After the May Fayre, St Mary's Church found themselves in possession of four abandoned gazebos. Despite trying to reunite them with their owners, they remained unclaimed.

GoodGym were called in to test them all out to check they were fully-functioning and in decent condition. After testing they were structurally sound, we then donned their little gazebo hats and packed them away for use next spring. One of the four had to be discarded, along with a couple of the bags, but three have joined the ranks for regular use. Interestingly, there were five "hats", so there are even two of those spare for future use.

Despite a complete lack of appropriate terminology ("have you compressed your inner button?" was probably the phrase of the evening), teamwork made the dream work, and our task was complete.

Anna also gave us a run down on an upcoming interactive art installation coming to St Mary's, Stretch, which they are keen to have GoodGym support with. Keep your eyes peeled for more information, which I will share when it come!

Dave and I joined up with volunteers from Fratton Community Pantry and Action Asylum to pack down after the cultural event at St Mary's Church.

We arrived in time to see the last couple of performances - local dance groups demonstrating dance and music styles from their cultures.

We then got to work packing down gazebos, then removing, folding and storing their tops. I employed some yoga moves to help squeeze the air out. Very reminiscent from my days camping with the guides!

Lastly, we helped bring some resources back down Fratton Road to the pantry for storage. I very much enjoyed being able to carry a giant phoenix - although we did get some very strange looks from passers by!

We wrapped up the day with a five-mile run - despite it being 6pm when we started, it was still crazily toasty!

The benefit to being the only crazy person to venture out into the storm this evening meant I was able to watch the end of Canada v Czechia in the ice hockey. Certainly been a massive fan of getting to watch my favourite sport every day!

A wet and windy visit to the planters was made a little brighter seeing the decent stand they are in.

Picking out the cigarette butts and clearing away some of the dead leaf litter left them looking quite healthy.

And there is some space for some colourful flowers to go in once spring arrives.

It was hard to give them up, but we gave some of our books to Tesco who will sell them and give the profits to the Fratton Together Food Pantry.

Andi had help from Little Miss who happily packed up a mini collection for other children to enjoy.

The Fratton Together Lantern Parade brought the usual chaos, creativity and carnival vibes this year!

After attaching lights and sticks to the lanterns, we prepared ourselves for the tidal wave of local residents arriving to claim their makes for the parade. As usual, the best laid plans for lantern distribution went awry, but we were able to reunite most lanterns with their makers ahead of the parade.

We enjoyed the samba beats of batala as we paraded through Fratton. Dave found a creative way to get around his lantern not having a stick - check out the photos! Whilst carrying some larger lanterns, we were able to marshal the parade safely from start to finish. After enjoying our complimentary cups of tea, we did an extra bit of GoodGyming, carrying lanterns that were too big for cars and vans back to the Pantry.

Dave and I counted people coming into the Bridge Centre and gave out programmes whilst enjoying the City Band playing Christmasy-sounding pop songs.

It was a lovely atmosphere - the RSPCA's big dog danced past us and Dandelion Daniel strode by and we had time to play beach ball plus a couple of retro arcade games. 🕹