We were helping out at Growbaby this evening - It's an amazing hub that supports families that are in need of baby equipment and clothes age 0-5 years old. They have lots of donations and so therefore need lots of hands to organise and manage everything... GoodGym Kingston provided just this - 10 pairs of will hands to help out with a whole load of different tasks.

We set about with a variety of jobs. In no particular order: re-organising the toy boxes (and getting rid of random plastic bits that don't belong); sorting clothes; checking the shoes are paired and in the right boxes; flatpacking the excess of cardboard boxes; building a clothes rail and then filling it with a number of autumn coats in time for the pre-term rush; clearing a load of items from the spooky 'room of doom' in the basement... this list goes on...

As is generally the way with GG, we flew through the tasks and really did prove that many hands make light work. Tanya, the lady in charge of the charity, was very impressed by the achievement after only 1 hour :)

Three Goodgym members: Jade, Ams, and I joined the Morden Parkrun runners for their usual Saturday run. Jade had an excellent run, while Ams and I volunteered, taking on different roles. The run was an exciting one, and the team had a lot of fun.

The team was on a mission to move a mountain of soil from the pavement to the beds on the platform! We didn't quite crack the logistics of timing the bucket filling with carrying and delivering along the platform, but we certainly got a great workout from all the shoveling, lifting, and climbing up the steps. We also enjoyed the added bonus jobs of sweeping up spillages both on and off the platform (oops!) and some watering up on the embankment. It was a productive evening and a great opportunity for a social afterwards in the nearby Raynes Park Tavern to meet everyone properly.

Tonight we were off into the unknown at the Save The World Club. As they had collected various items to stop them from going to landfill it meant that there was a lot to sort out before moving premises.

After a brisk run / cycle there our first task was pretty simple moving chairs, bookcases, tables and sideboards downstairs ready to load on to the van. Luke, Tom and Dave tackled the heavy items whilst Ana, Ana, Claire, Raquel, Amreet and Emily moved all the drawers and chairs.

Mission accomplished we headed into the dark to see what was lurking outside. There was a bonfire for paper and wood that we uncovered and a shed full of paint pots that needed moving out.

We also filled the skip with an assortment of items that couldn’t be recycled from envelopes to plastic wrapping and a weird candelabra decoration.

At the last moment Des arrived with the van so we were able to load it up on our way out so that the furniture could find new homes.

Happy Bonfire night Sabir 🔥

One of GoodGym Kingston's more frequent and favourite task venues this evening... back to help at Growbaby.

Growbaby are an amazing charity that provides good quality, new and second-hand, baby clothes and equipment completely free of charge to anyone who needs it regardless of their income, background, or faith.

Tonight we had a few jobs to tick off the list... - Claire & Marcos and Dave got busy sorting out the multiple mattresses and cots that needed to be matched up and labelled. - Luke and Amreet sorted out the huge toy library, neatening up all the board games and disposing of any broken toys and random parts - Anna sorted out some of the clothes donations, pairing shoes and ensuring they were stored in the right age group - Raquel organised the bookcase and made room for the multiple new book donations - Dave checked the sell-by-dates and stacked baby powders and other food items - Rachel kept us all in check!

Safe to say we completed a load of tasks within the hour and left Growbaby in a much more organised state than when we found it!

Use-by dates. Not always applied at home, provided something passes the sniff test or hasn’t gone green, but an important factor at Kingsgate Student Pantry.

Much of this fun task involved a brilliant turn out of GoodGym members going through the various items donated to the student food bank.

Ken, Marcos, Rachel, Jana, Jacqui and Ana all got stuck in straining their eyes on packets to make sure everything was safe to consume. Dave used some elbow grease to clean the freezer while Claire and Julie did the same in the kitchen.

Luke and Tom, meanwhile, very nearly consigned 50kg of lentils to the dustbin when nearly mistaking the date they were packed for the use-by. Mistake amended, they were reassigned to smaller packets, with the bag sealer getting a thorough outing.

A fun task and a warm welcome from the Kingsgate team before we reconvened at the Albion