What a wonderful task organised by Julie, who kindly provided all the paint, paintbrushes, pots, tablecloths and even drinks and snacks.

It proved to be a popular task as there was a good turn out from the Woking GoodGym gang to paint bird boxes for Knaphill Lower School. We were given a wooden bird box to unleash our creative painting talents. Becky and Anne shared a box, and went with a very practical camouflage design, as did Julie and Kirsty who went with a beautiful shade of blue plus a cheerful yellow sun.

Nadia did GoodGym proud by not only painting a colourful box but also bringing along a friend for January in the form of her mum who is a good painter as demonstrated by her berry design. Adam ran to the task now he is getting back into running in time to paint a colourful red and blue box.

Ola showed his creative talent by using masking tape for his design. Vicky from the PTA popped along to see our hard work and explained 20 bird boxes will be placed along a trail for the lower school children to try to spot them all.

Vicky's son picked Stephanie's as the the best painted bird box, which was well deserved, as she was able to combine a practical but stylish design of green leaves.

Alys & Stephanie got their rakes on at St John’s the Baptist Church in West Byfleet this morning.

It was chilly 2 degrees and thankfully we’d both brought our boots as it was rather muddy underfoot.

After being equipped with rakes, a leaf scoop and black bags, we got to clearing the drains first so that all the rain were bound to get flows freely where it’s supposed to. Stephanie did a great job clearing them of mud too with the help of a trowel. She did nearly fall down a hole though!

I set to raking the leaves and getting them into black bags. We probably filled around 8 bags (including 4 very large ones) of leaves, and they were helpfully whisked away to the dump by one of the church’s own volunteers.

After weeks of hushed whispers, knowing glances and enough rumourfuel to power a sleigh, tonight the truth finally landed: Woking GoodGym had once again received the words we’d all been waiting for: “Could you help pack the Xmas bags at the foodbank warehouse in Knaphill?”

Could we?

Oh yes, yes we could, and no one thought we couldn’t!

Like elves hearing the first jingle of Santa’s bells, we were ready to fill 90 sacks with Christmas time treats.

Each bag received a carefully curated mix of food, treats and love, ready to be delivered across the local community. Every time someone shouted, “We need more cereal!” it sounded like a joyful Christmas emergency.

This task is always a highlight for Woking GoodGym: an evening where teamwork, generosity and seasonal silliness blend perfectly. Knowing that every bag will brighten someone’s Christmas is the best reward.

It was lovely to see Louise from the Woking GoodGym alumni joining us with her son Henry, alongside a fellow alumni Bryan, the 2025 newbies are now well settled in, but of course, veterans, Anne, Adam, James, Katie and Wayne were missed from the production line. 90 bags packed within 45 mins, our most efficient effort yet AND no one lost a finger to the stacking containers, a Christmas miracle!

🎅 Well done GoodGym – another year, another mountain of Xmas bags, and another evening of excellent elf-level teamwork!

Thank you for the photos Nadia! 📸 Welcome to the crew, Zoe - you’ve earned your tutu 💃🏻

Woking GG Xmas Meal 🎅🏽

Goodgym Woking members got together for a Xmas meal last night at Zizzi's 🍕.

What a great turn out last night was it was fantastic to see so many turn up to celebrate a great year together as Woking GG.

Firstly big thank you to Nadia who organised the venue 👏🏻.

Karen arrived first as she was already in town helping out at another local charity 😇 followed by Wayne. The table setting was impressive full of Crackers and decorations 🎗. Adam then arrived without his crutches which was great to see, still not back to 💯 but recovering well. Adam was telling us about his house move last weekend and how grateful he was to his fellow goodgymers who assisted his 😄 Caterina arrived shortly after looking very glam and sparkly ❈. Karen was telling us about her up and coming trip to India 🇮🇳 traveling around for a month just after Xmas, sounds amazing. As the conversation was flowing Kirsty & Bryan arrived followed by Melanie he had come straight from work. Stephanie arrived followed by Julie everyone was looking very festive 🎄. Just behind Anne arrived wearing her GG Shirt as well as her red tutu ❤️ Nadia & Andy arrived followed by Alys who had brough us all little choco treats ❤️. And finally Rebecca arrived straight off the train. It was great hearing about Rebecca 1/2 marathon that she did in New York 🗽 few weekends ago.

Now that everyone had arrived we could order food and drink. Plenty of food was ordered from Pizza's to Risotto's To Pasta dishes everything looked and tasted great.

All in all it was a great night celebrating a great year with fantastic people. ❤️

Today, Stephanie joined the All Aboard Club to help prepare for their event at Brookwood Memorial Hall.

We began by unloading boxes filled with the train’s components and tracks before putting our best Tetris skills to the test as we attempted to navigate chairs out of a tightly packed storeroom. After a few strategic “pivots,” we successfully freed the chair trolley and set out the seating.

With the room ready, construction of the track could begin. As always, it was a fun and creative challenge, with the layout taking shape in its own unique way—finished with just ten minutes to spare before the first excited guests arrived.

This event marks the second-to-last session All Aboard Club will be able to host at Brookwood so we’re determined to make the next track even more special!