Three jolly Goodgymmers went to WalthamstowToy Library this morning to join Helen and her husband John and some Toy Library volunteers, to tackle the epic task of clearing the currently defunct adventure playground, to prepare it for refurbishment. Lily got started with a big litter pick, Sarah swiftly joined in and they weeded, picked up lots of plastic and rubbish (and a dinosaur!), shifted rubble and timber, and removed all the weed-proof matting from the grounds. Later on, as if a morning of competitive Crossfit weren't enough for her, Pippa came to provide a fresh wave of energy for a lot more clearing of vegetation and removal of rubbish once the hedges had been cut. Thankfully the rain cleared up and the sun shone a little. All in all, it was a gigantic task (my back is certainly feeling it now!) and a very, very good job done. Helen was delighted with the progress made and immensely grateful for the help. The adventure playground, which will soon be repaired and ready for use, will be an incredible new addition to the Toy Library's facilities, providing a much-needed play resource for families in our local community. Well done GGWF - we did an excellent job and made a huge difference!

Three brilliant GGWF Goodgymmers (Sara, Matiyas and Lily) took part in our monthly Toy Library mission and gave Helen some much-needed help clearing out the construction toy store. As always, GGWF's organizational wizardry left Helen delighted with a job very well done. In fact, she's so pleased, that she'd love for GGWF to help with the clearing of the adventure playgroud, which has just begun. Tasks will be on Saturdays, during the day, and will be pretty physical, so get ready for a good workout! Watch this space for listings :-)

Four enthusiastic Waltham Forest Goodgymmers (Lily, Matiyas, Sara and Sarah) met at the Toy Library this evening for our first task of 2026, helping Helen with a few odd jobs she'd kindly saved for us! Matiyas proved himself to be quite the handyman with some toy and furniture repairs, while Lily, Sara and Sarah did some toy cleaning, sorted and categorised some cuddly friends for storage, and organised some lovely donations received for the SEND toy library, a fantastic new resource for our local community, which is due to open very soon. As ever, Helen was delighted to have some extra help, and it was great to get the new year started for Goodgym WF. A big welcome and well done to Matiyas and Sara who were attending their first Goodgym missions - it was lovely to have you on board!

From February, our Toy Library sessions will be on the second Thursday of each month at 6:30pm, meeting at the task. Come and join us - the more the merrier!

Four festive Goodgymmers attended the Toy Library to wield the scissors and sellotape and give a helping hand to Father Christmas, whose annual visit is imminent! As ever, Helen was HUGELY thankful for the extra hands on deck. A big thank you to John and Jacqui (GG Tower Hamlets) for coming to support GGWF, yet again - we are so grateful to have you with us. There won't be a Toy Library task for us in December, as Helen is snowed under, but we'll be back again in January, so watch this space for task listings!

(Apologies for a) the late report, and b) the stock elf photo - I sadly wasn't able to attend this month's task as I was on family nursing duties elsewhere, so no photos of the actual elves in action!)

Four enthusiastic Goodgymmers (John, Lily, Migle and Sarah) met for our monthly task at Walthamstow Toy Library this evening where Helen had a few jobs lined up for us. We cleaned toys that had been returned to the library and prepared craft supplies for some ghostly Halloween creativity. Spooky! Lastly, we took down the bunting that we'd so beautifully hung in the summer to decorate for the Toy Library's anniversary celebrations, as it was starting to look a little past its peak. We got the jobs done in no time at all, and Helen was, as ever, delighted to have had some extra hands on deck. Special kudos goes to John (GG Tower Hamlets) who took a detour on his way home from Birmingham to drop in and help GGWF this evening - your support was hugely appreciated, John - thank you!

Three happy Goodgymmers made their way to Walthamstow Toy Library where Helen had - in view of the day's somewhat unpredictable weather - found us a lovely indoor task. As always, the Toy Library has had many wonderful donations from very generous members of our community, and as a result has yet another overflowing walk-in cupboard! We've done the crafts cupboard, the art supplies cupboard and the toy cupboard, so this week it was games and puzzles. Organising, filing and finding space for everything was a puzzle in itself, but Pippa set to work on jigsaws, Lily dealt with games, and Sarah and Helen filed the many wooden puzzles into various categories. By the time the task was done, the cupboard was spick and span and beautifully organised! Helen was, as ever, delighted to have the job done and so grateful for our support. Well done team GGWF!