Holly
Oxford
Doing good since January 2020
73Good deeds
80runs
317cheers
Oxford
Oxford Mutual Aid evening shift
Oxford Mutual Aid have asked for a GoodGym flash mob at the Richard Benson Hall food bank tonight.
There’s lots to do:
* Sorting out the remaining Christmas gifts ready for storing or shelving.
* Restocking the food shelves.
* Sorting through the fresh food and throwing out food waste.
* Breaking down cardboard boxes.
* Helping load up food parcels for delivery.
* Cleaning
We ask that you wear a mask inside the food bank.
Tonight we will meet at the task - Richard Benson Hall, 276b Cowley Rd - at 6pm. It’s next door to St Mary & St John church. There won’t be a run to the task but there will be a 5k run after we finish at the food bank. We’ll also provide a run-walk option for those starting Couch-2-5k this month. All welcome, so come in your running kit if you fancy a social run.
Oxford
East Oxford Litter Pick!
Tonight we'll be litter picking around the circumference of Florence Park and along the Boundary Brook cycle path. There is always a lot of litter around this area which spills into the surrounding park, nature reserve and allotments. Tonight we'll do our best to sort that out.
We know you love a good plog - one of our most satisfying tasks - let's get to work!
Litter pickers and bags will be provided but please bring your own gloves. As the evenings are dark please wear hi-vis if you have them, and headtorches would be helpful for everyone. I'll bring a couple of spare head torches.
Meeting options:
* Anyone wishing to run to the task as a group please meet in the car park of the Richard Benson Hall, 276b Cowley Rd at 6pm. There won’t be a bag drop available but we can use the toilets. It is less than a mile to run to the litter pick location, and we plan on there being a walking option too. We can take a longer route back so that you feel like you've had a good leg-stretch!
* If you would prefer to meet at the task please meet us at 6:15pm outside Larkrise Primary School on Boundary Brook Road, OX4 4AN
Oxford
GoodGym flash mob to the rescue
Last night we blitzed the tidying and organising tasks at the Oxford Mutual Aid food bank. As a 7-days-a-week operation there's rarely time to pause and take stock due to the overwhelming need to get the food parcels prepared, so a GoodGym flash-mob every now and then helps to get everything back in order.
This week there have been lots of large donations in from other food banks and larders which needed sorting into crates of similar items then stored properly. Also, now that we're into the New Year all the leftover Christmas items needed to be organised so that they can be stored off site instead of taking up precious space in the hall.
We divided into teams and got to work:
* Lorenzo headed up a group sorting through all the recent food donations, crating them up with like-items and stacking them away in a more organised fashion.
* Rachael took her team to the kitchen to sort through the fresh fruit and veg and dispose of any that were too mushy/mouldy to send out, organising the fridges into expiry-date order, and giving the whole area a good clean, before moving on to portioning up bulk bags of pasta.
* Bethan's crew sorted through mountains of Christmas gifts, categorising by age of recipient, and then picking a few crates to remain at the hall as birthday gifts and labelling everything else up for off-site storage.
* Holly, Vicky and Ben did the heavy lifting, re-organising the tin-can corner to make more storage space. Hope your arm muscles aren't too achey this morning!
* Last, but not least, Dan tackled cardboard mountain, flattening the pile of boxes and crushing as many as possible into the recycling bin.
We've already had effusive thanks from the Oxford Mutual Aid organising team:
"This is is so, so helpful! Thank you thank you!"
"Thank you SO SO MUCH"
"I've just been in and everything looks like a dream."
Great work team. Well done!
Oxford
Boundary Brook Nature Park work party
Boundary Brook Nature Park was created in 1990 when a group of community wildlife enthusiasts rescued a plot of disused allotments to carve out a wild space in the heart of East Oxford.
Featuring mixed woodland, meadow, a nature pond and butterfly glade, Boundary Brook is home to a rich variety of wildlife from birds and butterflies to frogs and foxes.
Oxford Urban Wildlife Group have asked for our help to dig out bramble roots so they can’t take hold again in the spring.
Please bring your own gardening gloves. All other tools will be provided.
The task meeting point is outside the gate to Boundary Brook Nature Park, which is on the cycle way just past Larkrise Primary School at the end of Boundary Brook Road.
Oxford
Word to the wise - wellies wellies wellies!
