Jp arrived to help James and Steph Ducat at the grocery section and hand out bags of food to cook or snack bags for those without cooking facilties. Giles went to the clothing section and was guiding people to the different pieces of clothing they were aload including the t-shirts we normally see tourists buy. Jacquie was serving food in the sitting area. Today coronation chicken was served with a lemon couscous salad. Once all calmed down in the grocery and clothing section, Giles went to help in the kitchen to clean dishes and JP clean the grocery area. Steph was also clearing and helped in the foyer.

Carine and JP helped to set up the foodbank, collecting and setting out the food boxes and crates, setting up tables and preparing cakes and pastries for the tea station.

The rain held off for Manuela and JP to visit Mrs O for some garden maintenance.

The task was listed as grass cutting but the absence of a lawn mower - or indeed any grass, as the lawn was mainly composed of moss - rendered that idea a little challenging.

Instead we gathered the available tools and set ourselves to a general tidy up, raking up the leaves on the lawn and in flower beds and doing some weeding in the beds and on the patio.

Then work was satisfying and we soon managed to fill 4 bags with the leaves and weeds we had gathered.

Mrs O was very satisfied and keen for a repeat experience with GoodGym!

The Monday morning food bank setup at St Mary’s was briefly at risk due to the late arrival of the delivery van with supplies from the central warehouse in Ealing.

Anna, Martin and JP (visiting from Richmond) were on hand and chatted with the other volunteers as we heard occasional updates on the van’s location and progress.

Eventually a cheer went up as the van arrived and we got to work rapidly unloading a bumper load of fresh and packaged food, including mango pieces, bananas, ready to eat meals and a huge load of coriander.

We quickly packed up the now-empty van with reusable boxes and plastic crates and sent the driver on his way, relieved that the food bank slot would go ahead as usual - and raced off to our next activities.