7 goodgymers travelled to Ocean Youth Connexions for a festive evening of painting and leaf collecting. The ever 'elf-ful' Ilana and Rohan painted the shutters silver (bells); John and Kareem aka the two wise men, painted two doors: one gold, reminiscent of sleigh bells and one black, matching Santa's belt. Emma , Fiona and myself were on leaf picking duty. Kamal was no grinch and supplied us with excellent leaf grabbers to get the job done. Emma finished the task by channelling Santa, carrying big sacks (of rubbish) down to the wheelie bin. The key for the bin was triangular, resembling the green triangle chocolate often seen during the festive period - coincidence? I think not.

Once the tasks were complete, we all rolled merrily along to The Star of The East for a celebratory drink. That's a wrap for Gooddgym Tower Hamlets for 2025.

Six vans. Countless crates. And lots of people with positive energy.

We teamed up with the Camden food bank crew to unload crates of food, drink and toys from six different vans. We made a human chain, passing crates of all shapes and weights across two floors, then stacked them into neat towers.

Best part? The banter and teamwork. There’s something very uplifting about meeting new people while doing something practical that really matters - and with Christmas around the corner, this mission definitely got me in the spirit of giving back!