School Assembly .. far from child's play but we didnt throw in the dowel!

On a hot and sticky Thursday afternoon, three keen Goodgym runners met at Herbert Thompson Primary school for a spot of flat pack furniture fun.

They were met by Goodgym Cardiff's very own Miss Fiona Guy, a teacher at the school and quickly taken to her classroom to begin work. She explained that there were three bookcases to assemble as well as a sofa and that the furniture going into her room would be part of her new blended learning area which allows the pupils to learn in different ways.

Lucy and Darren sprang into action getting stuck into the assembly of the first bookcase. The box was opened, the components sorted into piles and the instruction manual located. Lucy got the first two pieces and the screws to hold them and put them together only to be told by Darren one piece was the wrong way up! It was unscrewed and put back together the other way only for us later to discover that it didn't matter which way up it was after all. After the false start things sped up. Dowels were hammered in and pieces pushed together - we were the furniture assembly dream team.

One bookcase down we moved onto the second identical one. Having already made one you would think we would fly through the assembly of this one. But alas, one of the holes hadn't been drilled out properly so a bit of unscrewing had to happen to allow Darren to use the screw to make the hole bigger so the bookcase could be completed. Ta-dah!

Feeling pleased with our efforts we took a short break for some water and a biscuit (and to stop giggling at all the innuendos that building flat pack furniture had thrown up! Good job the children had gone home).

With the arrival of Nathan, there was hope of order being restored and it was time for the sofa construction. Things went well with Darren and Nathan attaching the arms and the upper part to the base and Lucy took on the role of screwing the two together laying across the floor. The sofa cover was added and after a search under the sofa for the securing loops (see the attached photo where none of us have a head) it was complete. We carried it into position and then tested it out all sitting on the sofa together for a photo. Fiona was thrilled with the new sofa and said the children will love it tomorrow and that she couldn't wait to see their reaction.

Our final bookcase of the day was a smaller one than we had already made but this one was for the headteacher Mrs Marsh's office. It was a race against time to get it finished before we needed to leave but we all worked together and got the job done. Mrs Marsh was really pleased with her new piece of furniture and thanked us for our hard work.

Avoiding a detention, despite Darren having a play with the school crossing patrol lollipop stick, we were ready to leave. We said goodbye to Fiona and she thanked us for our help.

This was a fantastic community mission that will make a difference to the learning environment of the pupils at the school and one of the most enjoyable tasks I have done with Goodgym … what a fab team we made!