Claire, Rachel, Dave and Camilla met up at The Lamb pub, not for a drink, but for a stretch and to warm up for the slow hill up to Tolworth Recreation Centre. Claire and Dave headed off in the lead and Camilla and Rachel took a steady pace for the long climb. Once we arrived we met Emma and the 3 Js - Jana, Jade and Jas! Susan, from Kingston Pantry, welcomed us in and explained what tasks needed to be done.

With such a good turn out we split into two groups with one team heading into the food bank for a deep clean. All the items were taken down and the shelves were given a thorough wipe down with antibacterial spray. Fridges were wiped down too. The other group was taken up to the stay and play toy cupboard where everything needed a re-organisation. All the boxes, toy equipment, books, mats and dressing up clothes were taken out of the cupboard, sorted into their appropriate box and then put back in a slightly more systematic approach.

It was just after 8pm when we finished and reconvened in The Pantry. We had the great honour of congratulating Jade who not only had done 100 good deeds but also achieved the most good deeds in Kingston in the January Challenge - she topped 28 good deeds. What a legend! She certainly deserved her crown, cap AND trophy this night. Well done, Jade! So pleased for your achievements and thank you for being a good sport and letting us dress you up.

And a big warm welcome to Camilla for joining our group on her second task to date! Great to hang out with you and hope to see you at another task soon.

This evening Rachel, Dave, Jade and Julie met at the Lamb in Surbiton for a chilly run up the hill to Tolworth recreation centre and the Kingston Pantry food bank for our quarterly deep clean.

We met Jana and Tom there and Susan gave us a quick update and showed us around before we got to work. Jana, Tom and Jade started in the walk in larder, cleaning the shelves and disinfecting the fridge.

Dave, Rachel and Julie worked on the main area. Julie moved all the items off the shelves to give them a good clean, while Dave got to work on the fridge and Rachel cleaned out the fresh produce area - surprise finds included a tangerine and a potato down the back of the bread baskets.

Jas joined and got straight onto the tins of baby food and fish, making sure the area was clean before organising everything back neatly. We were helped along by a delicious cup of hot chocolate from Susan to warm us up - thank you!

Once we were done with the shelves Jade came round with Henrietta the hoover to clear up any crumbs, closely followed by Julie with the mop. With lots of us working we had to organise ourselves carefully to make sure no one left muddy footprints on the newly mopped floor!

With that the cleaning was finished and after a few photo opportunities we headed back for a quick run down the hill to the Lamb. We’ll be back in another 3 months for the next deep clean.

What a scorcher! It was a warm run up the hill to Tolworth Recreation Centre to meet Susan at the Kingston Pantry. Nathan and Dave took the lead and Claire and Rachel were honorary back markers on the run.

We met Jana,Tom, Emily and Sabir there and got straight to work. We pulled all the items off the shelves and gave them a thorough wipe down making sure we gave it a really good deep clean. Dave tackled the bread bins whilst Tom, Nathan and Jana wiped down the fridge in the walk in pantry. Claire, Rachel and Emily cracked on with the tins.

It was hot even with the fans blowing but it gave us a good workout and felt slightly like a sauna which I'm told is very good for you. Thankfully Susan brought out some ice lollies to help us cool down - delicious, thank you!

Whilst we were there we explored the new area where Growbaby are expanding into. They are currently at the painting stage but there's lots of potential with the room. Hopefully we can help them with the set up - keep your eyes on the calendar!

After our task was complete we headed to The Antelope for some refreshments. Great food and great company.

Great work to everyone that signed up - we are signed up to head back in three weeks for the next deep clean. See you then!

It was a beautiful spring evening for a run to spring clean the food bank, this week starting at the Lamb in Surbiton.

We ran the 2.6 km up the hill to the food bank where we were doing our quarterly clean. We split up tackling the different areas - Emma and Tom went to the food store at the back cleaning the shelves and giving the area a hoover while the rest of us set about cleaning the shop area.

Dave tackled the fresh produce area and found a cucumber that had slipped down the back and was very much past its sell by date, Jade gave the fridge a good clean, Rachel cleaned the shelves for all the toiletries whilst Anna and Claire cleaned the dry goods shelves.

We all enjoyed the juice and snacks and will be back next quarter for another cleaning session. We had a spring in our step as we had a downhill 2.6km back to the start.

A big congratulations to Emma on her 10th good deed. Amazing effort!

Our Tuesday group run started at The Lamb pub in Surbiton - even though it was up hill to the task, it made the distance more manageable by changing the start point to a closer point. Claire, Dave and myself met outside the pub and Jade ran down the hill to meet us having left her car at Tolworth Recreation Centre so she could make a quick getaway at the end of the task.

Our 2.5km run took us up the hill, which is great for training, and fortunately it levelled off before a slight decline. We arrived at the Recreation Centre having worked up quite a sweat and met Jana on the way in. Susan was there to meet us and put us straight to task - we were asked to help with the Pantry Foodbank's deep clean. This involved moving all the items off the shelves into the green packing boxes and wiping down the surfaces. Not a small task but fortunately many hands make light work.

Jana and Dave worked in the stockroom whilst Rachel, Claire and Jade worked in the main room. After ten minutes Emily turned up which helped speed up the process. Soon enough, surfaces were wiped, stock was replaced, the fridge was cleaned and the floor was swept and mopped. There was even enough time to laugh at the humorously named soup - minds out the gutter, everyone!

Once we had cleared up, we had a chat with Susan and then we went on our way. We'll be back in three months time to help out again!

We've already got a date in the diary for the next visit to The Kingston Pantry Foodbank so please sign up if you are free.

Our group run this evening took us to Kingston Pantry located in Tolworth Recreation Centre. We had decided to use The Lamb pub as a meeting point as it made the run more achievable. Rachel, Dave, Sabir, Sevan and our fabulous new starter, Jade, met there before starting the long hill up to Tolworth. It was long but we kept a steady pace and with our front and back markers on bikes, they kept us motivated to keep going.

We arrived and met Sandra and she explained the purpose of Kingston Pantry and how it was born out of the food crisis. They are a fairly new foodbank and already they have filled their books with people who need extra help to put food on the table. Our job wasn't to help serve but to help sweep.

Every three months the Kingston Pantry need to have a deep clean and so we got to task. Jade, Dave and Tom went into the larder and cleared the shelves and gave them a clean. Two fridges were scrubbed clean and disinfected ready to be filled the next day. Sevan, Sabir and Rachel set to work in the main area - emptying shelves and then bleaching them and wiping them down. Tom came in with the hoover and got rid of all the crumbs off the floor. Sevan and Jade then took turns to mop. It was clean within the hour much to the delight of Susan. She praised us all before she dashed off to her tap dancing lesson in Molesey.

We packed and locked up and ran off into the night. Great task, everyone! We did discuss going back to help in 3 months time so look out for the listing.

Well done to Sabir who has now done 10 tasks! And a big warm welcome to Jade - hope to see you at another task in January. And a big thank you to Tom - he dashed in at the last minute to cover other GoodGymers that got stuck at work and couldn't make it. What a hero!