On an super sunny sunday a group of goodgym walkers followed a 9km route. We saw little cheeping birds (coots apparently!), CS Lewis's house, ponies, speedy cyclists with enviable legs, and mud mud mud!
Welcome Maria - great to have you join GoodGym, we hope to see you again soon!
Oxford
Group Walk - Headington to CS Lewis Nature Reserve
Meeting at the Headington Road shops, this route will take us towards Shotover through the CS Lewis Nature Reserve.
It will be muddy so appropriate footwear is recommended!
The route is about 9.5km, bring some sandwiches for a lunch break at the top of Shotover Park. The route should take about 2.5 - 3 hours including lunch.
Meet: outside the costa coffee at the Headington road shops crossroads. There should be some bike racks at the Waitrose nearby.
Time: meet at 10:45 to set off by 11:00.
View the route: https://onthegomap.com/s/m3iep558
Oxford
Oxford Mutual Aid evening shift
Oxford Mutual Aid have asked for a GoodGym flash mob at the Richard Benson Hall food bank tonight.
There’s lots to do:
* Portioning out bulk bags of rice, pasta, and chickpeas.
* Restocking the food shelves.
* Sorting through the fresh food and throwing out food waste.
* Breaking down cardboard boxes.
* Helping load up food parcels for delivery.
* Cleaning
We ask that you wear a mask inside the food bank.
Tonight we will meet at the task - Richard Benson Hall, 276b Cowley Rd - at 6pm. It’s next door to St Mary & St John church. There won’t be a run to the task but there will be a 5k run after we finish at the food bank. We’ll also provide a run-walk option for those starting Couch-2-5k this month. All welcome, so come in your running kit if you fancy a social run.
Oxford
TOAD in the hedge
Last night we started 2022 as we mean to go on, helping the food bank and litter picking some of the city grot spots!
Heading West for the first time in a few months we planned to tackle the Osney Mead/Botley Road litter. Although we don't get out that way regularly we're still familiar with some of the favourite dumping grounds: around any park bench (even if there's a bin right next to it), car parks, and bushy hedge are surefire litter gold mines. Our 3 teams set off in different directions - forming a pincer movement from each end of the Osney Mead Industrial Estate, with the 3rd group cleaning up the known dumping ground in the small park next to the bridge. Sure enough, we were soon laden with gin bottles (some fancy artisan gin drinkers in Oxford green spaces), clothing, cans, takeaway containers, newspapers (old skool!), the ever-present masks, even a pair of steel toe-cap boots and a trolley!
An hour of litter picking in freezing temperatures yielded over 20 sacks of trash. We came away thinking that it's high time the UK stole Rwanda's system of Umuganda: "Umuganda is a national holiday in Rwanda taking place on the last Saturday of every month for a morning of mandatory nationwide community work. Participation in umuganda is required by law, and has resulted in notable improvement in the cleanliness of Rwanda."
Welcome to GoodGym Chris!
Oxford
West Oxford Litter Pick!
We're starting the year with a litter pick - start as you mean to go on afterall!
We'll be litter picking the Botley Road and Osney Mead areas. There is always a lot of litter along this main route into Oxford and the busy Osney Mead Industrial Estate, but we don't often get out West for a clean up. Tonight we'll set that right.
We know you love a good plog - one of our most satisfying tasks - let's get to work!
Litter pickers and bags will be provided but please bring your own gloves. As the evenings are dark now I suggest hi-vis if you have them, and headtorches would be helpful for everyone. I'll bring a couple of spare head torches.
Meeting options:
* Anyone wishing to run to the task as a group please meet in the car park of the Richard Benson Hall, 276b Cowley Rd at 5:45pm. There will just be a running group this week as it is a little too far to get across the city centre in time if we walk. There won’t be a bag drop available but we can use the toilets. It is about 2 miles to West Oxford Community Centre.
* If you would prefer to meet at the task please meet us at 6:15pm outside the West Oxford Community Centre, Botley Road, OX2 0BT. The community centre will be closed, so we won't have access to toilets, but there are bike racks and parking immediately outside.
Oxford
30 Days of Yoga Challenge
For anyone looking for a new challenge for the new year that supports both physical and mental health - why not try a 30 day yoga challenge.
We suggest 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene but other programmes are available online.
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