Full of festive cheer, Goodgymers from Kingston and Richmond joined the marshalling crew at the Princess Alice Hospice to guide and encourage runners and walkers along the 5km route.

Armed with florescent arrows, maps and loud voices, we spread some GoodGym positivity to each and every person who took part in the event, making sure they were going the right way and giving them a big red boost as they passed! It was inspiring to see so many people, including young children, dogs, buggies and older runners, take on the challenge, many running in memory of people the Hospice has supported through end-of-life care.

The temperatures in Bushy Park were probably close to the North Pole environment by the end but there were still smiles on faces as we all left to seek hot drinks and warm seats.

GoodGym supported the Surbiton Rotary Clubs tradition of the annual Carol Wagon to raise funds for Kingston’s local charities.

Friday night was night no.2 of a straight 2 week run to cover all the borough’s streets.

We hope we got them off to a fine start as we shaked, rattled and rolled our tins round the Villiers Road area of Kingston. From loose change to £20 notes, it made a chilly Friday night worthwhile.

On our community mission this evening we popped to the British Heart Foundation to help create their Christmas shop. Multiple trolleys were stacked by the front door, overflowing with tinsel, decorations, baubles, gifts, Christmas trees, cards.... everything you could think of to make Christmas, well, Christmas. After a slice of pizza and a drink, kindly donated by Christine from the BHF, we set to work.

We separated into two teams: Jane and Carla tackled the card displays whilst Rachel and Sabir sorted the bauble boxes. Jane and Carla built the displays and then unpacked all the cards and put them in order. Rachel and Sabir wrapped the wire boxes with cellophane to stop wayward baubles from escaping and poured in the rest. Once the first big tasks were completed we turned our attention to the other trolleys. Bookcases and display stands were brought over to create the structure of the area so we had shelves to put all the Christmas stock on.

It took a while but we completed the task within two hours. Christine and the team were thrilled that it was all done in one evening. She was so happy that she has asked us to come back in January to help set up a fitness display with all the exercise machines in the window. That sounds right up our street! Watch out for the session in January.