This was my second visit to Mr D to support with unpacking and sorting boxes from when he moved home. We made some progress on the last visit and were able to consolidate that this time around, clearing the bathroom so that he can now access the seated shower and his carers will better be able to support him. We also made up the bed in his bedroom which is now clear of boxes so he can sleep there again. We got rid of items that he didn't need and repacked boxes into smaller and more manageable sized boxes. The task is still in progress but he is was very happy with what has been achieved so far.

This week took us back to OXRAD for a very welcome winter indoor task. Our mission was to continue the centre’s painting refresh, this time focusing on the studio.

A few of the group kicked things off with a one‑mile jog from the Up in Arms before we all met up and got painting. After an encounter with some mouldy paint and a handful of brushes that seemed permanently welded together, we got stuck in.

By the end of the evening, the studio was looking brighter with its first coat of white paint complete, ready for us to build on in a couple of weeks. We were kept entertained by the upbeat circuits playlist from the neighbouring class, along with visits from a GoodGym favourite—Nelson the dog. Ellie inevitably ended up covered in paint again and attempted to rescue her jumper in the sink to limit the damage.

As always, the painting came with plenty of chatting about running plans, adventures, and, of course, cats.

It was a hardy group of Goodgymers who ventured out this evening. It was VERY cold!!

A couple of weeks ago on out previous Wood Green litter pick we noticed that the area around The Slade was very grubby, so we decided to do something about it.

So armed with litter pickers, bags and some barely functioning torches we set to work and cleared an alarming amount of litter, despite very cold fingers and toes all round!

Next week we are indoors - phew!!

Welcome to Goodgym Holly!!

A trio of us helped at Junior Parkrun. Gary was on time keeping, Becky was volunteer coordination and marshalling and Bethan tail-walked.

Junior Parkrun is always a joy!

Mr D has very limited mobility and uses a walking frame. He has many unpacked boxes stacked all around his flat which is making it very hard for him to move around and access his home. He is not able to stand for more than short periods and some of the boxes are quite heavy and stacked quite high. I was able to move some of the boxes to the floor so that we could go through them and unpack things he needed and repack those he is not using into smaller and more manageable boxes at his request. We managed to unpack a number of boxes together and also make access to his bedroom and hallway more manageable. At his request I also vacuumed his hallway and sitting room once we had cleared some space. It was lovely to meet Mr D who is a very amenable and interesting man and we shared some travel stories.

This morning we returned to Kate's Place in Florence Park. This is a regular haunt for Goodgym, previously we've planted trees, trimmed hedges, laid turf, created paths and cleared litter from the site.

With an upcoming family fun day on the horizon some piles of (quite prickly) hedge cuttings needed to be shifted, the dead hedge topped up with a few branches and litter and tennis balls cleared up!

In true Goodgym-flash-mob style we had everything cleared uo, ship shape and shiny within an hour, finding an amphibious friend and a duck in lederhosen along the way!

Welcome to Goodgym Steven and Thura! Thanks for getting stuck in, hope to see you at a task again soon!