Donning buoyancy aids and a can(oe)-do attitude, a group of GoodGymmers teamed up with Falcon Boat Club to undertake a river litter pick along the Cherwell and Thames as part of OxClean's 2023 Spring Clean.

Over the last several autumns we have planted lots of daffodil bulbs around the streets of Marston. St David's Day seemed like a great time to go and check out how they're getting on and litter pick while we're at it. The cold, dry winter meant that not many flowers were in bloom yet, but we could see that there's been a good success rate in them coming up and budding, even in areas where we weren't convinced they'd be able to survive, so flowers will only be a week or so away.

Food items were definitely the theme of this litter pick - we could have made ourselves a 3 course meal of fortune cookie, discarded burger and half a chocolate bar plus half a rich tea biscuit to finish. Maybe not exactly recommended! Lots of cigarette and vape packets too. Overall not one of the grubbier litter picks we've done, but 4 sacks of grot collected, and some definite sogns of spring coming.

Last night was our monthly flash-mob at the Oxford Mutual Aid foodbank. Throughout the winter we go in regularly to do a thorough clean. We are gradually working our way around the main food storage areas moving all the stock, cleaning the area and then restacking it. This month's area was one of the biggest stacks of ambient food and cleaning supplies in the centre of the room. It was all stacked more than head-high, so quite a challenge to get it all moved. Nonetheless, it felt like before we'd even dished out all the jobs most of the stack was shifted and the cleaning was underway - whenever I see the GoodGym team pull together like this it seems like the very definition of Many Hands Make Light Work.

While most of the group took care of the big move and clean, the rest headed into the kitchen area. There they sorted through the fresh fruit and veg, getting rid of anything going mouldy. Fridges were cleaned, surfaces wiped down, food waste removed and the floor mopped.

Also ticked off the 'To Do' list: cleaning and restacking the dirty food crates, portioning up tea bags, a bit of putting away donations.

Lot's achieved - well done all!