There were 6 people working away at Care4Calais today, which made the space very busy. Especially the stock room. They were split into 2 teams, with Maria working with Tamzin and another C4C volunteer to bag requests for beneficiaries while Kash, Anita and Sevan sorted the new batch of donations that had magically appeared since last week.

The pack builders were running low on certain men's sizes and shoes, meaning that Maria came hunting for freshly sorted clothes to complete her packs. The sorting started with lots of children's clothes though, then men's (mostly XXL), then women's, also mostly XXL. Some of them still had their tags on, so had never been worn!

With Kash and Sevan heading to a mission in north London, all the clothes were stuffed into boxes in the stock room before they ran off. There were so many 2XL clothes that Tamzin may need to build another room to house them! No doubt there'll be more supernatural clothing multiplication between now and GoodGym's next visit in November, meaning there'll be plenty more for the team to work through.

Anita and Iram dropped in to join Auberon, Dani, and the Cultivate London team to help bring a splash of colour to the green spaces around Ealing Hospital. Anita arrived first, while Iram joined later, so the pair passed each other like ships in the daylight! Cultivate London supplied some very fetching hi-vis jackets and all the tools we needed to get planting.

Cultivate London is a charity that provides horticultural services using sustainable, organic and biodiverse methods. They work with communities, businesses and local government to create and maintain enjoyable and sustainable urban green spaces and give local people the opportunity to learn and engage in food growing. This session was in partnership with London North West Healthcare Charity.

The team introduced us to the “lasagne technique” which involved layering different bulbs in the soil like lasagne sheets. A good deep hole was dug, and layers of tulips and crocuses were stacked between layers of ~~sauce~~ soil before being firmly stomped down to deter the local squirrel population. The squirrels were keeping a watchful eye from the sidelines as they planned their next raid for a tasty treat!

There’s still plenty to do, so we’ll likely be back to lend a hand again soon. It was a brilliant session full of teamwork, fresh air and the promise of a colourful spring around Ealing Hospital.