SWON-ing around with the band & a RAINBOW-nus mission

Kind-hearted musicians the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of North London (SWON) put on another magical concert at St Martin's Church in Gospel Oak and asked for some help from GoodGym in collecting donations for children's charity The Rainbow Trust. Just over 50 guests braved the cold and the dark and were rewarded with the best of British, including Edward Elgar's A Severn Suite and Malcolm Arnold's The Padstow Lifeboat.

Mulled wine went down a treat in the interval, selling out quickly. Donations for the drinks and cookies, together with a bucket collection on the way out, raised over £230 for the charity. This will go towards helping families of very sick children when they most need the kindness of the strangers - whether it's looking after a sibling so the parents can take the other child to a hospital appointment, or providing bereavement counselling after the worst happens.

Although I was flying the GoodGym flag on my own, Rainbow Trust ambassador Dom came along to help with the collections at St Martin's Church and invited me to a rainbow-nus mission the day after, collecting donations at the Mother Maker's Rainbow Christmas Market. We sold donated handmade goods made by the talented mums, as well as delicious rainbow-coloured meringues. Over the day, we collected over £170 to add to the weekend's fundraising total.

A fabulous result for such a great cause - hopefully more GoodGymers will get involved next time!