6 Goodgymers (met at the charity and were welcomes by Poppy. She took us onto the roof where the large panels for the podcast booth were being stored beneath a tarpaulin. We set to work carrying then between 3 or 4 of us as they were very heavy. Getting them through the door and into the storage area was tricky but with everyone chipping in, we managed it. A great task for Keith to earn his 100 tshirt on! Fantastic achievement Keith!

Fourteen, yes, you are reading this right, fourteen Goodgymmers turned up at Abbeyfield for another, obviously very popular, quiz night. The 7 Abbeyfield residents that joined us were thus slightly outnumbered. But whether two to one or not: fun was had by all…. that stayed awake! Valentine’s dingbats were followed by a round of geography, a round of general knowledge and a music round. And if you didn’t know this before, you now know that agapornis is a love bird, a very important fact if you’re the twitching kind. And a bit of knowledge of French isn’t amiss either when baiser and galettes make an appearance. And musical talent in abundance judging by the crooning along to Frank Sinatra, Dusty, Elvis, and “who’s that?”… Another successful quiz night, much appreciated by the Abbeyfield residents.

Daryl, Janet and new Goodgymer Sylvie met at Pelham Park to help Steve and Lisa from the Parks Foundation to build a compost bin. First Daryl and Janet created a rectangle from planks of wood. This would form the perimeter of the compost bins. Meanwhile the others flattened the area of ground and then we started to knock the posts into the ground. This was fun as we got to wear a hard hat and use our muscles!! Finally, after a much-needed cup of tea on a very nippy winter morning, we drilled all the planks along the sides. Now it’s all ready to make compost! Hope to see Sylvie again at another task soon.

Daryl, Caprice, Eleanor, Janet, Chloe (plus 1 in a huge tum), Keith and Lea turned up at the old people’s home. I think, Lea was casing out the joint for when she needs it in a few years time… the rest was raring to go. We were in the lounge as there were five residents, so the group was fairly small. Caprice, our quizmaster, provided us with a sheet with drawings representing sayings. Out of the blue came a white elephant as top banana trying to turn back time, at the same time as the cash cow put all the eggs in one basket and its money where its mouth was, with the bad apple ringing the bell in the limelight while sitting on the fence and letting the cat out of the bag, and the hot potato moving like lightning while jumping out of the page onto the numberplate, I think! 🤣 Then on to even more serious business: geography, nature, and 2 rounds of general knowledge. Right, would you have known what to give the person in a French office, who is asking for a “trombone”?!?! Yes, of course, a paperclip 🤔🙃🤗!!! Anyway, the top team being Eleanor, Janet and two ladies. And the second and third team didn’t do too badly either. What a fount of knowledge Goodgymmers are!

What an amazing turn out for tonight's session. 11 GoodGymers joined the residents at Abbeyfield Wessex for a Christmas knees up. The GG christmas gang consisted of Paul, Sophie, Milly, Harry, Emma, Janet, James, Chloe (and bump) Eleanor, Daryl and Caprice. With mulled wine and mince pies in hand everyone joined in with some christmas karaoke. After a good old sing-along, the GoodGymers spent some quality time chatting amongst the residents whilst topping up drinks and eating some snacks. After a lovely festive catch up, the GoodGymers headed into Bournemouth to meet fellow GoodGymer Keith for Christmas drinks. Well done to Keith and Lea for all their hard work this week helping Westbourne Rotary Club with their Christmas Collection. GoodGym will return to Abbeyfield in January for the monthly quiz. We hope to see you there!

It's been a while since the gang have helped Creative Kids Arts Education Centre.So it was great to return to help out. Janet and Caprice met for the short run to the session. Emma, Sophie and Milly made their way to the task. They were met by Task Owner Cary who had the best task for them, getting the studio all christmassy!! 'Team Tree' was Janet and Caprice, they were tasked with building the 7ft christmas tree. Emma, Sophie and Milly aka 'Team Twinkle' They had the tricky task of untangling the Christmas lights. Once the tree was built, everyone got involved making it as bushy as possible with 'Team Twinkle' decorating with the lights. While the tree was getting all glitzy, Janet and Caprice helped out by taking out some recycling. 'Team Twinkle' did a cracking job, the tree looked stunning and it should do with three sets of lights! The final touch was everyone placed some cute teddy bears amongst the branches. We really hope the children love it. What a great session tonight, it really was fun and got everyone in the christmas spirit. Hopefully it won't be long before we come back to help Creative Kids. Watch this space.