Starting with a huge welcome to the Frenford Foodbank team for our new member Gabriella, recruited from our local Parkrun she arrived keen to make a start and was soon picking, packing and generally making herself a very valuable member of the team.

Julia and Kathryn made themselves very useful packing bags and teaming up to shift heavy crates together...although I am not convinced Kathryn giving someone bonus tinned pasta and chocolate mini rolls was a good swap for not having the right sized nappies but it made us laugh.

It was lovely to see Irina again who slipped into the team quietly getting on with things and doing a great job...so quiet I forgot to take her photo, sorry Irena, if its any consolation I also forgot to get a photo of myself 🤦‍♀️

Our regular couple of power packers Herman and Tina proved invaluable as ever completed a very efficient team.

With the steady stream of us arriving at different times and working alongside a couple of Frenfords own volunteers, things ticked over so smoothly we were finished early and had energy to spare to off load a supermarket delivery.

The only hitch was not having initial access to the storage cages so the packages had to be shifted about in crates then lifted on to the cages when the spare store key arrived but no one seemed to mind as we worked together and got the job finished.

The task owner was very pleased and sends a big thank you for our help.

Good job GoodGym. 😁

First Half - With England in the final it seemed a football reference in the title was appropriate. There was no time to discuss the match as for the first little while there was just the two of us, AJ and Linda, picking and packing at Frenford Foodbank. Whilst we know others will join us as they finish work there is always a niggling "what if it ends up just the two of us" thought as we move about in the eerie quiet of a usually bustling sports centre.

Half Time - A client turned up a little early and their parcel wasn't ready so we scurried about putting that together just as our new member Mira arrived. I hope he realised how welcomed he was as we invited him to throw his stuff on the floor and get stuck in with our rush job. Happy to say there was a little time for the niceties, introductions and brief training later. Mira soon had the hang of it and made a very useful contribution to the session sending a massive welcome to the group Mira.

2nd Half - Herman and Tina arrived straight from work and got started, Herman pointed out that there was a message from James asking if we still needed help so a speedy "get your bum over here" reply was sent. We ended up with 6 Goodgymmers and some Frenford staff, commandeered from their usual jobs by the task owner, so everything got done in good time and there was also a little time at the end of session to do a little shelf filling and the obligatory photo session - AJ had left due to family obligations before then so I have used a cute one from a previous session 😊

Game Over We Won 🥳🥳

It was a busy session at Frenford Food Bank. Still getting used to the double quantity of packages in one go and a glitch in printing the order forms causing a late start didn't stop us getting the job done in good time.

A huge welcome to Lukas, a very enthusiastic newcomer to Good Gym, so enthusiastic that he has done his Task Force training even before his first mission!🥳 After a quick run through of the system he was very soon making himself most useful. Also making himself useful was James an unexpected and very welcome arrival. Our regular, reliable and hard working GG couple Tina and Herman completed our team of 5.

We joined with Frenfords Workers and some Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates in the crowded but convivial corridor of supplies busily picking, packing and generally helping each other to get the job done.

Ed and Linda arrived at Frenford FoodBank earlier than advertised and started sorting the supermarket delivery. Pretty soon joined by AJ who got busy unpacking packages that had not been collected from three weeks ago. Ed moved on to sorting the scouts delivery when Herman (a surprise last minute decision to sign up) arrived. Herman hadn't been notified of our earlier start time but it didn't matter as we then had another supermarket delivery come in so we all got involved in sorting that one out.

Confident that everything was prepped ready for Thursdays picking and packing we went on our merry way... forgetting to take photos...again 🙈 so enjoy these old ones 😁

Its always a lovely surprise when GGers are available during the day in the middle if the workjng week so it was great to see Kathryn and Herman join Ed and Linda at Frenford Foodbank.

One of the sachets of microwave rice had split spilling sauce onto others attracting flies and other pests so, equipped with soapy water, a bunch of tea towels and a pack of antibac. wipes, Kathryn, Linda and Alison(friend of Frenford and now GoodGym) set to work washing, drying and wiping. As the crates were stacked on top of each other and had holes in the bottom we thought it best to clean all three crate loads - especially as they'd had a previous mouse issue.

In the meantime Herman and Ed set about sorting and storing two trolley loads of food donations, they then set about reorganising and restocking the shelves laid bare from last weeks sessions. Ed had made some sides and fronts for the shelves to prevent pasta and rice avalanches which proved very effective. Once done with the clean up job the rest of us joined them and although we ran a little over time we were all happy that we got the job done.

There was a little trepidation about this session as the new system at Frenford Foodbank involves twice the number of packages and the new timing of the session meant we lost a couple of our regular experienced pickers and packers 😢

The session got off to a good start with the arrival of our newest recruit Irena. Irena made it across the border from Havering and soon got to work proving to be a valuable member of the team with minimal instruction. Welcome to Good Gym Irina.😊Talking about valuable members of the team our reliable hard working regulars Tina and Herman soon arrived bright and cheerful ready to tackle the mammoth task. 😁

Happily, despite things not being in the usual place and twice as much to do, things went quite smoothly. It was much easier with the centre being less congested. Although we used up all the allotted time and it was tiring, it was good to get it done all in one session.