Not sure any of us were quite prepared to be thrust into the midst of Christmas this evening but the warmth of Lynde House Care Home welcomed us in with jingle bells on, ready to put up trees, hang lights, prep the Nativity area and tidy up after ourselves too!

This lovely home is always well decorated by the time we normally visit in mid December so it was great to be part of the first decorations going up, with a sprinkling of fake snow too!

After a soggy Saturday with three outdoor tasks in miserable weather, Sevan and Kash were looking forward to an indoor engineering mission on Sunday. Paradoxically, after the early morning rain, the day was pleasant and sunny. To add to the irony, the beneficiary of the mission, Mrs F, was not at home.

Mrs F's daughter, who was her carer, did her best to show us what needed to be done - installing a new anti-insect mesh on a window - but the mesh was nowhere to be found. Mrs F didn't pick up her phone, so the GoodGymers, sensing that the job wasn't going anywhere, asked about the secondary tasks: removing a cabinet and assembling a treadmill.

It turned out that the cabinet had nowhere to go, so it had to stay where it was. The treadmill didn't need to be assembled after all, but required an extension cable and space to be used comfortably. Sevan and Kash plugged in the exercise machine and tested it. It worked perfectly fine. It was ideal for walking, as long as one didn't need to get anywhere. Unfortunately, the GoodGymers had to put the machine back under the cabinet since there was no sensible space to leave it. Mrs F still couldn’t answer her phone, so Sevan and Kash left without epic stories to tell.

Three GGers were thrilled to be given indoor tasks at St Christopher’s on this rather damp and breezy Saturday morning.

First up, sanding down a large table to prepare it for a nice pre-Christmas revarnish. Next, we cleared items out from an old storage room and helped move a desk in to create a private consultation and counselling space.

Finally, we tested our Tetris skills finding space for some donated crockery in the kitchen cupboards. Bodies and brains well flexed, we shipped out to our various other weekend activities including birthday cake, hibernation, and yet more tidying.

Looking forward to our next visit already!

The first properly cold day of the season had arrived, but GoodGym perseveres come rain come shine, and come dark cold wintery evenings.

We met Ken on the corner of Petersham Common, where our task for the night was to plant 200 tulip bulbs, to bring in a burst of colour come springtime. We donned our high-viz, and we set to work, digging up six inches of soil. Question: is this a man’s six inches or a woman’s six inches. Ken smiled, ‘a man’s’ and Liz grinned back ‘so four then’. Once we had ourselves down to a satisfactory depth, it was time to plant the bulbs, arranging them in the ground, and wondering which colours would bloom come March.

Susannah had arrived at this point, fresh from her NEW place (which has been a discussion point of GoodGym Richmond for probably 2 years now!). Better late than never, and got stuck right in. It was time to shovel the soil back over, with a poo-tifal addition of some freshly laid horse poop from the roadside. Resourceful? I think so. Man-ure smart for making use of what we have around us!

What’s better than one late arrival to a task? Two! Jp showed his face at this point, after a tough day at the office. Perfect timing, as we were ready to stamp down the laid soil, and could take some of our stresses out on the ground. Topics of conversation at this point also involved burying difficult clients at work, and whether the best strategy for disposing of a body would be in plain site wearing high-viz next to the Petersham Road.

Adam gave us a final stamp of soil and a sprinkling of leaves, and job was a good one. Ken rewarded us with mince pies for our efforts. Alex was so keen to get hers home she forgot she was in her bright orange high visibility vest and was halfway back to Richmond before we realised!

Alex was clearly keen to brighten up the dark cold evenings, and have something to look forward to. In her case, a treat from Ken, and for the rest of us, a long winter ahead hopefully filled with fun, friends and food, and some beautifully coloured flowers on the roadside in four or so months time.

Our monthly RFS visit saw 2 GGRs turn out on a rather damp Saturday morning.

We welcomed Evelyn for one of her first Good Gym tasks, and along with Adam was assigned the challenge of clearing another of the side passage ways to provide further storage space.

This proved a highly effective work out, moving items such as a broken ladder, footballs and other heavy objects.

By the end a mysterious door was uncovered, proving that the phrase when one door closes another opens highly appropriate!

Just three of us this evening but three hard workers who cleared as many of the leaves all over the lawn as possible, a full body workout!