Mr R's neighbour's are saying that the grass is greener on the other side as the grass looked like a grassland. Steph, after having a good mow-ning with the GG Ealing team at two community missions in the sun went to help Mr R. Steph was led to the back garden to see a green patch : over growing grass which Mr R can no longer look after and cut. Mow-tivated Steph was not helped by cows to mow the grass but started to use a grass trimmer once he figured out how to get the power up and running from the back garage/shed as old electrics and not working straight away when Mr R put the power on. As the grass tickled Steph, the trimmer did the job before stalling. Did it run out of fuel? Did it need grass-oline? Nope!! It just stopped and Mr R said it happens once and a while and said not to worry. The mooer took over and cows were not there to help eat or cut the grass 🤣. Would have been a feast for them. Seems that the foxes that Mr R mentioned in his garden at night left some smelly gifts for Steph in the high grass. After 90 minutes in the sun and a bin full of grass, Steph packed up and talked with Mr R ho was delighted of the job done. If the police come to inspect this crime scene we can say it was a grass-assination.

Did you know that Jim Marshall, a guitar amp innovator, dubbed "the Father of Loud", worked in Hanwell? Marshall passed away in 2012, but his legacy of loud lives through a non-profit, free one-day festival: the Hanwell Hootie. On Saturday, live music was heard all across the town, from a local park, through a "busking boat", numerous pubs, a church and even a library. Loud in a library? Liberating, isn't it?

The Hanwell Community Library was the first place where six GoodGymers convened the next day after the festival to help with the teardown. Divya, who cycled to the task, beat everyone else to it. Anuj ran from the North-West and the rest of the runners from the East (think Acton junior parkrun).

One GoodGymer was coming from further East than that! John, a guest from Camden, ran from his area to us and, when reaching the library, he totalled nearly 20 km, thanks to a spontaneous decision to do an extra community mission in Ealing! Both John and Steph are training for next week's Hackney Half, so getting to the tasks on foot is a nice motivation booster for them.

Having quickly taken down the hessian that Sevan and Kash had put over the books on Friday, the group walked to Sandy Park where the task owner, June, awaited with a multitude of activities:

• Taking down four tents
• Cutting cable ties using various tools
• Loading vans with boxes and folded gazebos
• Riding at the back of the van
• Organising the reusable Hootie-themed pint cups into boxes
• Pondering whether the soggy, beer-scented cardboard is recyclable
• Playing a game with the cups that Steph can explain better

The Hootie team supplied us with water and fruit to keep our energy levels up to a good standard in the direct sun and after all the running. June thanked us for our contribution to the Hootie and invited us to a post-Hootie catch-up for volunteers later. The GoodGymers headed towards the Clocktower in Hanwell for some coffee and food, after which some of us were ready for either more tasks, running, cycling or an afternoon nap.

That's where the GoodGym at Hootie 2024 story ends. Hanwell will remain a quiet town until next year. But who knows!