7 bags were filled clearing ivy, leaves & weeds for Ms N

On Tuesday night, I went to help out at Proud Sports community badminton session at the Castle centre in Elephant and Castle. Once I arrived, I shadowed another Proud Sports volunteer, who showed me how to greet people and check them in, into the session. Since there were not too many people signed up for the session, we also took in turns to go downstairs into the rest of the centre to promote the session, which was surprisingly popular - turns out lots of people do like Badminton, and want to play in a community sports session.

After a while, the other volunteer invited me to join in. I stayed right until the end, almost 10pm but the time went really quickly. It was really fun to connect with other people and play badminton with them. What a wholesome evening!

8 of Southwark's finest headed to Galleywall nature reserve for the first session there of the year. With some helpful handles and a lot of 'to me, to you's' the team relocate the shed to the back of the garden, to allow for a more aesthetic entrance to be planted. The team work continued in task 2, forming a daisy chain to pass rocks from the back of the garden to the pond to form the rocky bank pictured. Good job team !

Two GoodGymers spent the session getting seriously stuck in: unloading a huge delivery batch and stacking those colour-coded crates like a fun puzzle, then labelling and freezing 30+ cartons of Jus-Rol puff pastry with spot-on expiry dates.

We mixed up trays packed with veg stars (potatoes, onions, parsnips, cabbages, carrots), fruity favourites (bananas, apples), and handy toiletries (diapers, toilet rolls, shampoos, shower gels), while giving fresh produce like parsnips, potatoes, and carrots a solid quality check.

The grand finale? Smashing through recycling 50+ cardboard boxes, scrubbing crates till they gleamed, and slicing egg cartons into neat 6-egg packs for later use. Pure volunteering joy – teamwork, sweat, and that satisfying “job well done” vibe!

Today I ran the short distance of 2k to help Sam of GoodGym Southwark help set up the stalls for the SE5 Forum at Camberwell Green.

Led by Barbara,we helped put up the tables, lay out the items and put up the bunting that help promote the work of the forum in providing information to the local community of Camberwell. The stall was set up very speedily. A nice task to start the day. 😎👍

Hydrangeas needed deadheading and clipped off the dead stems. All ready for a lovely summer flowering