Seven GoodGymers made it to AFC Powerstation on a chilly morning, ready to warm things up with some community spirit. We stepped inside and got straight to work, accompanied by the beat of a Zumba class pumping away in the next room.

Monika, Chris, Suze and Adam formed a laminating squad as disciplined as an army, tackling sheets of music with military precision. Meanwhile, Maena, JP and Manuela got to grips with a rainbow of coloured powder, carefully pouring the vibrant shades into bottles. One team was making the music last, while the other was adding a little colour to the world.

The chatty bunch worked like clockwork, laminating, pouring and chatting away as the Zumba beats kept us moving steadily. But when the music finally stopped, we were left in silence. Something had to fill the gap! So, naturally, our thoughts turned to one of the songs we’d been laminating: the legendary "Banana Boat Song".

We went off to a cosy coffee shop to sip warm drinks afterwards for a rewarding bonding time.

A very warm Saturday morning saw 3 Richmond GGers gather at the Power Station youth club to support youth leader Danielle.

Today’s task was more lamination of recipe cards for the kids to use during the summer programme. We quickly assumed roles, sharing out the duties of folding the inserts, putting them into plastic sleeves and passing them through the laminators.

Modest disaster struck when it was realised that the instructions for the chocolate cornflake cakes involved 500g of beef mince (triggering a short reminiscence of an episode of Friends), but these misprinted cards were quickly discarded and we carried on.

Danielle handed over the guillotine to Rosie to trim the edges off the papers, and we had a smooth production line going, finishing the last card just inside an hour.

We finished off the morning with coffees at a very pleasant cafe nearby and then set off for the rest of our weekend activities.

It's so wonderful to head out to do good on a warm, sunny Saturday morning. 4 of GG Richmond's finest met up at the Powerstation youth club in Mortlake to help out task owner Danielle with a huge amount of poster laminating.

We sat and chatted on the sofas as Monika, Rosie and JP put the posters in plastic sleeves before Chris fed them through the heat sealer machine. It wasn't long before the ratio of sleevers to heat sealer machines (3:1) started to lead to a major backlog on Chris's lap - the machine being none too speedy in its own task.

Danielle kept us entertained with stories of her work with the kids in the youth club, and the time passed rapidly. Before long we had sleeved every poster and left a stack for Danielle to pass through the heat sealer at another time.

Then it was time for a quick group photo before heading off for a coffee in the sunshine. A lovely start to the weekend.

On this 1st day of spring weather, 6 GG members did a spring clean, where we were tasked to clear up the leaves at the front section of Heatham House Youth Club. We cleared around 10-15 large bin bags filled with leaves and quite a lot of litter which unfortunately gets thrown from the street across the wall. We were very pleased with our completed task and went off for a well earned coffee and enjoyed the lovely sunshine!

3 goodgymers joined forces to help in the evening with finishing a task that the team started at lunch time : getting bags ready for an event at Twickenham tomorrow. Mystery bags...500 of them in crates! What can you find in this mystery bag ? A water bottle, snack bar and some crisps which will be joined by a sandwich tomorrow. Susan Chris Steph Ducat were then assigned an important task!! As nominations tomorrow at the event, winners will get a certificate and a medal. We needed to check that each nominee had a certificate associated to them and we had to assemble medals to the ribbons 🎀. They are all winners 🏆

4 goodgymers including two newbies (welcome Steph and Lisette) headed over to Heatham house to help get them ready for an awards event at Twickenham stadium.

We quickly set to work trying to win our own award for the fastest time to fill lunch bags with water, popcorn and a snack bar. 50 minutes later and we'd smashed through over a 100 bags (surely!).

Fun task. Look forward to doing this again in the evening.