Each blood donation usually helps out 3 people, hence title 😁

8 GoodGymers ran and walked their way to Oasis City Farm Waterloo today.

Meeting outside Horse Guards Parade, the group split in two: a running group took a scenic 2k route over the Golden Jubilee foot bridge, while a power-walking group stamped 1k over Waterloo Bridge both meeting at Oasis Farm at the same time.

Entering through the massive barn doors to meet Farm manager Luke, we were shown around the site, and given a brief history of how the farm came about, and all the groups they support - before running through the jobs of the day.

Getting into pairs we went full force into the jobs of the day, starting fast!

We had to clear out the dusty barn, ready for a function over the weekend; weed the over-growing garden, cut and strip back the big pile of wood, ready to be used as fire wood; muck out the straw over spill from animal enclosures and put the overspill into the compost.

Some proper graft was put into work, fast and efficiently, to complete all the tasks in just 90 minutes of intense activity!

We succeeded in filling the last bag, stripping back and cutting the last plank, getting all the weeds and scooping up the final straw pile as Big Ben chimed 4!

Thank you for a really productive and helpful session for the farm. Hope you enjoyed it as much as i did!

Joel

A dozen GoodGymmers from a range of groups (incl Tower Hamlets, Richmond and Lambeth) met Andrea for GROAD to help distribute duvets, bags, clothes, shoes and sandwiches to rough sleepers. The usual spot just off the Strand was busy as ever with expectant and grateful recipients. With the large number of volunteers, we finished early, grateful to return to our own homes for the night.

Ms B was very well prepared for this week's shop having established "how it works" following last week's mission. When I arrived at her door, she had list, money, and most helpfully, empty jars of the various products she wanted - a useful and tactile version of show and tell for your average GoodGym shopper.

With the layout of the aisles of her local Waitrose now embedded in my mind, I was able to find everything she had asked for reasonably quickly, including a particular brand of Superjam (who knew?), and where to find flat pancakes (in the chilled dessert section of course...). Every day really is a school day when it comes to these shopping missions.

As this was Ms B's first GoodGym shop, she wasn't sure of the exact process - thankfully she'd drawn up a list of her essentials, but explained that she hadn't put any quantities next to any of the items as she would leave that up to me to decide based on the cost of the items and the amount of money that I had (and how much I could carry...). She was though keen to ensure I didn't go overboard with the items at the start of the list and not be able to afford those at the end.

With all this in mind, it was a case of needing some diligent mental arithmetic at her local Waitrose to ensure I did as instructed. Fortunately the shopping part proved reasonably straightforward - and with time in hand, I went in search of a particular brand of toothpaste at Boots and her other local pharmacies that Ms B had also asked for, but sadly without success.

Three Goodgymers, Stefanie, Ayako and Africa joined forces to help in the food distribution with Rhythms of Life. We came from different places, some more local the other but it was an amazing experience, especially for Stefanie and Ayako, because it was their first task in Goodgym.

When the van arrives full of boxes of food, we quickly unload the boxes, set up the tables and we start to distribute the food within an hour maximum.

We said goodbye to each other and vanished into the crowd, the lights and the string wind of the evening.

It was amazing to meet everyone and do something so directly helpful and rewarding. We said goodbye to eachother and we