GoodGym Ealing's second year helping Ealing Wildlife Group set up their annual photography contest's award ceremony was similar, yet very different to last year's. In 2023, they had been commandeering tables in the Rickyard and covering the prize winning photos on the central path of Walpole Park before the big reveal.

One year on, the single use bin bags, used to keep the winners a secret was out, deemed too wasteful and not a good use of plastic. The winning photos were free for the public to view all morning. The Rickyard too was already allocated for the reception, so no need to sip coffee and grab tables as they became available.

The GoodGym 4 were initially asked to put up banners and signage to make the participants and public aware that there was a reception happening and where it was. The second task was to lay out seating to give the attendees somewhere to relax in the run up to and during the announcement.

First up, Steph and Sevan worked out how to set up 2 roller banners. It was their first time doing this and it wasn't too hard. Once they'd constructed what turned out to be promotional sails, they realised that they needed to anchor them down too. Kash held the secret to achieving this, the code to the Rickyard's tool store, where she found string and scissors and, next to the door, hunks of concrete ex-statues.

Two more banners needed to be hung, one from the bandstand which was secured with string and the second, giant one didn't have a way to attach it to the Rickyard's fence. Some GoodGym ingenuity was needed to make it work 🤔. After some head scratching, they decided to drape it over the top and place some bits of concrete in the channel up there to hold it in place 💡. As the tallest, Steph clambered onto a table to do the deed.

Steph set up the outdoor space with tables and chairs too, while Alaa took control of the indoor chair set up. The group chose the cleanest chairs for inside, the ones that people wouldn't look at and avoid, giving them a wipe before setting them up in groups.

All the jobs were done for the set up, so on to the welcome and the reception...