Sunny, Smashing, Fun

This community mission was located out of town, almost a day tripper type adventure! We were joined by first timer Kirsty who is in the process of moving to Brighton from Guildford. Thank you for getting stuck in! Hopefully we will see you again at group runs, community missions and Parkrun soon!

Age UK has been associated with Goodgym right from the beginning across the country; however with there being no Goodgym in Newhaven or the surrounding towns this is a first for Age UK East Sussex. Age UK provides services to the older community, supporting its service users with understanding the benefits they can claim, providing advice and being a friendly face delivering their weekly shop or someone to speak to on the phone. Much of their work matches the coach runs and community missions Goodgymers across the country do and have been a literal life saver to those in need over the last 18 months.

Newhaven have set up a donation sorting centre to process the huge amount of stuff that has been given to the charity since the lockdowns gave people the time to have a good clear out at home. Though the charity is not short of volunteers, they were very excited to have some physically fit people to help with the more demanding tasks! The warehouse has four (4) shipping containers full of donations that are yet to be sorted, even finding the time to bring them into the warehouse to be sorted has been a struggle! Amro, Michael, Sherman and Peter pulled bags and boxes out of one of the containers and filled the warehouse, giving the regular volunteers something to get stuff into on Monday. Tabitha and Kirsty bagged up clothing and shoes that were unsuitable to sell for the rag and bone man to collect as well as boxing up Christmas themed donations to go into deep storage until the festive season comes around.

With the team getting these tasks completed so quickly we walked through the show room part of the warehouse to see all the furniture that was for sell; a few Goodgymers keeping an eye out for some bargain!

Age UK also carry out clearances of properties, usually after someone as passed away leaving houses full of furniture and bric-a-brac. Much of these are not sellable and have been left in the backyard waiting for it to be dismantled - and that we did! With MUCH gusto the Goodgymers broke up damaged furniture and topped up the huge skip the charity has to have emptied once a week! Unfortunately, not all donations are created equal, with some people handing over literal rubbish (old pants, ripped sofas, car tyres).

A absolute HUGE thank you from me for making the journey out to Newhaven, as the photos show, there is so much to do and more donations are coming in everyday. Caroline, the warehouse manager, loved metting everyone and was utterly gobsmacked at how much we achieved!