IMPACT Theatre is a very special arts centre in Perivale that promotes a positive image of disability. Through performance and creative arts, its members develop communication skills and self-confidence. The theatre provides space to perform not only to its users - but to GoodGymers too! Many times in the past, our troupe expressed themselves through sanding and painting. It was no different this Tuesday night.

Sevan, Steph Ducat, Mohamed and Kash ran up and down the hills and braved the dark Pitshanger Park to meet the task owner, Peter, who had already prepared paint rollers and trays with white paint at the theatre. He even did all the cutting in paint! Before giving the GoodGymers a little tour of the theatre, Peter made sure everyone signed up at the entrance, so Sevan, today's run leader, had a go at writing everyone's full (or what he thought was full) name in the register.

Tonight's task was painting the toilets that a large GoodGym team had sanded almost a year ago. The naughty four took advantage of the task to explore the places they otherwise wouldn't venture into. Kash solely occupied the toilet for the disabled while all the boys went to the ladies! The drag queens wore special outfits, while Kash thought she didn't need a costume when she later entered the ladies - maybe that's why she was the only one who ended up covered in white spots?

The performers thought about a suitable soundtrack for the session. Their not-so-creative DJ couldn't come up with anything other than Paint It Black, and the Rolling Stones were on replay for the good part of the session time.

The last restrooms to tackle were gents (in line with the ladies first principle). Before the last wall in the men's was finished, the GoodGymers ran out of time and paint. Peter was grateful for what they achieved and bid the runners farewell - after making sure they signed out at the exit.

Sevan, Steph and Kash ran quickly back to Ealing Broadway, a little bit nervous about being eaten by polar bears in Pitshanger Park. Sevan and Steph hoped that, when it came to the worst, they would be safe. Survival of the fastest, as they say. Kash, on the other hand, was convinced the polar bears wouldn't touch her as she was all painted white and looked just like one of them!

Next Tuesday, Sevan is leading another run - promoting Northfields Community Library - sign up now!

🎬 It was take 2 for GoodGym Ealing at IMPACT Theatre. Task owner Peter explained to the GoodGymers that HS2 were going to paint the walls of IMPACT's future dressing rooms as one of their community projects, so the walls had to be ready to be blitzed with paint.

Last month the team had come to help prepare the walls of the same room. On that night, they only had very fine sandpaper and made little progress in sanding down the very pink walls. Only a 2 metre stretch was completed.

This time, the team were powered up by some really rough sandpaper and Alex, who braved the rain to complete his first good deed. Welcome 🎉! They got straight to work and compared to their previous visit, breezed through the sanding at high speed. So much so that the heat of the sandpaper burned their fingers.

"Is that smoke coming off the wall?" - Alex

No, they weren't that hot at sanding. It was only fine pink dust that fell mostly to the floor. What didn't hit the ground ended up on the heads, shoulders and most other bits of the GoodGym team.

By the end of the task, one and a half long walls had been sanded and many places the pale undercoat could be seen peeking through. Kash was so happy with their progress that she pulled the alarm cord to get more attention, which luckily didn't call the fire brigade out.

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!