A small but mighty team of five headed to Surplus Food Hub in New Malden, and with plenty to get through in just an hour, we wasted no time getting stuck in!

Dave and Marcos tackled the biggest job first: emptying the fridge container ready for a thorough jet wash. This involved some serious heavy lifting, shifting crate after crate of bananas, cabbages and other vegetables, alongside dry and tinned foods. Once everything was safely stacked outside, they jet-washed the inside of the container before sweeping and hosing down the area outside too.

Meanwhile, Anna and Jana got busy in the café and food-preparation areas. Surfaces were given such a thorough clean that a member of staff commented that she hadn't even realised the kitchen worktops sparkled until we had them glistening again! We also swept and mopped the café floor and the food-preparation area.

Keeping everything running smoothly was our team lead Rachel, who took on the role of project manager for the evening. She kept an eye on progress, made sure everyone stayed on task and pitched in with jobs where needed. Most importantly, when it came to restacking the fridge, Rachel had the photo showing exactly where everything belonged and expertly directed operations.

For the final push, it was all hands on crates. We formed a human chain and got the boxes back into the fridge, with Rachel directing where everything needed to go. Despite the amount of lifting and cleaning involved, teamwork meant we got the whole lot finished within our allotted hour.

Five GoodGymers, one hour, a sparkling café, a freshly jet-washed fridge container and a whole lot of crates shifted!

Fantastic work, team – we really did produce the goods! 🥔🥬💪

This evening before the main tuesday event, Anna and myself did a bit of dipping the buckets and thus watering the Gg plot. Surprisingly it has survived all that the weather has thrown at us.