What a fantastic time we had helping out at The Community Hospice!

This was our most popular community mission so far, with GoodGym members coming from Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Camden, and of course, Bexley. It was great to see so many friendly faces ready to get stuck in!

Jason, the Head Gardener, had lots of jobs for us to do to get the garden looking at its best before the Open Gardens Festival next weekend. And wow—we got loads done!

✅ We pulled out weeds

✅ Cleared ivy and brambles from the wall

✅ Cut back some bushes

✅ Tidied up the whole area

Everyone worked hard and made a big difference. The garden is now looking fresher and ready to welcome visitors!

We also had some brilliant milestones to celebrate:

🎉 A huge congratulations to John gaining his GoodGym crown with his 500th good deed—amazing 👑!

👏 Well done to Zita, Robert, and Caroline for reaching 10 good deeds each.

Go team!

Thanks to everyone who came along—it was such fun, and we’re already looking forward to the next one. 🌼🌳

Two cages of donations sorted by us Good Gym Peeps. Good work!

A mixed bag as always - today featured many substandard shoes and mondo mankey socks!

Halloween making a decent appearance once more as you can see in our pics. (Some people really make an effort 🎃👻.)

Still loads of winter cuddlies in the mix too. Sad not much designer stuff today - so less cash for the charity. Fingers crossed for more EBay friendly things next time.

Ann, Caroline & Simon.

Another lively clothes-sorting session at the Community Hospice Shop with Caroline and Ann, all under the watchful eye of James. While we’re surrounded by everything from hoovers to hairdryers, musical instruments to power tools—and books galore—our mission is clear: sort the clothes!

Our sorting categories? Excellent, Good, Not Bad, Bad and ugh! It’s remarkable what turns up. Some donations are so stylish and classy and sometimes whole bags full and it makes you wonder why someone would offload such lovely stuff. Then there's stuff on the other end of the scale. I don't dwell on it though because there's lots more to sort!

The three hours fly by as we laugh and chat, especially when we uncover something utterly bizarre—items of clothing that defy logic. No labels, no clues, and no obvious way of getting into them! It's like trying to solve a textile puzzle. Who wears this stuff? More importantly—how?

The job is an education in fashion, function, and the fantastic creativity of designers. One minute it’s a cashmere coat, the next it’s... well, we're not entirely sure. But whatever it is, it keeps things fun.

This was the first of two GG Bexley sessions at the Community Hospice warehouse sorting donations this weekend.

When we arrived James from the warehouse team had lots of bags of donations ready for us to tackle.

We did well - got through two cages of clothes, and found many surprises. Highlights were the silver pair of shiny budgie smugglers🤣, a very unusual large soft toy badger with a smart coat 🦡, and a long animal tail-like thing which might have been a key ring (it was left in the office for investigation!)

One man had donated a full set of motorcycle leathers 🏍, and we had Rotary Club regalia as well.

Winter coats abounded - must be spring!

Afterwards it was a nice walk back home in the sun for me.