We had a busy day at Growbaby spending time sorting the clothes donations. There were lots of donations today so we had our work cut out for us. We all went home satisfied with our good deed done today.

It was a beautiful sunny morning today at the Forest School Allotment. Helen, Amy, Rachel and Julie started off by moving the compost from the old raised bed which was in a shady corner into the new beds in the sunnier side. It was heavy work but with a few of us we worked quickly, so there was time to help Alex with some heavy lifting jobs that needed doing. We moved some bags of compost and some heavy plant pots into their new homes. It was great to see the results of some of our earlier efforts, with some plants we’d saved from the old beds and pots coming into flower. Kate and Rob brought their new arrival to say hello, and we all enjoyed spending some time with the animals (goats, rabbits and best of all CHICKENS). A great task today and a big welcome to Amy on her first Goodgym mission.

Charlotte and Rachel sorted out the big bags of donated clothes to Growbaby to help families in need. Kate popped over with bags of clothes and baby equipment to support local families.

Busy day at Growbaby - lots of broken items needed sorting which ended up with a trip to the tip. Love a good sort out! Kate popped by with bags of clothes and baby equipment she no longer needed.

Tidying up our environment, one piece of litter at a time. Every litter bit helps!

Hats of to Jana for litter picking on the RIVER! Brave to venture out on the water when it was so cold outside. Brrrrrr-illiant work :)

As ‘tis the season of traditions, we relished the opportunity to uphold one of ours with one of the Kingston Goodgym group’s favourite festive group run task! Tuesday evening’s good deed done was in support of our local SeeAbility residential home for adults with disabilities. The task was a fabulously festive one as we were called upon to spruce things up, ‘dec their halls’, (and dining room) and string outdoor lights to add some Christmas cheer to the home.

Three eager volunteers braved the elements outside to take on the hanging of the Christmas lights along the eaves of the home. Some reached new heights while others held the ladder. No need for Sabir to hold on for deer life as he was supported by both Dave and Rob providing safety and moral support at the bottom of the ladder. There were Christmas tunes being played as Rob took on the role of Rudolf to light the way with his large torch to guide them.

Meanwhile the rest of the team had snow easy task of displaying the large window decals - a beautiful winter scene with reindeer, baubles and snowflakes. They got their nails into it which were needed to remove the birds and butterflies to replace them by peeling and sticking the snowflakes and winter wonderland elements.

The tree was then assembled and decorated just in time for the team to reunite in the lounge to admire our handy work and celebrate with a bit of dancing to ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’.

It was so lovely to return to support this fabulous home with Goodgym Kingston members young, old and new! Juniper was a very popular Goodgym baby on this task and her supervision of the activities was very helpful too!

We celebrated our task by heading to the Albion for a Christmas celebration with a not so savage gift exchange of secret Santa! It is now beginning to look a lot more like Christmas for the residents of the SeeAbility home and it’s feeling more and more Christmassy for Goodgym Kingston with every Christmas task we do! We hope to see you joining us on the next one!