What a lovely lot of volunteers we had signed up today. Welcome to our newest member Victoria (likes to be known as Tors) and to Sevan a more seasoned GoodGymmer who came all the way from Ealing to add Redbridge to his list of GG boroughs visited. Frenford Foodbank had been let down on deliveries with some supplies arriving late and others not turning up at all. Linda and Ed decided to forgo the task of having everything set up early to go in search of rice, 5 Supermarkets later they'd managed to "score" 84kgs and arrived 5 minutes late 🙈 to find other volunteers ready and waiting.

There was then a flurry of activity where things were put on shelves, cages shifted about, admin sorted and bagging station set up. We had the briefest instruction session and we were off finally doing the picking and packing we set out to do. As this was the last session before Easter chocolate eggs and other treats were added for families with children.

Despite the time used for other tasks before the packing we still managed to get 35 of the 57 packages done before most people needed to leave. Luckily a couple were able to stay on and finish the rest.

Good Job Everyone 🥳🤩

🌼🌺HAINAULT STATION COMMUNITY GARDEN🌺🌼

We had a beautiful sunny morning to meet up by the station, three goodgymmers and 4 local volunteers assembled at the station and got to work very quickly! And despite two no-shows, we had a great group for all the tasks that needed to be done!

We had lots to do: - Take rubbish and many cigarette butts out of neglected planters - Fill watering cans with a very interesting system we have of using a hoover hose and using sinks at the station men's toilets (it's as grim as it sounds! but can't look into a gift horse's mouth - just grateful for water source) - Weed and pick litter out of the lush green planters - Fill the planters with fresh compost - Plant out a selection of green, shade loving plants as they will be under the bridge with not a lot of sun - Water everything thoroughly - Sweep up the mess we made along the front of the station

We had a nice post-task cuppa after a couple of hours of hard work, sitting in the sun, chatting, talking with locals - a lovely time! Well done everyone and thank you for your brilliant help to make an area of Redbridge that much better!

With the group run dropping out due to tech issues (nobody able to sign up), it became a fitness session for one...

About 45 minutes of bodyweight exercises and stretches, part of marathon training.

Seems like there was a technical hitch.... tonight's session was apparently listed as 'hidden' instead of public and allowing people to sign up.

Sorry!

We certainly were on a roll at Frenford Food Bank this week. With one of the Supermarket deliveries not showing up and having a good number of volunteers we had finished the advertised task mega early 🥳.

The rest of time allocated was well used getting ahead of the game. Peter portioned up the tea bags, Helena and Michael regrouped the toilet rolls, Linda cut boards to use as crate lids, Ed sorted and dated the biscuits and AJ had a cup of tea...😂...thats not fair she actually made her self very useful reoganising shelves 😁.

A lot of worthwhile jobs done and we still finished a bit early. Nice work GGR.

It was a game of three parts at Frenford Foodbank today. We started off clearing out the store room so we could give it a much overdue spring clean. Ed moved on to counting up how much we had on the shelves so the task owner can put a supermarket order in. Helena got stuck in to putting the donations on the shelves.

Sending out a big welcome to Vicky who completed her first GGR mission today 🥳 Helena wasted no time in showing her the ropes and they both did a fabulous job.

Meanwhile Peter and Linda embarked on the task of bleaching down the shelves in the storeroom with the help of some soggy cloths and a temperamental pressure washer. It definitely looked and smelled a lot better out there by the time we were done.

Three good jobs done in one session. 🥳🥳🥳