It was a dark and chilly evening but that never stops GoodGym Kingston from showing up and getting the job done. Tonight's task we were at Elm Road playground with the task of digging/scraping/sweeping the borders of all weeds and mulch that has accumulated over the years.

As we were readying ourselves for the task we were joined by a local Community Support Officer from the Met Police - she had heard about our work in the area and had come to connect and give a helping hand. No arrests were made but the weeds were guilty of loitering and needed to be removed from the area.

Accompanied by a few local residents, we all donned head-torches and gloves, grabbed our tools of choice and set to it. The hour flew by and we had soon filled several bin bags full of the offending weeds and thick mulch. Amazing to see the difference our efforts made. Mission accomplished.

goodgymers from several boroughs, kingson, merton, ealing brought and donated to the food bank whilist doing their own.

I spent the afternoon at our local stall, collecting essential produce to stock the shelves of the local Food Hub. Thanks to community kindness, I collected a fantastic array of healthy items: Bananas and Oranges, Green Vegetables, Potatoes and Onions. All this fresh food makes a real difference. The boxes were collected by a dedicated Food Hub volunteer, to be sorted and assembled into food parcels tonight. These crucial supplies will go directly to families in need across our area, ready for delivery tomorrow morning. A massive thank you to everyone who stopped by and contributed, providing nutritious meals and vital support to our community.

This afternoon 5 goodgymers met to help other local residents to clean and tidy up this well used public space. We found several items that corresponded to recent events in our yearly calenders. This was all done whilist chatting and then finished off as always with a nice but naughty treat from the lady at the cafe here, managing to dodge the rain [ bonus]!

A team of three GoodGym heroes - Emily, Saber, Marie-Noëlle - met at the community garden this morning, joining forces with Susan and her loyal volunteers. Our mission: clearing and preparing an ancient compost bin space into a new planter for spring. An additional new bed was cleared, sowed with future flowery glory, and made a nofly zone for the resident chickens who seemed to be plotting a takeover. Elsewhere, compost chopping and turning and the composter zone tidied, followed by a watery marathon! pond restocking with water from the water rollers, then refilling the rollers with river water.
And finally gutter surgery, clearing out blockages to ensure the water tanks can capture precious rainwater

It’s was time to 🎵Step in to Christmas🎵 at the BHF.

Upon arrival Christmas was in full swing with garlands going up and Christmas stock piling out of the lifts.

After refuelling on Pizza Luke and Jonathan tackled fairy lights, a somewhat fiddly task but a sparkly one, whilst Levita became Santa - can you spot her?

Meanwhile Jana found display places for fancy ball balls, Martel and Levita - no longer Santa hung the garlands over the arch and Tom, Claire, Ellie, Louise and Sabir displayed everything on the shelves from Xmas stockings to socks, Santas, fir trees and a catus!!

In no time we had the shelves full of Christmas treats to fill Santa’s sleigh.