A lighter than usual task at Care4Calais today. Task owner Tamzin gave everyone an early finish as it was Xmas and also for good behaviour through the year. There was still plenty of work to do though and packages to prepare for recipients who are experiencing their first UK winter.

The legend that is Santa had delivered a big batch of padded jackets to Care4Calais. Just what was needed to keep everyone warm during the current spell of cold weather. Steph, Maria, Kash and Sevan opened half finished packages and squeezed jackets into each one. Lesser known fantasy figures then came to help the GoodGymers as Shoe Fairies delivered boxes of trainers, which is exactly what the next batch of requests needed.

Other legendary occurrences during the task included Kash exclaiming that she'd "never been so tall" as she carried a box on her head which hit the ceiling. Later, Tamzin told Steph and Sevan to "finish him off". A reference to fixing a poorly picked package for a child still needing a school bag, not a command to take them out!

Normal service will be resumed in January when we'll be back helping Care4Calais. Depending on your definition of "normal", that could be just as fantastical and amusing as today's session.

After a sonic-speed run to volunteer at the junior parkrun, Steph and Kash swapped their morning coffee (well, Kash did - Steph already had time for two of them!) for a walk to a mission in East Acton.

They were off to help Miss G tackle her neglected front and back gardens to make a positive impact on her mental health. The back garden was a priority, with brambles all over, and a massive fridge and some chairs thrown in the middle.

Seating on the thrones of thorns didn't seem like a good impact on anyone's wellbeing or backsides, so Steph removed the chairs, then put on his mighty bramble gloves to pack away the spiky cuttings Kash was about to produce. Kash grabbed the only pair of shears the two had found at the time and started chopping.

The onslaught on the brambles uncovered a mower, a boomerang (?), a fridge that could fit a human or two (no Harrison Ford found inside) and the only plant that was supposed to grow in the garden. The GoodGymers then raked all the cuttings and bagged them into black sacks.

The back garden looked transformed, and the pair still had half an hour to spare. Steph and Kash faced a big decision: should they make a visible difference in the front garden now, or make the transformation at the back more sustainable? You see, the brambles might have been cut to the ground, but their roots remained, which guaranteed new growth over the warmer months. The GoodGymers refused the temptation of easy front garden wins and opted for doing one job properly. They stayed in the back garden and dug out all the bramble roots they could reach.

Miss G came out to see the result of their 90-minute exploits and was utterly shocked by the change.

Gosh! It looks like a different place! - Miss G.

She couldn't believe what a duo of dedicated GoodGymers could achieve in such a short time and said "gosh!" and "thank you" at least ten times more. Steph and Kash made Miss G very happy, but also left some fun for another GoodGym team to tackle the front garden, hoping that their successors would spend the following mission doing an equally proper job as they had strived to do!

Chilly Sunday morning and yes children and volunteers went out for a Junior parkrun. As the goodgmyers were early, they helped Jane setup the course. Signs were given and sone arrows were the wrong way, then a volunteer suggested to have the funnel the other way. Could we have an original park run today and have it going the other way round? Backwards running too? That would be fun and confusing for all. We decided not to go for the backwards run but for the original way of running and swapped the arrows tk the corext way. 25 Juniors collected tokens from Alan. Kash was then barcode scanning. During this time, Maria, Harveyand Steph Ducatwere making sure the children were running to correct way and also giving loads of high 5's. Then Chikako followed the last runner as she was tail walking with her daughter.

3 goodgymers met on a cold windy morning in front of Ealing Broadway Station to have a chatty but speed run to Acton Junior parkrun. We did a small loop in the park to end up doing 3.5km. Sonic speed and we were there before any volunteers. in the distance, we noticed Jane, todays ru director so we had plenty of time to help her setup for parkrun

Another week and another visit to Ms F for some shopping. This Saturday, Ms F was more chatty than usual, maybe because she went out during the week with friends and socialized more than usual. We spoke about her lunch with friends during the festive period : seems very happy to have met her friends around food and drinks. Then we spoke of a gift she got which she put on the sofa as matching colors, but she did not look at it properly and thinking it was sheep as it was a gift from her welsh friend. I said its highlands cows which she then put her glasses and said oh I did not realise. Then we went through the shopping list : usual with extra's this week but we both knew that some items might be out of stock or short dated due to the bank holiday. I went and the store was busy, the shelves were empty including the fish counter(half the products missing and low in staff compared to the usual shopping days. Got nearly all the products apart from the battered haddock and none at the fish counter and know that Ms D does not like cod which also had only a few pieces left, so did not get some but got her salmon pieces she normally gets. After my visit, I was back at Ms F flat to help her unpack the groceries and move the heavy items like the 6 bottles of water to the kitchen. Then I also shown Ms F how to get her iphone out of mute mode which she mentioned to me before I went to the store. She did not know how she put it in mute the day before and waited for my visit to resolve this small but annoying item for her. All resolved and will now be able to resolve in the futur if it happens again. We wished each other a Nouvel An celebrations as New Year is in a few days. Bonne Annee and see you soon.

Kudos to all the GoodGymers who went out and collected litter in their neighbourhoods or where they are on holiday. The streets are cleaner and you burnt off some of the Christmas food and drink - win win!

The title already exists somewhere on our reports, but when you see and read this report you will understand that it could only be that as a title. I originally was registered to this mission 2 weeks ago and it was cancelled last minute when I was near Ms D flat as we found out she didn't have tools. This time we were assured she had bought tools. I arrived at Ms D and she lead me to the back garden, which was or looked like snakes all over her back garden and invading the slabs and the side of the shed. I asked for the tools and she gave me massive black bags. Then I asked for tools to cut the massive brambles : she said I only have a spade. Oooopppsss!No tools to weed or cut brambles, but not convinced to be defeated, I took my special bramble gloves(super thick and made for this type of task). Pulled weed, dead branches, dead bamboo, brambles and then used the spade to chop the brambles against the concrete near the back wall. Then as I had my bramble gloves was able to fold/bend so that it could fit in the rubbish bins. The spade was Ace or was i the Ace of Spade today.90 minutes in and the garden looked totally different. So you can sort out a garden without tools or the wrong tools. Ms D was over the moon! This was mission 100 since I have started doing missions just 2 years ago. When i mean missions : it is missions at elderly or isolated persons and not good deeds. Now its time to get more missions in before the end of the year and complete more in 2026.

Bank holiday today so some challenges as limited stores open and public services also reduced. A bit of running, walking and bus to get to Ms D and checked out in her area if shops were open etc. Knew I was up for a challenge today! Ms D welcomed me and realised it was bank holiday, and was not too worried if I could not get all the items. She had family around the last few days so had plenty of food and just needed some essential items. This was a typical Goodgym mission as had to run between stores due to bank holiday : roughly 3km to go from one to another. Ms D normally gets items from Waitrose but was ok to get the essentials from elsewhere. So I ran with a list and some cash to 2 different waitrose's I the area...closed!!!Next was Mark's and Spencers which was normally supposed to be open, but not today!! Then last attempt was a Tesco that I noticed a bit further : yeah we have a winner. Limited items as reduced opening hours today and not refilling due to limited deliveries. Got all the main essentials for Ms D like the milk, bread, fruit ,soup etc...only 4 items missing which were not critical for her like the TV list. Ms D was happy to have her shopping done despite it being a bank holiday.