Hearts of glass

Wast Not Want Not in Battersea is an amazing organisation which strives to save perfectly edible and nutritious food becoming waste and instead uses it to benefit our local community. They do this by collecting surplus food from nearby markets, especially at New Covent Garden Market, and save around 750-1000 kg of food every week from ending up in the bin.

They are having a major refurb at the moment, and plan to open up the zero waste hub again in March, so they need loads of help making sure its ready to go. That's where we come in! Our job for the evening was to help clear the shelves of glassware, pots and much more so that cupboards could be moved in to store items that needed to be locked away. The plan is that they will create a welcoming, efficient drop in centre for the community to use.

So, after a warm up and a discussion about whether sweet or savoury was better (and a side debate about the merits of chicken and maple waffles and sweet and salty popcorn!) we set off for the short run down to the charity.

We don't always know exactly what we'll be doing when we meet up with local legend Hadas, but we know we'll be kept busy! The first task was moving some very heavy kitchen equipment around the maze-like centre. Then we tackled our nemesis: the gazebo. We've had a bit of history with this particular structure, but last night I think we finally cracked it, figuring out how we can actually make it tall enough for humans to stand under!

Then came in the main jobs in question. Forming a human chain we got cracking moving everything off the shelves and setting up a triage station outside. Then the challenges came thick and fast. Balancing precarious trays of glass, shifting huge shelves over cabinets, avoiding falling over one another like a giant game of tetris. After a good stint we had managed to clear the area, pack up the items, create space and move the cupboards back into place. And all without one single las being broken. No mean feat! Well done to the super crew.

We just had time to do some optional fitness, which included 4 rounds focusing on cardio, arms, legs and abs. With four exercises per round we concluded with a tough abs finisher. Amazing work everybody!

Next week we have a session at the GoodGym garden, somewhere we haven't been in a little while so there will be plenty to do! Hope to see you there.