Gail, Steph and Anna met on the Strand this evening to hand out hot drinks and food to those who needed it.

Due to the wet weather, and a few other charities out and about, the starting queue wasn't as long as normal. We were able to be generous with the portions of Biriyani, and Gail's coffees and hot chocolates went down a storm in the cold.

A couple of people came along with extra donations from Pret and Caffe Nero which all found an appreciative taker. After an hour, everything was gone.

Mrs S had clearly done her (Waitrose based) research this week in readiness for my visit, as it was clear she was on the hunt for the 2 for 1's or multi buy discounts on many of her items - the irony of her asking if two boxes of Scotts Porage Oats (the one with the sturdy looking shot putting scotsman on the box) would be too heavy to carry was not lost on me...

Brenda and Harvey rocked up to Borough Market all ready to help with collecting spare food from the market and local cafes...only to miss the Oasis collection team. But GoodGym folk aren't so easily put off. Brenda came up with a practical plan - they could walk to the Oasis food hub in Kennington and help unload - genius!

So, that's what they did. Chatting on, catching-up and putting the world to rights as they walked.

On arrival at the hub, there was a bit more confusion checking that this thing was happening. But that didn't last long as the Food Connect cargo bike rolled in - whoop!

Our intrepid two got stuck in, helping a couple of regular volunteers to unload the food cargo - job done! And, best of all, nothing goes to waste.

Such a lovely day at the St Andrew's Youth Club. St Andrew's Youth Club is already an amazing facility for the community, but its clear they are always thinking of ways they can improve the space, and that's exactly what we did.

We spent the evening getting rid of all unnecessary waste, organizing excess equipment, and rearranging the room to enhance the effectiveness of the space. Everyone got super stuck in and worked together to find the best adjustments.

An hour in and the space already looked cleaner, more considered and more inclusive. A super productive day led by Adrian, a day that everyone enjoyed.

Only a few weeks in, and Miss N has GoodGym shopping mastered - she has photos of all the items that she wants readily prepared (which in my world is just perfect). An easy list to follow though this week - however the only flavour of liquid detergent that Aldi had was Coconut Crush, whereas Miss N was insistent on Tropical Lily (when I called her to double check). To think someone somewhere has the job of coming up with these product names...

A shorter than usual list for Mr R this ("looks like it might rain later") particular Monday afternoon, so was an easy and pleasant walk to and from Tesco to get what he needed. We ended up having a long conversation about the challenges of disposing of old/unwanted furniture as Mr R has a background in antiques...yet again another fascinating school day.