After weeks of hushed whispers, knowing glances and enough rumourfuel to power a sleigh, tonight the truth finally landed: Woking GoodGym had once again received the words we’d all been waiting for: “Could you help pack the Xmas bags at the foodbank warehouse in Knaphill?”

Could we?

Oh yes, yes we could, and no one thought we couldn’t!

Like elves hearing the first jingle of Santa’s bells, we were ready to fill 90 sacks with Christmas time treats.

Each bag received a carefully curated mix of food, treats and love, ready to be delivered across the local community. Every time someone shouted, “We need more cereal!” it sounded like a joyful Christmas emergency.

This task is always a highlight for Woking GoodGym: an evening where teamwork, generosity and seasonal silliness blend perfectly. Knowing that every bag will brighten someone’s Christmas is the best reward.

It was lovely to see Louise from the Woking GoodGym alumni joining us with her son Henry, alongside a fellow alumni Bryan, the 2025 newbies are now well settled in, but of course, veterans, Anne, Adam, James, Katie and Wayne were missed from the production line. 90 bags packed within 45 mins, our most efficient effort yet AND no one lost a finger to the stacking containers, a Christmas miracle!

🎅 Well done GoodGym – another year, another mountain of Xmas bags, and another evening of excellent elf-level teamwork!

Thank you for the photos Nadia! 📸 Welcome to the crew, Zoe - you’ve earned your tutu 💃🏻

Jemma was the first to reach the Food Bank, followed by Karen and Anne who ran there from the Leisure Centre. Karen and Anne started with dusting the many shelves while Jemma tackled the big fridge.

Nadia came from work in London, and without hesitation reached for Henry the hoover and vacuumed the aisles with dexterity. At that moment Morgan, whose mission was their first, came in from the cold. We all stopped to welcome Morgan and asked them to follow Karen's lead!

Morgan had signed up to GoodGym in South London but had not managed to get involved. We are all delighted to have them as part of our Woking GG team!

Alison, the manager, told us that the food bank will be moving in January while the present building will be demolished. The new temporary premises will be in Church Path where the "old" night club used to be.

With so many hands all the jobs were done and we gathered on the steps for our monthly photo!

What a fantastic turn out for the mission at Woking Foodbank as 13 GoodGymers turned up to do a deep clean. The Foodbank is one of our regular and most popular missions where we usually clean the floors and wipe the surfaces. But Kirsty had the great idea to do a deep clean of all the shelves and fridge etc. Because there were so many of us it didn't take too long and we ended the evening with the traditional photo on the staircase. A massive cheer to Rob and Stephanie for their second mission with Woking GoodGym and to Julie for reaching 50 good deeds. We can't wait to see you in the black t-shirt Julie. Also a massive well done to Luan who ran non-stop from the Foodbank back to the meeting point at the leisure centre after a break in running. You are officially a runner now Luan.

Having been nominated as leader yesterday, Julie rushed to the task to ensure she was at the foodbank on time.

If only she'd checked the email she would have realised that it was actually a group run so while she waited for the customers to leave and started hoovering, the rest of the gang were waiting for her at the Leisure Centre. Despite the delay, Nadia, Anne, Andy and Kirsty had a good run and arrived in perfect time to get cracking with the mops.

The floors were soon a lot cleaner thanks to more hoovering by Andy and eagle-eyed Kirsty spotted some pot plants in need of some tlc.

This task always flies by and after the obligatory photo half-way up the stairs, we ran back towards the Leisure Centre.

Thanks to all the Goodgymers for their hard work, and looking forward to our next tasks on Sunday 27th.

Tonight we were back at Woking food bank at The Lighthouse, giving it a good old spring clean.

Anne, Karen & Laura ran from the Leisure Centre, whilst Katie, Phil, Julie and Alys made their own way to the task.

In less than half an hour, we had the place hoovered, mopped and organised! Many hands make light work as they say…

If you couldn’t join us today, there are two tasks available this Sunday - one indoors helping build a train set for All Aboard’s sessions for autistic, ADHD and SEN children, and another outdoor sowing wildflowers on Millmoor Common.

Anne, Rebecca, Nadia and Wayne attended one of our favourite community missions, Woking Food Bank. It was nice to see Alison as it has been a while since we were last at the Food Bank in the summer. 😀The Food Bank was open and busy today, so Alison was grateful for our support in the clean up operation. Nadia got to work straight away hoovering the floor, 🧹followed by Wayne with the broom. Anne and Rebecca completed the job by mopping the floor behind them. There was much excited talk about Surrey half marathon at the weekend. All work was complete in a flash and Alison was particularly pleased to have the corners and under the tables cleaned, especially as Wayne found a rouge swede hiding under some boxes! We posed for the traditional photo on the stairs and Nadia rushed off to her next activity of the evening. Well done to Anne, Wayne and Nadia for running over 12k between them to and from the mission. Rebecca prioritised trying to get the smell of Dettol of her hands over running! 🏃‍♂️