a couple of the service users who'd been involved in creating the immersive experience showed us through the space and allowed us to watch the amazing work they had produced over lockdown. It really was a treat to be invited to a private viewing and to sit and relax in the exhibition for half an hour of all our busy hectic lives.

With a 2 mile cycle each way, a physical task helping a great local charity and a wonderful theatre experience, hopefully the Brompton team went into the rest of their day feeling uplifted and invigorated!