Report by Andy

Photos by Andy and Patrick

Sorting, weighing and labelling food for the Trussell Trust foodbank was our Camden mission this beautiful Saturday. GoodGym runners arrived from all corners of London for this one – I think between us we had most GoodGym boroughs covered. And a good thing too, since this task was no stroll in the park – there were two months-worth of food donations to get through.

We congregated at Chalk Farm Baptist Church where the foodbank is based. Adrienne (our task master for the afternoon) gave a mini intro and a bit of a safety briefing, since we’d be lugging heavy boxes of food up and down stairs. Not many of us GoodGymmers had met before, and I think most of us were first-timers to missions. But in true GoodGym style we broke the ice with a human chain to shift all the food down the stairs in double quick time!

Next came the complicated logistical task of sorting into loosely defined categories. Does coconut milk go with milk? It’s not really milk though, is it? Highlights included the enormous quantity of cake decorating stuff, and the dozen or so jars of peanut-free peanut butter. I had no idea such a thing existed, but the Chalk Farm foodbank has got it. We weighed the lot, then checked every sell-by date to ensure as little food as possible would be wasted. Anything that was soon to go off was sorted by John; Anything that had already gone off was eaten by John! (Just kidding! ;))

We got the food boxed up and put away back upstairs, while Matt diligently hoovered any spilled crumbs. Adrienne kindly told us a little more about the foodbank and the important work they’re doing. Then we posed for the obligatory photo ops, gave a round of applause for a job well done, and enjoyed the rest of our weekends! Lovely to meet you all, let’s do this again!

14 do-gooders ran 3k and helped clean and gleam Crop Drop’s new premises

I threw in the towel on the vigorous wagging of chins

A steady stream of red T’s arrived at the GG Haringey HQ, as did a few newcomers. Shouts out to Tav, Hendrickje and Shareen – welcome to ggharingey y’all. Out to the core crew too – much love as ever. It felt great watching/facilitating everybody becoming acquainted. This week’s bunch wasted no time in getting to know each other. The chitchat was flowing nicely; I’m pretty sure everyone would have been fine just standing around having a good old chin wag for the next hour and a half but of course the task was ahead of us so I threw in the towel on the vigorous wagging of chins and started the briefing.

Crop Drop and their mission to provide organic veg to the residents of Haringey

After making a point of telling everybody they should continue getting to know each other during proceedings, we set off for the Crop Drop HQ and this week’s light. We arrived to see the task owners Laura and Rachel, who were waiting in the yard for us with big smiles and huge waves. We had seen the light. Laura began to tell us a little more about Crop Drop and their mission to provide organic veg to the residents of Haringey. She also went on to mention that they were desperate to get their new premises running at full capacity but a leaky roof among other things had hampered this. Unfortunately, the leaky roof had prevented us from being able to decorate but myself, Laura and Rachel had a plan to use a jet wash that I’d managed to acquire, and do some well needed cleaning. Massive thank you to Tom at the Irish Causeway for lending us the jet wash – much appreciated!

“do we have any scrubbers here?”

Laura led us through the warehouse, which had been partitioned into separate units. Piles of veg greeted us once inside the Crop Drop office. There was also a stack of crates, which needed cleaning, hence the jet wash. Then came a question from Rachel “do we have any scrubbers here?” we all found this very amusing and after a few wisecracks Rachel mentioned that there were also some walls in the office that needed cleaning. So we split into two teams, one in the office tarting the place up and another out in the forecourt blasting the crates clean with the jet wash. Of course everybody (me included) wanted a go on the jet wash as it’s great fun using a high powered water pistol even if it is to clean with. Before any arguments started I reminded everyone that all would get a go. Then there was that moment that took me back to days of being teased about my hair at school. Let's quickly move on shall we.

making moonshine from some of their spuds

Meanwhile inside things seemed a little too merry as dashing Dave began doing the can can with his broom while Clare and Hendrickje just seemed to be having oodles of fun cleaning those walls. I wondered if Rachel and Laura had been making moonshine from some of their spuds. Had Dave managed to find the stash? But no it genuinely is good fun coming together as a team and simply helping others. Good vibes all round, seen!

drills/circuits en route back to HQ

Alas that time had come once more we had come to the end of the task. After packing up and bidding farewell to the very happy folk at Crop Drop we set off for our usual drills/circuits en route back to HQ. We didn’t get very far at all before stopping to do our first drill, the hustles but this week there was a twist. We also thrashed out some reverse dips, walk out planks, mountain climbers, bicycles and pistol squats outside the Bernie Grant Centre. As we were just around the corner from GG Haringey HQ we set up a sprint back, which was great fun. Out to Aidan for coming first in the sprint.

Until next week do-gooders - stay fit, do good and look out for the light

Next Week’s Task: Here