Another day sorting donations at Growbaby. Had an excellent time playing with the toys and accessories as they arrived.

Giving blood/platelets/plasma is always rewarding. And not just for the free biscuits! It may mean losing a bit of you, physically, and your time but the positive benefits of the greater good it does far exceed this comparably little sacrifice.

Tonight's task was to help one of Kingston's amazing local charities, RAK (Refugee Action Kingston) . RAK help out refugees in the area to integrate, live fulfilling, independent lives and become recognised and active participants in their local communities. Part of this involves the provision of clothing and other essential items. Our task tonight was to sort through a load of these donations and help organise their storage system.

As with any catch-all store, there are a few departments at RAK: Mens, Womens, Kids and Toiletries. All of these areas needed reorganising and tidying up. A recent fire inspection suggesting that all cardboard should be disposed of where possible so any items in boxes needed repacking. There were also a whole load of unsorted donations that needed to be split into department or discarded, if the quality was below-par. We separated into groups and did what GoodGym does best - use many hands to make light work. Always amazing how much can be done in a short period of time!

Welcome to Kitty and John on your first tasks! Excellent to meet you and hope to see you next time :)

This morning we met up with Magdelena and expert creator on all things flax, Paul. After some weeding and roots digging up, we had a very informative chat by Paul on the whole process of flax growing and materials made by using his historic methods using it minus the seeds. We all chose to stay a bit longer to finish the process of mixing compost into the soil, sowing the seeds and watering them. Goodgym now has 2 square meters of flax which we can keep updated on. Great job from Emma on her first task, here's to many more.

Joined the Great UK WaterBlitz to test our water quality

Another week sorting the donations at Growbaby. We had lots of fun sorting the items and we moved all the clothes that are ready to be recycled up to the ground floor level ready for collection.