Today was a first for a lot of things on this Sunday afternoon community mission. To start with it was Connie first ever mission with Goodgym Ealing : welcome to GG Ealing! Then it was a first for Jenny at a soup kitchen. Last but not least it was the first session that Goodgym Ealing have done with Ealing Soup Kitchen on a Sunday. We normally are present either on some Monday evenings at the take away service with Emma at the Salvation Army, on Fridays at the HUB in the crypt of St John's church with Angela. Today it was an inaugural session with Richard for Sunday Meal. I arrived before the start of our session and Richard spotted me : he got me straight into setting up with the volunteers already present. I helped to do sandwiches : cheese or ham. Then finished setting up some tables. Both Jenny and Connie arrived and were debriefed on our tasks for the afternoon. The doors opened and guests came in for food and drinks. We all started serving drinks and food. Then I was prompted to help the kitchen crew whilst Connie and Jenny carried on serving the customers who were coming in. I was with another volunteer tpo plate the main dishes. Menu today was :

• Vegetable Soup
• Jacket Potato with either tuna/sweetcorn or baked beans all topped with grated cheese
• Sponge cake with custard
• Fruit also given out : banana and tangerines

I was getting order for the jacket potatoes with different toppings. Jenny then went to the kitchen to help clean pots, pans, dishes etc .. Once service cleared the 3 Goodgymers helped with the clearing and cleaning.

Both Connie and Jenny enjoyed this session : that is their words.

The weather forecast this Saturday was not as optimistic as the attitudes of eight GoodGymers who showed up at the morning session at Horsenden Farm. Even without the pre-task cup of coffee, everyone would be buzzing with excitement, ready to begin the day with a dose of exercise in fresh air with earthy, rural notes.

Among the team, there was an impressive number of new starters - but you would not have guessed they were not seasoned GoodGymers! Owen was no stranger to farm work and proved his experience later, suggesting that mattock was the best tool for heavy digging. Jenny was thrilled about all sorts of jobs and was the first one to learn the new skill of wood splitting. Eleanor was equally happy to take up different challenges, including carrying a heavy, damaged picnic bench out of the seating area.

The rain held off for most of the morning. Sevan and Owen kicked off the session by moving poles to the pig enclosure area, where they would be used to secure the fences. The piglets started turning into strong, clever beasts, who began planning their great escape, so prevention was key.

The rest of the team was guided by the volunteer boss, Elsa, to the timber storage spot in the woods. The job was to move firewood down the hill, while not getting eaten by the Gruffalo, to the pizza oven area. After all, there's no pizza without fire. Steph, Eleanor and Jen were wheelbarrowing the logs, Maxime and Kash took turns splitting the wood, and Penny was arranging the split pieces into the storage bays.

When Owen and Sevan rejoined the team, log splitting became a bit of a bottleneck, so part of the crew was sent on a quest to relocate an old picnic bench. Later, another small squad was formed to attempt to remove two tree stumps from a soil heap. That ambitious plan had to be cancelled as the tree trunks - although chopped - were well-rooted and far from rotting.

The first raindrops started to fall when the GoodGymers were finishing organising the last logs and sticks of reasonable sizes into the wood storage bays. It was time to order coffee, pizza and craft beer and sit around chatting about all things GoodGym and beyond.

Whether you enjoyed or missed this Horsenden Farm volunteering day, worry not! The sessions come back every first Saturday of the month. and you can sign up for the very next one here. We hope to see you in July!