Three of us arrived at Frenford Food Bank to offload two weeks worth of Scout donations. It was good to see our Helen was available to join us today, she was a great help. Ed took charge of another helper who was the young Son of a Lady in the keep fit class.

The variation in goods that we get in these donations is considerable from a tin of biscuits from Harrods to an opened packet of Walkers Mix Ups where they'd taken their favourites out and sellotaped the bag back down 🙄 Its our job to weed out items like that which are opened and can't be used also the items way beyond their best date e.g. rice pudding from 2015. There are some of us prepared to take stuff that is a little bit past its best date home and replace it with fresh next time we come but 2015 was a bit much even for us 😳 The few oddities we get are far outweighed by the rest of the donations most of which is clearly bought new to give to the foodbank. With two full trolley losds sorted the shelves were considerably fuller than when we started.

Now if I could have just remembered to have taken photos it would have been a job well done🤦‍♀️ So here are some old ones which pretty much demonstrate what we did 😆

We arrived at Frenford Foodbank to find two trolley loads of donations and a supermarket delivery. AJ started by sorting out shelves, moving anything incorrectly placed and tidying up, Ed and Peter sorted out the donations and Linda moved some stock that the Task owner had previously requested to be shifted.

Pretty soon those jobs were done and we all moved on to off loading the supermarket delivery. We had all done this job before and were finished in double quick time, including tidying up after ourselves. All ready for Thursdays picking and packing. Nicely done people 😁

On a very soggy Saturday 9 of us signed up to join Valentines Parkrun Volunteers.

Our Peter who has been with GGR since its first session was first to arrive and was on his post good and early with a very bent umbrella, regular volunteer (now a legend at Valentines parkrun) Ed was next along with the Mrs, shortly joined by Jenny, James and AJ. As the first timers talk started we splashed off to our respective posts.

198 runners went by in surpisingly good spirits considering the drenching they got. A lone GG Tshirt was spotted among the runners which we can only assume was Harvey-sorry we didnt get to meet you properly.

Not sure where Julia was posted but she popped up just before the end and set of to bag a table in the cafe. We were supposed to have a picnic outside but the weather had other ideas. Parkrun done Sharon (also celebrating a significant birthday this month) scurried off to fetch her home made goodies while we made our way over to the cafe.

Not sure if the cafe turned a blind eye to us brining our own food or too busy to care but we got away with it. We had a lovley selection of nibbles and of course Colin 🐛 making his usual appearance. With half the table discussing politics and football the other side more into food and other topics, a good time was had by all.

Despite no Area Activator and Central Office being unable to support us in helping to find tasks Redbridge GG still has some active members keeping calm and carrying on. Lets hope we can find a way to get more members active in the borough so we get to celebrate more birthdays.

Ed and Linda arrived at Frenford FoodBank earlier than advertised and started sorting the supermarket delivery. Pretty soon joined by AJ who got busy unpacking packages that had not been collected from three weeks ago. Ed moved on to sorting the scouts delivery when Herman (a surprise last minute decision to sign up) arrived. Herman hadn't been notified of our earlier start time but it didn't matter as we then had another supermarket delivery come in so we all got involved in sorting that one out.

Confident that everything was prepped ready for Thursdays picking and packing we went on our merry way... forgetting to take photos...again 🙈 so enjoy these old ones 😁

Its always a lovely surprise when GGers are available during the day in the middle if the workjng week so it was great to see Kathryn and Herman join Ed and Linda at Frenford Foodbank.

One of the sachets of microwave rice had split spilling sauce onto others attracting flies and other pests so, equipped with soapy water, a bunch of tea towels and a pack of antibac. wipes, Kathryn, Linda and Alison(friend of Frenford and now GoodGym) set to work washing, drying and wiping. As the crates were stacked on top of each other and had holes in the bottom we thought it best to clean all three crate loads - especially as they'd had a previous mouse issue.

In the meantime Herman and Ed set about sorting and storing two trolley loads of food donations, they then set about reorganising and restocking the shelves laid bare from last weeks sessions. Ed had made some sides and fronts for the shelves to prevent pasta and rice avalanches which proved very effective. Once done with the clean up job the rest of us joined them and although we ran a little over time we were all happy that we got the job done.

A change in Frenford Food Banks delivery schedule called for more space to store deliveries. Additional shelves were installed which meant a lot of stock shifting was needed as well as the usual Supermarket delivery sort and store.

Whilst the usual "Silver Shelf Fillers" Alison (local Church Volunteer) plus Linda and Ed are capable of doing the job...albeit slowly... they were delighted to be joined by the younger and fitter Herman who undoubtedly made the job a lot easier and quicker.

It would have been even quicker if there had been more of a plan so things didn't have to be moved backwards and forwards so much...my fault...sorry about that Guys 🙈🤦‍♀️

It was a happy accident that I mistakenly set the Frenford FoodBank supermarket delivery sort for today instead of Saturday. The task owner suddenly remembered there is a big event going on tomorrow and needed the crates cleared out of the way early anyway. Luckily three of us were ready willing and available.

Instead of the usual hustle and bustle in the centre's foyer and loud catchy dance music coming from the hall the foyer is pretty much deserted during the day on a Friday and there were gentle lullaby sounds from the Mother and Baby group in the hall. The whole atmosphere was serene and soothing as we gently went about our business very quietly chatting so as not to startle the babies. 👶🏻🍼

We were so laid back we forgot to take photos so here are some old ones. 🤦‍♀️😂

When the Wanstead Community Gardners needed some furniture moving to help them celebrate their 21st birthday of course Marian called in her reliable "Heavy Mob" GoodGym.

5 of us made our way to a local address where Peter picked up two tables, Ed popped another two on to a small trolley and James grabbed two chairs which left Linda and Sibel a cushion each and they thoroughly enjoyed the unfair division of labour 😂.

Back at The Corner House we met Helen and Cedric. Helen joined us setting up the tables and chairs before being called away to help the task owner with something. Cedric had brought some compost and disappeared off to deposit it somewhere useful to the community gardeners.

There was a little waiting around until the gazebos arrived but when they did we soon had them put up with a little improvisation for a couple of missing parts. We are nothing if not resourceful in GoodGym.