We went full elf mode today at Deen City Farm to help bring some festive magic to Santa's Grotto!

Our four-person team divided and conquered the tasks: two of us were on crucial Nice List verification duty, checking if all the excited children had made the cut (Spoiler: they all did!). The other two volunteers were essential in the Grotto, capturing those perfect photos with Santa and ensuring every child received a gift. It was a busy day, with a long queue but luckily the weather was on our side with the sun shining.

Great job team and a big welcome to Sophia, well done on your first good deed.

Lots to cleaning and clearing today but we were set to finish ahead of schedule for a change. Until we realised the laundry had been forgotten!

This slight delay gave us the opportunity to handle the excess bread that needed disposing of along with thoroughly rinsing all the cloths.

A great end of day job as always - it's the last session next week, why not join us: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/help-with-clean-up-at-merton-s-community-fridge-wednesday-f2e883b7-dfdb-41c9-b310-c0f76aa408e7

A post party clean up which involved the big task of emptying the leftover mulled wine supplies back into their original bottles. This required steady hands, precision and zero distractions - we successfully transferred every last drop, ensuring nothing went to waste, a truly grape effort!

Aside from our decanting duties, we cleared tables, packed away equipment, swept the floor and generally restored the room to its pre-party space.

For tonight's group session we teamed up with the Merton Rotary Club and Faith in Action for the Santa sleigh collections. Starting with a small team at the meeting point we soon snowballed as more volunteers joined us along the route and there was snow stopping us once we got moving.

With the festive tunes blasting we were (rockin' around the Christmas tree) knocking on doors and shaking our buckets. It was heartwarming to see the excitement on the kids' faces as Santa passed by and the community was incredibly generous.

A massive well done to everyone who came out to help. Yule be glad to know you’ve definitely made the Nice List this year!

We will be back next week helping with more collections so why not sign up and join us: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/helping-with-marshalling-the-santa-sleigh-and-collecting-for-charity-c8ab3799-3be4-4cc8-99bf-d431721eb9a5

Another task helping with clearing and packing away after a Christmas market, this time at Morden Park House.

After packing up all the handmade items in the stall and vacuuming the 'tinsel' from the workshops we moved items from the lift to car then onto the Big Yellow Storage facility. Extra hands made light work of the heavy lifting, and we managed to get everything neatly stowed away quickly.

We provided extra hands to help worksop participants with their creations, offering support, trimming loose ends, and assisting with the tricky placement of decorative elements.

The wreaths made from repurposed fabrics are such a lovely item to make at this time of year, but we couldn't convince the mayor to get involved, instead settling for a photo.

Helping with packing away the Christmas Fair. This mission involved moving tables, dismantling chairs, and shifting numerous items from the hall into the storage container. The extra pairs of hands proved incredibly helpful for the heavier jobs and it was a great workout.