Helping out our local award winning race, the Ealing Half Marathon, has become one of our annual group sessions. The race is incredibly well organised and planned - we provide willing hands to put up advance warning signs on the route. There was some debate as to how far '200 metres apart' actually was - the next lamp post? The one after that? All very high tech.

We split into two teams, taking a side of the road each. There began a quiet sense of competition as we faced each other on opposite sides of the traffic. This was left unsaid, of course - it's better that way. An eyebrow movement can convey all it needs to, even through a couple of lanes of traffic bustle.

There's a fantastic atmosphere on race day at the Ealing half and we got asked lots of questions by curious residents as we made our way through the borough carrying step ladders and large yellow signs!.I think our high vis vests reassured people that we were legit (maybe!).

I saw the sign...and it opened up my eyes (apologies to those too young to get the reference!).

Three GoodGymers made an appearance at Perivale Woods to participate in the third harvest mouse release at that site. The harvest mice are the UK and Europe’s smallest and possibly cutest rodents. They love living in messy hedgerows and brambles, that are constantly being cut back, often by the GoodGymers! Destructive human activity makes the animal habitats fragmented, and the pockets of wildlife, without corridors to each other, shortly disappear. The harvest mice were believed to be extinct in Ealing, and before Ealing Wildlife Group's project to bring them back into the wild, they were last seen in 1979 in Perivale. Last year saw several releases of mice in Ealing meadows, followed by field surveys, which found their nests - a sign that the project has been successful!

The sunny morning brought to the event many residents and GoodGym's friends from other groups - Friends of both Grove and Horsenden Farm: Sue, Fred and Livio. Elsa from the neighbouring Horsenden Farm was also around, attending to the cows grazing in the field.

The release participants marched calmly through the Perivale Woods, which are normally closed to the public, to the area by the ponds - the mice's new home. Keeping gentle and quiet was necessary when carrying tanks with the animals to spare the mice extra stress during the relocation. To promote the genetic diversity of the rodents, different tanks contained male and female mice from different backgrounds: some bred in Horsenden, others in Battersea, Dorset or Scotland.

The Scottish lasses, that the GoodGymers were releasing didn't live up to their feisty reputation. They behaved rather timidly, apart from Sevan's girl mouse who nibbled at his thumb when he clasped his hands around her. When she was out in the open, Sevan's mouse clumsily slipped off his arm and plunged into the scrub, Kat's mouse on the other hand knew pretty well what to do and jumped confidently into her new life, and Kash's took the wrong turn and walked up the GoodGymer's arm. Kat took some fantastic photos of the mice which you can see in the report.

On the way back, a group of GoodGymers and other mice releasers got carried away, marvelling at the surrounding nature, bug hotels and the hedgehog estates. They lost their way and wandered deeper into the forest! Luckily, an attentive girl spotted that the way back looked different than the original route and called it out. That was the end of quite a pleasant detour. Before heading home, the GoodGymers visited a unique straw bale house, The Bluebell Centre, chatted with the creators of the building about its history and had been invited to come back in spring to admire the fabulous bluebell display in the woods.

Different types of ambition bookended this morning's Pitshanger Junior parkrun. Before the runners arrived, Run Director David observed

It's 2 weeks before the [Ealing Half Marathon] Mini Mile
It's when parent's start saying "you've got to win this!" - David

This attitude was definitely on show as a bumper 127 runners crossed the finish line with the first child coming in at under 7 minutes. At least the first 20 were totally out of puff, having left it all out there on the course.

After briefly joining the warm up, Sevan went to record the times of the finishers and Kash was one of 3 barcode scanners that were kept really busy by the large number of children. Harvey, meanwhile, found a place in the sun where he could marshal from.

Harvey and the other marshals did wonderfully, encouraging children to have fun all over the course. One child decided that their ambition was to have a 2km walk this morning, no matter how much they were encouraged to run the course. In fact the only time they broke into a run was between the funnel and the barcode scanners after they finished in a little over 28 minutes 🙄

Tbe music was in full swing at The Green W7 pub this Saturday and the crowd was growing. Were the locals taking refuge in the pub as a frisky evening or was it the smell of pizza 🍕 that was bringing them in? The beer and wine was flowing, and the queue for raffle tickets was growing. Yes, great prizes for the fundraising event organised at the pub by Shelter from the Storm. The 4 goodgymers were busy managing entries to the fundraising but also "Kashing" in money 💰 for the event. Loads of tickets sold and people were having fun listening and dancing to music until 9pm before the awaiting prize draw. The crowd was very eager to win a prize, but who would the lucky ones be. we had some very happy winners but also some slightly disappointed who got over it quickly with a glass of wine, a pint of beer, a slice or 2 of lovely pizza's and some more great music as the band started playing more tunes. Sevan, Kash, Divya and Steph Ducat did a great job for the event and also had a lovely time with the locals at the pub.

Saturday night in Hanwell often brings the local folk to The Green W7 pub, where Rick Rutkowski organised his first fundraising gig tonight! The donation at the entrance to the event with live music and the price of raffle tickets were collected for Shelter from the Storm, a charity whose mission is to house and support the homeless in London. But who was responsible for collecting all the cash? Kash and the gang: Divya, Sevan and Steph Ducat!

Hanwell community member Mary gave the GoodGymers training on taking card payments and entrusted them with her fully charged phone plus the card reader. Alongside Mary, there were a few Hanwell community celebrities at the event, including Rick's wife Amanda - the task owner from the Katherine Buchan Meadow and June Martin, well-known by the GoodGymers contact from the Hobbayne Charity, last seen at GoodGym Ealing's 8th birthday.

The four raffleteers didn't have to try too hard to convince The Green's guests to donate to the Shelter from the Storm. The generous Hanwell community was used to fundraising events and had many fans of the raffle draw thrills! Apart from collecting the £5 donations from the patrons, the GoodGymers sold 210 raffle tickets, £1 each. Most of the residents were buying a whole strip of tickets, and one young lady even went for two strips - that paid off as she won one of the prizes in the great draw!

As a gesture of appreciation for supporting local community events, The Green W7 pub offered the GoodGymers free drinks and pizzas. Again! It was another fun and rewarding night in Hanwell. Our team is already looking forward to another occasion like this!