Valerie Anderson

It was a cold and crisp spring morning that greeted us - luckily none of us had to tangle with snow! A few of the goodgymers had been at the foodbank the night before, so for some, it was like they had never left! Kudos for the dedication there indeed.

Tins were flying off the shelves faster than the team could restock! Inspired by celebrations, dates and Easter eggs were abound. I'm sure that the families who received them would be appreciative.

Post packing duty, a few stayed behind to tend to cardboard box deconstruction as well as delivering a few parcels direct.

All good all, a great way to start the weekend!

Val and James got there by bike, and managed to go along the same route, a nice ride along. Jenny who lives close by came a bit later and Sharon came a little after that.

We met with the Energy Garden people, and made sure we were aware if any future developments with being added to their whatsapp group.

We finally got to work, the jobs were watering, trimming, and seed planting. We all got some work to do, and it turns out it was quite a quick job, done in 35 minutes.

Sharon and Jenny took the seed plants home with them, hopefully future plants that can grow and thrive.

Picking and packing at Redbridge Mutual Aid Food Bank is always hectic but fun. A slight change to the process caused a little controversy over what got packed where on the trolleys resulting in Linda managing to swap packing lists with Valerie throwing a little spanner in the works for a minute or two. We had a late sign up surprise with our Dharmesh turning up Park Run fresh... according to our GG Park Run spy Ed, Dharmesh was on pretty good form too. Seeing we had run out of toothpaste GG Peter donned his superhero cape and flew off to the local shop to get some. As usual our Nargis quietly busied herself where ever she was needed. Jay almost got herself jailed in the corner by a trolley but was soon free and making herself useful with the packing. As always it was a busy, bustling but generally good humoured session with everyone ending up tired but happy.

It terms of activity, all that turned up ended up driving there (or being picked up). Maybe when it's lighter out there might be more activity like cycling happening.

When we got there, there was already Packers and Val were getting on with the all important task, Linda and James got on with doing stocking, which hopefully makes the Saturday foodbank session easier.

After an nearly 2 hours we collectively gave ourselves a pat on the back and called it a day.

A good session all round.