‘Twas the night before Christmas Eve, and all through the hall,
Not a single space was wasted, no nothing at all;
The veggies were stacked in the kitchen with care,
Broccoli, mushrooms, and onions all there;

The oranges were nestled so snug in their crates,
While pasta and fish pie just waited for plates;
And Rob in his Santa hat, Anwen in glitter,
Abandoned their ideas of getting any fitter,

When out in the car park there arose such a chatter,
Of GoodGymers arriving to attend to the matter.
Away around Oxford they flew like a flash,
With food parcels, presents both part of their stash.

As rain fell and wind blew they toiled around town,
With Christmas cheer, puddings, and no hint of a frown,
So up to the houses the runners they flew,
With their arms full of gifts, and much Christmas food too.

They sprang to the task of delivering cheer,
Knowing Christmas would be very different this year.
And we heard them exclaim, as they skipped into the night,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

A massive round of applause to Sarah for completing her 100th good deed this week!

Welcome Hannah - so glad you could join us for the first time!

You know those days when you wake up in the morning and it's raining so hard that it seems like it's still dark? This was one of those mornings, so it was very impressive that 7 GoodGymers still dug out waterproofs and welly boots and turned up to get stuck in at Marston Forest Garden. When I say stuck in I do mean it literally - clay soil makes a particularly sticky mud!

Marston Forest Garden sits on an allotment site which only a little over a year ago was overgrown with brambles. It is now taking shape nicely, experimenting with ways to garden in harmony with the natural environment.

Today's GoodGym team had a few different tasks: The ones with wellies dug holes and planted trees and fruiting shrubs (Loquat, black currant and red currant, almond and hazel trees), which I can confirm was definitely enough physical work to earn a chocolate brownie afterwards. We also wrestled cut branches into a better location (Ben getting stuck in with a handsaw for the 2nd weekend in a row), wheelbarrowed over several loads of cardboard and woodchip, pruned trees and raked up brambles.

We got VERY muddy, but actually not very wet, which felt like a win.

We look forward to seeing the fruits of our labours in 2021!

Well, we're out of lockdown and into Advent: the Christmas countdown is on!

The food parcels we deliver on Wednesdays for Oxford Mutual Aid show no sign of reducing in number. This week we had a few extras on the list - a whopping 30 parcels to get to people.

Our parcels comprised 29 deliveries to regulars, and 1 emergency parcel for someone self-isolating to ensure they don't go hungry this week. The food parcels comprise a mixture of fresh and tinned goods, bread, pastries, and pre-prepared meals from the Oxford Mutual Aid Kitchen Collective. Not everyone has cooking facilities, so we do our best to ensure they still have a variety of options to see them through the week. We always also send out several packs of nappies, baby formula, baby food and baby clothes in Wednesday's parcels.

These are a lifeline to people. It's about sharing what we have as a community, not charity.

We have a policy of not sending any GoodGymer out on a delivery on their own, so most pair up, with our largest group a team of 6 - making sure we adhere to the Tier 2 rules. It's an important bit of social interaction for all of us as we are missing the day-to-day camaraderie of our workplaces and socialising with family and friends.

Welcome Heather. We're so happy you came to join us today, but really sad about your bike being stolen.

Big round of applause to Rob for reaching 100 Good Deeds tonight - 50 of those done in Oxford (largely with Oxford Mutual Aid) since transfering to us from Bath in September! Thanks for the celebratory flapjacks Bethan, and thank you to all of you who brought donations tonight - they are very much appreciated.

Another Wednesday, another evening of GoodGymers loitering in an East Oxford car park awaiting their food parcel pot luck. East, South and West; we have most of the city covered with our man and woman power.

This week we had 24 regular parcels to drop off around the city and one emergency parcel to deliver to ensure a family didn't go hungry tonight.

People often assume Oxford is a wealthy city, but there's a lot of poverty, not helped by the high cost of living and the pandemic. Each week our parcel numbers are rising and there's more and more demand for help putting food on the table.

The large number of deliveries GoodGym gets through on Wednesday evenings makes a big difference to the number of people who can be helped. We appreciate your energy and your time commitment, as well as your store cupboard and Christmas gift donations, and yes, for answering the last minute call for carrier bags!

3 of our lovely team reached the 10 Good Deeds milestone tonight: well done Anna, Sarah, and Zoe. We're very happy to have you involved.

Thank you for the yummy cakes Sarah. Hope you enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Welcome Rosa and Claire - great to meet you both!

Once upon a thyme in a land farfalle, 30 GoodGymers peared up to deliver food parcels. Noodling around from East to West, eggs-press delivery was the order of the evening with 26 packages to drop off, but everyone turned up full of beans and made light work of the heavy bags.

Since the evening is generally too dark and busy to do very well on photos I figured we should have something adorable to look at, so I'm leading with Bracken the puppy.

Good to meet new attendees Mary and Holly. Welcome to GoodGym!