it's December, so as previous years the 'Bancroft Santas' got together to collect toys & gifts for the Magpie project, aiming for the smallest of kids this time, 0-2.

And as previous years, Dan & family set up the day to wrap and tag presents, to shopping for more from donated money to snacks and drinks to keep the team going.

No surprise than Magpie founder Jane was once again overwhelmed with the bags full, barely fitting into 2 cars to get them to base and share with the mums in need.

Like last year, the 'Chunks2Hunks' crew from Bancroft Rugby Club has been busy spreading the word to collect toys for the little kids of mums looked after by the wonderful Magpie Project.

All those donated presents ofcourse need checking & wrapping - which is where Goodgym comes in! 6 of the Redbridge crew braved the early morning cold & drizzle and joined Dan & his team to work through the pile of toys & books, wrap and label them for the age range.

In total the whole team sorted/wrapped/packed:

• 180 presents for the Magpie kids
• 50odd books for teenagers
• 60odd presents went to Essex Family Services
• a bag full of babygrows sent out
• cot checked and sorted for pick-up

And beyond all that, a couple of bags of assorted donated clothing got sorted and split in size ranges.

Lots of praise and thanks from the organisers to all that came down to help out!

The call came for some assistance in getting supplies from the #C2H base at Bancroft RFC to a charity in Plaistow, Alternatives Trust East London.

Energetic as always, Dan went through the stock and selected two boxes of books & a bag full of kids/baby clothing. All that was left was for us to go and drop it off.

So on the way back from a session at the Crisis warehouse ([report to follow]) everything was safely delivered to grateful staff at Alternatives.

P.S... cudos to Tina for a double task on her first day doing Goodgym!

After a busy weekend last week collecting, sorting & wrapping so many donated presents, this weekend it was time to deliver them. Dan put out the word in the #C2H group and a group of fellow rugby players stepped up to drive the presents to Magpie Project HQ, handing them over to a very grateful team, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of bag after bag coming out of the vehicles.

Thanks to Nick & Danny & Zac & Perry & James for stepping up!

Although today was mainly focussed on continuing to sort through and pack up all the items donated yesterday (target was reached in a blink and ended up at least tripled), there was still the opportunity for people to drop off more, so some Goodgym muscle was present first thing to set up gazebo's & tables to create a safe and dry place to receive and start sorting any new donations.

What goes up, must come down again, so later on back to take down gazebo's , organise storage and take a look back at a crazy & incredible weekend - see below for some reports on social media:

Magpie Project on twitter after collecting round one: https://twitter.com/magpieprojectuk/status/1335574260706893829

Organiser Dan from Bancroft RFC on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bancroftRFC/posts/3884954544847932

One of the charities close to Dans heart is the Magpie Project, so with Christmas approaching the idea was to collect lots of little presents and bits to give to the kids, on behalf of 'Santa'.

The word went out in the local communities, lots of people responded, to the point of almost overwhelming the organisers, but working together the team of rugby players & local mums & goodgymmers got an incredible amount sorted and wrapped and packed - bags full of toys are ready to be send out!

Several boxes of books will be finding their way to a hospital, while clothing will be sorted and bagged up for an upcoming project in January.

Thanks very much for all the help, both receiving and sorting as wrapping & labeling!

The Cornerhouse Project has a drive collecting clothing and sleepingbags etc for homeless people. With this in mind, some enquiries were made and permission was given to have a look and see what items could be donated on behalf of Bancroft RFC.

Rummaging through forgotten piles of old shirts etc in the back of a container led to filling up a large kit bag with shorts representing several decades of rugby kit from Bancroft, some from the days of heavy cotton & long sleeves and some forgotten shirts & socks from a visit of the prison wardens.

The bag is now waiting for Dan to add it to other collected items, ready for distribution.