Wednesday 7th June 2017
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Report written by Ellie Hutch
Baby bank-charge
13 not-so-unlucky goodgymers charged 5k and tackled 2 whopper hills for some baby bank donation clothes sorting and food donation labelling. All in the name of Camberwell Salvation Army and their wondrous support of the local community. Pow to the mother lovin Pow!
It was an awesome sight to behold when a proud Peckham posey, posed for pics and pounded pavements to get to do some good in camberwell on this fine Wednesday eve!!
Joining the ranks of regulars were newbies - Turki (who we had recruited from the streets last week!!!) and the fantastic Tara, our visiting coach in training from Brighton Yay!!
Before we set off it was announcements ahoy and the sad info drop that our lovely and always smiling Becky was moving and would no longer be attending the Southwark runs!!! Saddddd times, but we've been promised a visit in the not too distant, so three cheers for that and she certainly is a jolly goodgym female x
Leading out the ranks we hit that first hill hard and with my lovely Helena Pigeon up front, there was no stopping the pace or sense of direction as the team dashed off the first leg in no time at all!!!
Arriving at our destination in well under 30mins, we were greeted by the ever jubilant Janet, who was so very grateful for our help!! The tasks at hand she explained were sorting and clearing the donations of children's clothing, moving the large objects up to the loft and labelling the canned food goods before stacking away. Much to do and not a whole lot a nothing, in fact, there was a whole lotta something for everyone to get stuck into, so stick and stack we did and the task was underway.
Splitting the crew as there was so much to do, We ploughed through the mountains of baby grows and knitted cardies galore, sorting, folding and rolling to make room in the boxes that filled up fast!!
While the girls cracked on with the clobber, Rob and Turki were heavy lifting their way through prams and baby baths alike, bracing the wobbly ladder and piling high the heavenly hoards of amazing donations up in the loft, ready to be cleaned up and handed out, to whoever may need them most.
Over on the other side (and dangerously close to the big box of Harribo sweeties I might add) Beth led the second group troops in the labelling and shelve stacking of canned and boxed goods alike. Helena even managing to lock off the opened ladies toiletries in her suitability assessments and rightly so, we couldn't be responsible for any bad (body)form of damaged kit!!
35mins seemed to fly by, like a baby-delivering stork on delivery day and before I knew it, the countdown was upon me!!! 3,2,1 and we're done!! Having made a huge impact on the big piles and completely finished the canned element of the task as well!! We felt proud we'd been able to make such an impact. Amazing!!!
So with fond farewells and ok one last Harribo for the road, we were turning on our heels and off once more, this time led by our Brighton-Rock-Ing leader Tara and would you believe it she made us do squats!! At the top of the big big hill no less. She is a tough one, but the encouragement and smiles all the way, made us mad for the madam and the goodgym cheer flowed happily all the way home!!!
Stretches finished the eve and after those hills we were pleased, but sad to say goodbye, to Becky.... I may cry. But this crew will keep smashing, the goodgym tasks with all the passion and hope for a visit very soon!!
Big love, big efforts and big vibes - Its GG Southwark of course, I expect nothing less!!!! One last thing - GG olympics this weekend.... GO TEAM!!!! Peckham rules!!!! Woooooo hooooo
See you next time x x x x
Southwark
Tackles food insecurity and reuses surplus food to prevent food being thrown away!