Summer holiday over, the doors of the babybank had reopened and donations received. So it was time to pop round and do our bit in the process - the initial sorting through the donations by sizes, filtering out the dirty & unusable ones.

After a minor mixup, finding another group in our usual area, we got stuck into digging through several crates while in the mean time catching up about holidays and theatre visits and such things.

Blink and it was approaching 8PM just as we finished the last few bits. Packing up and putting the bags of sorted items away didn't take too long, so after a final sit down we went our own ways.

With more crates already waiting, it might not be the usual 6 weeks before we come back!

Addie, Sharon, Eddie and Linda arrived early and started the set up. Sharon was on admin testing out instructions Linda had written to make sure they made sense and made it through identifying some minor hiccups.

Eddie and Addie got out the cages and set the bag table up. Natalie and Peter arrived and got stuck straight in with picking and packing. We also had two friends of Frenford helping out. With so many experienced willing hands we were done and sitting down to tea within the hour. We had a nice chatty catch up afterwards, we must enjoy each others company as "teabreak" took almost as long as the session 😊

Things were a little fraught when we first started at Frenford Foodbank today. We were two people down on the task owner side, one was the boss and the other was the one who sorts the admin.Ed and Addie sorted out the set up with the efficiency which befits their experience. For the most part the stand-ins had done a good job with the admin but Linda still had a little extra sorting to do. The result was people turning up before the paper work was ready making Linda grumpy-er than usual, sorry people 🙈 Peter continued to wind Linda up and was rewarded with a playful shove - not sorry for that 🤪. Natalie quietly got on with the job taking everything in her stride as always. With the other three Friends of Frenford working with us we finished quickly, had our usual refreshing tea, bickies and natter before making our ways home.

There were 6 of us..... but let's say we didn't discuss who would be which character!

Some of the usual suspects assembled in the usual ways, for the last pre-holiday babybank session.

As always, Adam & assistants were waiting for us with 4 crates of donations which got sorted out almost on auto pilot by the now very experienced crew.

Next visit to be determined, likely in September.

P.S..... I think cookiemonster is mine

Right in the middle of record breaking high temperatures we were expecting an uncomfortable session at Frenford Foodbank. Heat or no heat people need their food packages and everyone showed up ready to do their bit. Doors at both ends of the corridor were opened and extra fans provided which gave us a bit of airflow. Mercifully there weren't so many packages this time. As always, the mood was jovial, the team worked hard and we were done within the hour. Time for a quick break for cold drinks, ice lollys and other cold snacks until we were refreshed enough to battle the hot streets again.

Nice one Team GGR we could say we were Hot Stuff today 😁

The babybank team put out a call for assistance ahead of schedule to help deal with the volume of donations.

Cue the Goodgym family assembling from all directions and in just about all possible method - walk, ride, bus, run, in pretty tropical weather.

As always Adam had things set up and waiting for us - 5 sizeable crates this time, rather than a few bags. Whatever the amount, it all gets sorted out while still chatting & socialising all the way through. And with the numbers assembled this evening, it didn't even take an hour!

Leaving enough time to pop down to the local 'spoon to continue the socialising!

P.S.... the team behind the scenes sent their thanks having seen the empty crates and bags full of sorted items

Heatwave over, the weather was distinctly more unpredictable.... clouds, drizzly, rain...

But none of that stops a Goodgym crew, especially with a Babybank session in the calendar. So it was no surprise to see 6 assemble at the Cornerstone Church, joined by a 7th once S figured out she was at the wrong church.... not the first mixup of the eve it turned out!

A dark room and locked door did not bode well... Adam is usually well on time and starting prep before we get there. A call went to voicemail, but very quickly after Adam was in touch, it turned out there had been a little calendar mishap at his end. 10 minutes later, our session did get going after Adam dashed over and as per usual a string of bags and a couple of crates got checked & sorted, finishing at 8 as usual.

15/6 - a little tidy up at our 'home' of Wanstead House 13/7 - next babybank session

5 of us arrived on a hot day to pick and pack for Frenford FoodBank. We are all experienced in this task at these premises so (to stop us zoning out) lively music was put on to keep our spirits up and ice lollies provided to keep our temperatures down. These measures went down well with both the goodgym and the Frenford volunteers so we sang and danced our way together through the session and finished early with a little time for social chit chat afterwards.

47 people will be a little better off for our efforts today. 🥳🥳