Screenplay for a morning of GoodGym volunteering at the Community Hospice....

FADE IN A quiet, peaceful garden. Birds chirp. A gentle breeze rustles leaves. Sun is shining. A series of planters in front of the building, overlooked by windows from one of the wards. While the rest of the planters have plants and flowers, one is just full of soil. A group of eight GoodGymers enters the frame, with Jason, Head Gardener. Chatting and laughing. On their first ever task Debby and Chris are settling right in.

CLOSE UP Gloved hands grabbing shovels.

PAN OUT Rhythmic shovelling. Soil is emptied from the planter into big bags. A white layer of polystyrene is revealed beneath the soil. Shovelling becomes careful, considered so as not to break its surface and release the white beads. Careful hands lift the thick polystyrene sheets out and take it to the bins.

Scissors slice through a sheet of weed membrane, shaping it to line the planter.

The original soil is shovelled back into the planter.

TIME LAPSE SEQUENCE A chain gang forms: • One group shovels fresh soil into trugs • Another ferries them in wheelbarrows • Another tips soil into the planter • Hands press down to compact the surface. • The barrows return.

Repeated until the planter is completely filled. Teamwork in action. Effort. Energy. Chatting. Laughter.

PAN OUT The team steps back. The planter is restored, renewed. Ready for new blooms.

CUT TO GROUP SHOT Smiling faces. Job done.

TITLE CARD: 2026: A SPADE ODYSSEY SUBTITLE: GoodGym will return

END.

10 GoodGymers completed the final winter shelter shift of the season!

We've been helping build beds and set up dining rooms at the American International Church's Winter Shelter since November, and this week we arrived for our final shift of the season!

And we had a wonderful group for the task 👉 Caitlin, Charlie, Denzel (on their first GoodGym task — welcome!), Emily, Ivar (on tour from Greenwich — great to see you!), Paul, Steve, and Thierry !!

Having been welcomed by our fabulous host (and fellow GoodGymer!), Brooke, our experienced crew knew exactly what to do, and together (and with ease!) they:

❤️ Assembled, positioned, and dressed 11 beds ready and waiting for the evening's guests

❤️ Set 20 spaces for a (delicious-smelling) volunteer-cooked dinner

❤️ Did everything while connecting and chatting aplenty :)

Thank you, everyone! We will be back in the autumn!