We had a brilliant evening serving dinner at Jimmy's this week. We were delighted to welcome new GoodGymers Sydnii and Rachel, and with Rachel as a trained chef, and Sydnii familiar with Jimmy's, we were in excellent hands.

On the menu was a very delicious looking pie, cheesy mash, and greens with a good helping of gravy. Sticky toffee pudding and custard to finish. What a line up!

All the food was prepped and warming, but the lumpy gravy called, needing a bit of extra love. Utilising all Rachel's cooking experience we set her on her first task of sieving the gravy. 👩‍🍳

Beth and I were in charge of checking the food prior to opening the hatch, putting our recent food hygiene training to the test to ensure the food was hot enough. At 82 degrees in the centre of the pies, we agreed that was toasty enough. 🥧

It was an efficient line up, each taking a different element of the meal and all taking time to speak with residents. We made sure to get all orders correct and plated some meals up for later. It didn't feel too busy, but we did have a little flurry of requests just before the end of service, keeping us on our toes.

Rachel wasted no time washing up, I was on dishwasher duty, and Sydnii was a pro at storing and labelling the leftover food. Sydnii also took the initiative to clean the eating area a little before we finished service, so we were all cleared up in 15 minutes, a record!

There was a real buzz in the kitchen, and it was great to have time to get to know our new GoodGymers, hearing about very cute doggies and travelling adventures.

Looking forward to next time already!

We were back at Jimmy's this evening for our monthly dinner service. On the menu this week: shepherd's pie & veg, with chocolate cake & chocolate custard! 😋

Keen to make the most of the sunny evening, Christopher, Catherine and I met beforehand for a 3km jog around Parker's Piece. Despite the surprisingly bracing wind, it was a delight to enjoy the last of the sun whilst we caught up and discussed about the task ahead ☀️

Energised by our run and raring to go, we were soon stopped in our tracks: the pies weren't hot enough! And so began the waiting game, checking periodically and hoping for the magic 75 °C. Entertaining ourselves with a game of 'guess the probe', it finally reached 78 °C - not quite the monumental effort of 97 °C the night before, but it was what we needed! Forming a slick 3 person production line, I dished up the pie, Chris served veg and gravy (sometimes a little too enthusiastically) and Catherine was on dessert. We soon made up for lost time and after a decent shift, had everything cleaned up! 🫧

Fantastic work again, team. It took a little longer than usual but we pulled together and did it with a laugh and a smile - as per the GoodGym Cambridge way! 🙌

We returned this evening for our monthly visit to Jimmy's Cambridge to help with their dinner service. 🍽

Christopher and I met at Parkside Pools for our 4km-and-a-bit run, lapping Parker's Piece four times. Making her way from London, Catherine was waiting for us after the first lap and joined us for the remainder. 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

This evening, Alex joined us for her first visit to Jimmy's. We soon got stuck in dishing up this evening's meal of spaghetti and stroganoff, with a rather splendid lemon meringue pie to follow. There was even a steak for Ruby, tonight's resident dog! 🐶

We gratefully received a visit from Beth partway through service (also on her first visit here) in time for clean down. As per usual, we made plenty of time for chatting and team building - and shared the joy of the clingfilm machine. 🙌

Thanks to all for another fun and productive evening!

It was another scorcher in Cambridge, so we pivoted our group run to a shady fitness session in the park.

Scott and I kicked off with all the classics - squats, lunges and planks, before Beth joined just in time for abs. Mid-bicycle kick, we noticed Alan about to cycle past, but the lure of the red t-shirts was too much. At this point we'd all shifted to stretching, enjoying some slower movement in the fresh air.

We headed over to Jimmy's to meet Blessings and Marie, who joined us for her first session 👋

Unfortunately, the task couldn't go ahead, but we all agreed to do a good deed locally over the next week. There will be litter picking, Foodbank and charity shop donations.

With the gift of time, we took the opportunity for some more fresh air in the park and walked back to our shady spot, which by this point had a very enjoyable breeze. We spent a balmy hour catching up, finding out everyone's favourite parkrun (not an easy task), uncovering historic connections, and trying to work out the terrier breed that is around 30kg - bigger than a Pitbull and smaller than a fat Dalmatian. Alan, if you find out you must share, so we can all sleep easy.

As the evening cooled, we headed our separate ways, walking, running and cycling across the city.

Not quite the evening we had planned, but in true GoodGym style, we found the silver lining and prioritised movement and connection 🫶

This week's task saw us back at Jimmy's serving dinner to residents.

A delicious meal of lasagna had been prepared and was ready and waiting for us to serve. We had a few residents at the hatch when we arrived, so we needed to get going quickly. Setting up a serving line, Daiana was a pro on lasagna, Andrew took on garlic bread, Caroline mastered salad, and I was in charge of dessert. A streamlined operation! Everyone was delighted to see the famous carrot cake on the menu with a few even requesting seconds.

With residents fed, we turned our attention to clearing up. The highlight was definitely getting to cover the leftovers using the cling film machine. Caroline was particularly excited to take the lead on this job and had all plates wrapped in not time at all!

It had been a little while since we'd all seen each other, so we had a great time catching up and hearing about South American adventures 🇵🇪🇧🇷

It was a celebratory session with Caroline giving her black t-shirt its first outing. To celebrate her amazing 5️⃣0️⃣ good deeds, we took a trip to Jack's for gelato, the only way to mark the occasion 🍦

Having also received our personalised first aid kits, it really was quite the day!

This week, GoodGym Cambridge returned to Jimmy's. This was our second visit and we were delighted to be back at the hatch, helping with the evening meal service 🍽

We started the evening with a 3 km jog around Parker's Piece, where Catherine and Caroline welcomed Christopher to his first GoodGym task! 🙌

The trio then met Nick at the task and the four GoodGymers rolled up their sleeves, donned their aprons and rocked some flattering hairnets ready to dish up dinner. On this evening's menu were a phenomenal shepherd's pie (both meat and veggie), carrots and cauliflower, gravy, and the biggest squares of carrot cake we'd ever seen 🥕

Once everyone had eaten, Catherine and Christopher made light work of the washing up, Nick cleaned all the surfaces and Caroline wrapped up the leftover food. The team had a great time chatting about the weather, politics, work cafés and online followers, and everyone admired Catherine's super new t-shirt 💯

We look forward to our next visit to Jimmy's!