Haven' help us - it's stormy out there!

On a cold and wet Tuesday evening, lit safely by Stuart's bargain hat off the internet, Simon led us through the storm and we reached the Haven Day Centre ready to help out before the opening of Swindon Night Shelter on the 2nd January.

I said a hip, hop, the hippie ah', the boogie to… oh, not that type of wrapping?!

Much to the relief of GoodGym members who had visited the Haven Day Centre before, this time there was no wardrobe moving required! Order of the day was Christmas wrapping, so we duly split into two tables and got stuck in, as there's no time like the present! Powered by cuppas, we transformed the centre into Santa's grotto for the evening, and wrapped Terry's chocolate oranges, Tunnock's caramel wafers, combs, toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste - well over 100 items in total. You could even say we gave it 100 and ten present!

Table one opted for an 'each for their own' approach, which served them well until Charles and Stuart got somewhat over generous with the number of items per parcel. A dead giftaway they weren't listening to the instructions, but we let them off - it is the season for giving after all!

Table two went for a team approach, featuring stiff competition on how many Terry's chocolate oranges we could wrap with a single length of wrapping paper. Our efficiency all round was hugely improved thanks to Sellotape Sam supplying the sticky stuff at speed!

Having helped out Santa (I think he's an elf-made man), these gifts are now ready for the men and women who will be given a place in the temporary winter housing provision, which also includes support to help rough sleepers get off the streets.

We also got the chance to see how some previous GoodGym support has helped out by visiting their newly refurbished sleeping area which can accommodate twelve people, and was toasty warm! Last time we visited this building it was a storage area, and it was great to see the transformation almost complete to a space that will help some of the most vulnerable people in our community over the coming months.

Next week, in our last group run this decade(!), we will be Toy Sorting for Good News 4 Swindon's (GN4S) Christmas Toy Appeal, so local families in need will have presents to wake up to on Christmas morning. Check it out here!

We also have two community missions left this year, on Saturday 14th December we are Christmas Gift Wrapping at the Brunel Centre for the Prospect Hospice in the morning and afternoon (everyone should be well practised now!), and on Thursday 19th December we are setting up and helping out at the We're Open Christmas Party at Coffee 1.