*The new Andy *

11 of us arrived at Kamelia Kids to give a helping hand to this centre that provides care for all children including ones that need a bit of extra tlc.

Tonight we met Nick who has had to fill very big shoes as Andy has now retired. Nick has been there 3 months and was intrigued to learn who we are and what we do. He had been told a little about us so was already prepared with various jobs.

The main one was painting the outside toddler play kitchen which the majority of the group got stuck into.

Gillybean got straight into some pruning and tidying of shrubs and tomato plants. Ricky started on the brushing a play area then transferred to painting.

Meanwhile Belinda and Paula began a massive sweep and tidy of the playground- this was a huge task as there was so much sand ! As quickly as we swept it seemed to re appear again !

*Meanwhile in the kitchen.......

Everyone was trying to avoid getting paint splattered by Sarah 🤣 John in particular was on high alert ⚠️ The competition was on to see which group could finish their end first Whilst John and Sarah were playing their games 🤣 Paul, Anne, Sue , Ryan all worked really quickly to get the whole kitchen done including all the fiddly bits ! It was a wonderful before and after transformation and very satisfying for all involved. 👌

Great job team 👏

See you next week for the cemetery pruning and social - more info to follow.

Have a great week !

Julia x

Three of us put an extra good deed in this week and visited Kamelia Kids for some much needed painting activity.

it was lovely to see Andy again who is always so grateful for the GoodGym help.

John headed out to the playground to touch up the red wall whilst Barbara and I made a good start on painting the fence in an attractive rich forest green colour .

We were joined by John and Andy and managed to accomplish the whole task.

Thank you to my mini team for going the extra mile on an evening when at least one of us would have preferred to be watching the rugby!

See you next time.

Julia

Yay - we are back to full function so photos galore!

On Wednesday the fabulous 4 reunited with Andy , the maintenance manager, at Kamelia Kids childrens centre to give him a helping hand with preparations for this weekends fete.

We donned gloves ( thank goodness ) and armed our selves with pots of wood stain and brushes and headed to the garden where Andy had asked us to help finish painting fences, gates and childrens wooded play furniture.

We worked very effectively in the given time and actually managed to get more paint on the wood than on ourselves ( apart from my hair!)

Many thanks to John who worked like a trooper ( as he also did on Monday but I neglected to make this point clear!! ) Belinda and Barbara who both covered a lot of the fiddly bits very accurately.

Another lovely hour together with great vibes.

Many thanks team!

See you on Monday :)

Fresh back from his unexpected encounter with a seal while swimming John arrived to help Andy with the final stages of readying the beach hut for its coats of weather resistant emulsion. First task was to repair the hole that Barbara had 'discovered' yesterday, followed by two hours of sanding and final undercoat. All ready now for Andy to begin the overcoat tomorrow.

Sizzling hot

On a hot August afternoon a small but mighty team joined forces with Andy, the caretaker from Kamelia Kids to work on a beach hut makeover.

John and Gillybean were thre all afternoon and John into the evening. Massive kudos for all this help on such a baking afternoon of relentless sunshine ( Quite a nice place to be but none the less hard work in very hot weather! )

Barbara,Lucy and Duncan joined after work and helped with the undercoating paint work. Belinda was on beer aid duty for John!

Before long the work was done and we sat and relaxed with a drink. Sadly not enough in advance interest for a BBQ so we didn't bring one - big apologies to Lucy who had come all the way from Portsmouth for it :(

Round 2 is tomorrow when John is assisting again - high five to our resident GG hero !

Wowing the wig wam

We always enjoy a fun and happy evening whenever we go to Kamelia Kids and tonight was no exception. This is mainly to do with the welcome that we receive from Andy who is the caretaker and general maintenance manager for the centre.

Tonight he had a great task for us out in the playground in the sunshine. We were tasked with treating and varnishing 3 wigwams that Andy had assembled from flat pack kits. Whilst John, Sue, Gill, Tamsin and Anne cracked on with the task I took Jay, Paul, Ros and Sarah for a leg stretcher around the block.

15 minutes later we were back and all totally focused on the task . Gillybean was the only one tiny enough ( and chilly enough) to camp out in the wigwam to complete Andy's additional request to totally weather proof the inside and outside of the wigwams although Paul did a great job too as far as his reach would let him !

Whilst the others were finishing off John Andy and I hatched a combined task / social to sand down the Kamelia Kids beach hut just next to the sailing club in Goring. Save the date for Wednesday 10th August ! More details to follow.

Next week John is in charge at St Botolphs Church followed by a social drink at The Charles Dickens pub in Heene Road from 7:15pm onwards. I'm hoping to join you there after I have to put in a few extra hours at the day job in Hove.