Brentford Festival is an annual, community run, family friendly festival that has been running since 2005. Unfortunately, due to operational difficulties, it was announced that this year's edition would be the last. It was a great relief, then, that the late summer downpours made way for a glorious Sunday in West London. From 9am, Goodgym was directed by the unflappable festival organiser Linda to erect gazebos, take furniture and bins out of the storage area and place flags around the site. While we were faced with gazebos with various important bits missing or broken, Kash and Sevan's experience came through and we ultimately conquered the task with typical Goodgym team work and communication. Not long after we finished our setup shift, people started arriving and the festival quickly swung into gear, judging by how much everyone was enjoying themselves, it was obvious just how much this festival would be missed.

The life of a roadie is a tough one. No job security, moving equipment and lots of chatting while waiting around for something exciting to happen. That's how GoodGym's first setup session for the Hanwell Hootie felt like for Bryon, Harvey and Sevan too. Sandy Park had a stage, some portaloos and barriers, with most other things still to arrive.

First up was to move some industrial sized bins around the park, so that the Hootie-ers could recycle or dispose of their rubbish. Then, a pause, before setting out tables and chairs in front of the stage. Then, some waiting around again, talking about life, children and Newcastle United's successful season.

Finally, the excitement came. A trip to the Busking Boat to carry out a task so daring that it would not be mentioned to the Health & Safety Officer... putting up bunting by climbing ladders on a boat! Ladders on a boat! As it turned out, it was perfectly safe. The canal was calm, the boat was well moored and the step ladders were stable. The bunting was efficiently threaded around the roof beams, transforming the barge and making it ready to rock 🤘

The trio headed back to Sandy Park for the second part of Hootie setup, which would be po-tent-tially a lot busier ⛺.