I once again gatecrashed Juila and Linda's regular plant watering session at Hainault Underground Station (can't let them have all the fun?). All planters received their much needed fix of hydration before a very hot and bright weekend - great effort all!

The infamous leaky watering can struck again, although we were quick enough to empty its contents to nearby planters before it caused too much damage - GGR 1 Leaky Watering Can 0.

Overall, we managed to water all planters in good time and Linda even received an enthusiastic cheer from a passerby in his car. Evidently, the local community approves of these missions :)

After a few quieter than usual weeks, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Goodgym Redbridge were raring to go.

After arriving at the foodbank mostly by bike and foot, we kept moving by sorting a huge pile of food donations. Goodgym hero Peter was on hand to say hi before heading off to another task, so we had the opportunity to congratulate him in person on his recent amazing achievement of 500 community missions.

For two hours, our top team of six sorted donated food into sections so that food bank volunteers could easily pack parcels for people in need. Special shout outs go to Dharmesh's 'six-pack' (of baked beans) and Sharon's well-practiced trolley sorting technique. Christmas music blasted in the background and we admitted that we were starting to get in the mood, who can resist a bit of Wham's 'Last Christmas'?

We achieved a lot, as you can see from the pictures, and even tidied up after ourselves by crushing and taking a huge mountain of cardboard boxes for recycling. Well done everyone, the foodbank provides crucial support to people in Redbridge and it was great to be a part of it with such a fantastic bunch of Goodgymmers!

At precisely 9.15am on a Sunday morning a few great GoodGymmers met at the Frenford Club (The Jack Carter Centre). There was another GoodGym Redbridge Community Mission happening at the same time (check out Julia's 50th good deed!), so it was great to have a good showing at this session too (it worked out especially well since there was a limit of 6 people to this session).

Sharon had arrived first and was keen to get started, followed by Sarah-Jane and myself. Peter arrived in his van full of donations he had brought from Debden. Graham had joined us from GoodGym Newham and was also raring to go, especially after a long run to get here (well done!).

As part of Redbridge Mutual Aid, task owner Genevieve had arranged with Aldi a huge donation of food for those affected by the Covid 19 pandemic.

It was the biggest food donation I've ever seen! Cars and vans were full of everyday essentials. It was fantastic to see such a so many people willing to help. Peter gets a special mention for not only unloading, but collecting and delivering - what a star! 🌟

Many hands made light work. For a single person, it would have taken endless hours to unload it all, but with all of us there as well as the youth at the Jack Carter Centre, the massive operation took only a couple of hours. There was so much donated that the towers of food were stacked up to the ceiling!

Donations were varied: breakfast cereals, coffee, soups, instant noodles, tinned fruit, biscuits, washing up liquid, fabric detergent, nappies - list list goes on! The task of unloading it all fit the GoodGym ethos brilliantly - helping others and getting fit!

With our final vanful of UHT milk and tins of baked beans, they were quickly put alongside the other donations. Sharon and I taking a more fitness-centric approach inventing the bean squat (essentially a squat while moving tins of beans!).

There was just enough time to have a group photo before we went on our separate ways. It was a pleasure to help the local community and to enjoy it too!

Here's a lovely mention from Genevieve

"I want to reiterate to everyone how grateful I am for their help, you guys were such heroes today!"

Check out the Redbridge Covid 19 Mutual aid group on Facebook to get involved with more activities with Genevieve

Our plans to cycle to the task were thwarted due to unforeseen circumstances so, due to the logistics of getting to the next mission on time, it was decided on this occasion to take the car. This was a rare and welcome treat as we had both already hoofed over 10k that morning and we were even more appreciative of the decision when it chucked it down on the way home 😁 Fresh produce from the New North Road allotments was duly delivered to Jubilee Church Food Bank in Ilford and we were swiftly off to the Ilford allotments for the next of the days missions.

What a lovely day for a bike ride to transport some apples, squash and a cabbage to Redbridge Food Bank from North Hainault allotments!

Good deed and exercise done!

This is now becoming a regular mission as kind people of North Hainault continue donating fresh veg, fruit and other food to Redbridge Food Bank. So this morning Linda and Julia got their bikes and bike-baskets on the road to cycle 7km to the Food Bank and then back to Hainault to transport donated apples, tomatoes, lentils, flour and coffee sachets! It definitely felt easier coming back!:)