Yesterday we were back at the wonderful Notre Dame Refugee Centre, who provide essential support and services to refugees and asylum seekers, offering food, clothing, and a safe place to turn to in tough times.

A good turn-out for the session meant we had plenty of helping hands to dive into the donations pile. Welcome to Laura, who came along for her very first session – we’re delighted to have you join us, and we hope you enjoyed the organised chaos!

The task in question was sorting through clothing donations. Some of them were great – well-loved items, in good condition, and totally wearable. Others took a little more working out. Where they some kind of futuristic garment or even a piece of clothing at all? A tangle of straps, an oversized shirt with arm holes and no clear purpose, a hybrid blanket/poncho - these all left us scratching our heads.

The real challenge, though, was the kids' clothes. Who knew determining the age for children's clothing would be such a conundrum? “Is this for a 3-year-old? Or a 6-year-old? Could it fit an advanced 2-year-old?” We may not have unlocked all the mysteries of child growth patterns, but we did our best to match sizes with a degree of precision (and guesswork).

After just under an hour, we had achieved good level of organisation: all boxes were cleared off the floor, donations were sorted into their rightful places, and there was a nice, neat space made for the next round of donations.

With the donations sorted and the space cleared, it was good to know that some families will receive items that they really need. Not to mention, we now have expert-level skills in identifying children’s clothing sizes (kind of).

Another Tuesday evening picking up surplus food, another massive haul handed out to rough sleepers. What a way to get a buzz, way more effective than gambling with shark infested waters or cold water immersion! Or so I decided, but it was up for debate as we navigated the busy streets of London!

It was fantastic to celebrate International Women's Day with fellow GoodGymers by getting active, spreading the joy and doing a task that had a positive impact in our local area.

We met in a very busy Battersea Park. It was brimming with runners, as though parkrun had finished, there was another massive race taking place. We found a spot to do our warm ups, and each chose an inspirational female athlete who inspire us - they ranged all the way from marathon runners to speed climbers!

The next challenge was crossing the carriageway without getting in the way of the racers. Luckily we timed it to perfection and headed out of the park on the way to the Falcon estate in Battersea.

The sun was shining and everybody had a smile on their face as we arrived to find Senia from the Women of Wandsworth charity with all the tools we needed and instructions on where to plant our bulbs. Unfortunately I had forgotten about the invitation to wear a splash of purple and green as the official colours of IWD, but luckily Catherine had followed the brief with an excellent pair of socks and green hat. We also did manage to find some bright purple bulbs which will be a lasting reminder of our visit.

Despite the hard ground we got the planting done quickly and as we had a few minutes left we did a speedy litter pick and tidy up, even causing some passers by to stop to find out more.

Job done, we walked the short distance to the Waste Not Want Not hub, where Hadas was waiting for us with delicious treats, hot tea and coffee and music. We spent the rest of the morning happily chatting about food, choirs and dragon fruit!

Happy International Women's day to you all - thank you for coming to celebrate and spreading the positivity in our community.

The oldest youth club in the world, St Andrew's, is always a buzz of activity offering every kind of club imaginable to local children - from cookery to judo to chess and everything in between! When we arrived the pancake making was happening in the kitchen, the speaker was pumping and boxing club was in full swing. It's amazing to see, but with all the kit needed to make it happen, space is at a premium in this central London location. That meant our job for the evening was to help create some more!

We were taken upstairs to the storage room at the top of the centre to find an area full to the brim with boxes, school uniform, frames and racquets...so many racquets!

We wasted no time getting everything sorted into piles and sorting out the contents of the boxes. There were many questions along the way. What was the mysterious plastic implement, where were we going to put all the empty frames, and why had Jayson (year 6) abandoned his homework?

Before long we had made a big difference and there was a lot of new floor space to show for our efforts. Next week we're back handing out food to rough sleepers, hope to see you there!