Goodgymers helped with marshalling and assisting at a water station along the riverside to ensure the Thames Towpath 10 mile event could go ahead safely.

On a crisp and sunny morning three Goodgymers were stationed around Richmond and Ham and cheered the approx 220 runners as they completed the 10 mile course from Old Deer Park towards Kingston and back.

Thank you for giving your time and all runners and organisers were very happy and grateful to the volunteers today.

Shopping for Mr K, this time featuring crackers and cheese.

Last night we were back at Chiswick Horticultural and Allotment Society to help Hounslow Community Foodbox with their vegetable patch.

Ten goodgymers made their way to meet Steve, one of the Foodbox volunteers, to dig the plot, turn over the soil and make a start with planting potatos. We welcomed Ritchie to his first Hounslow task and there was lots of energy and enthusiam thanks to the lighter nights and sunny days.

All the produce grown will go towards emergency food parcels for people in need in the borough. Foodbox are super grateful for the help and we'll be back next week to continue turning the soil and planting more veg.

Smashing effort!

The first community mission of the year at Foodbox in Brentford and it was great to be helping out the volunteers with a restock, after several months break without any corporate volunteers on site. Foodbox has been undergoing a restructure with the aim of ensuring any funds raised go as far as possible, helping more families and individuals in need.

The two regular volunteers named Jane welcomed myself and two groups of corporate volunteers. Jane #1 had set out all the refilling and stock checking that needed to be done. Jane was thrilled to see the foodbox a hive of activity and couldn’t believe how quickly we all got through the decanting of coffee, tea, flour, grains, washing powder and sugar.

As usual the challenge of trying to decant various stock into small cups kept me on my toes. Got to wear the Foodbox apron to protect myself from the mist of chappati flour and almost cycled off with it 😬

We have monthly sessions listed at the Foodbox all through the year. You may be helping to replenish stock or check food labels, or lending a hand outside the Foodbox to keep the site litter and weed free.

Goodgymers got out in March to clear their local green spaces and pavements of discarded litter.

A litter pickers work is never done sadly

Four goodgymers joined community members for a litterpick around Baron's Pond on an extra special sunny saturday morning.

We'd had a busy morning; Beth, Chris and Tish had taken part in parkrun, while I gave out finish tokens. This was Beth's 200th parkrun event which called for celebration and sweet treats.

A leisurely wander around the pond collecting discarded wrappers, bottles and cans ensued. With pistachio chocolates and cookies to fuel us we had soon filled several bags. Not to be deterred by the farthest to reach rubbish, armed with the longest litterpicker [8ft XXL and at least twice the size of Beth and me], Chris made light work of the job. So long litter!