'Twas the last task before Christmas, and all through the night,
No creature was stirring due to coronavirus fright;
Pickers were brought to the Churchill with care;
With the plan for the GoodGym crew soon to be there;
The patients were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions in hi-vis cleaned litter and mess;
With Mark in his short-shorts and Trev in red hat,
We set off to sort out the masks, cans and crap;
When out in the car park there arose such a clatter;
No accident, but simply a santa-in-a-van matter;
All round the hospital we flew like a flash;
As wind blew and rain fell we started to dash;
Head torches lighting up newly dropped masks;
This was one of our colder GoodGym tasks;
When what to our wondering eyes should appear;
But a bench dedicated to a father so dear;
With the GoodGymers all so lively and quick;
We cleaned up that hospital all span and spick;
Then we sprang to our bicycles and got ready to run;
You wouldn't think it but pre-Christmas plogging is fun;
And we heard them all call as they whizzed out of sight -
Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

Welcome to GoodGym Azul!

Well done on your 10th Good Deed Shati!

The John Radcliffe Hospital is the main Accident and Emergency centre for Oxfordshire, and provides acute medical and surgical services. It is the largest of Oxford's hospitals, covering around 66 acres, including the Children's Hospital, Eye Hospital, Heart Centre, Women's Centre, blood donor centre and many other services. The John Radcliffe site is home to the Oxford University Medical School and the base for most medical students who are trained throughout the Oxford University Hospitals Trust.

All this makes the hospital site very busy, with lots of footfall from students, staff, patients and visitors. And sadly, with people comes litter. The Estates team can't possibly be expected to keep such a large site litter free alongside everything else they do, so tonight we trialled a GoodGym litter pick to see if we could make a difference.

We met on the outskirts of the hospital site, briefed everyone on safety policies, divided into teams, tooled up with bags and pickers and then set off to clean up. One of our teams headed up the hill to the main entrance, another went along the path towards the blood donation centre, a 3rd team cleaned up outside the West Wing and Children's hospital, and our final team concentrated on the car parks.

Masks were the most regular find tonight.

They were everywhere....in the hedges, under cars, by bus stops. LOTS of cigarette butts too, and (oddly) a huge stash of cider cans in one of the car parks - did someone have a party in the car park?! Hats, hoodies and gloves were all found, but astonishingly NO PANTS. We even had a few appreciative comments and 'thank yous' from passersby.

We collected 18 large sacks of rubbish, a broken umbrella, a large box, and a folded mattress-y thing, and lugged them all off the hospital land for collection by Oxford Direct Services.

Well done everyone - the litter is an eyesore, as well as potentially dangerous, so it's great that we managed to clear up so much of it tonight.

Welcome Jane and Nora. Good to meet you both!