What a wonderful task organised by Julie, who kindly provided all the paint, paintbrushes, pots, tablecloths and even drinks and snacks.

It proved to be a popular task as there was a good turn out from the Woking GoodGym gang to paint bird boxes for Knaphill Lower School. We were given a wooden bird box to unleash our creative painting talents. Becky and Anne shared a box, and went with a very practical camouflage design, as did Julie and Kirsty who went with a beautiful shade of blue plus a cheerful yellow sun.

Nadia did GoodGym proud by not only painting a colourful box but also bringing along a friend for January in the form of her mum who is a good painter as demonstrated by her berry design. Adam ran to the task now he is getting back into running in time to paint a colourful red and blue box.

Ola showed his creative talent by using masking tape for his design. Vicky from the PTA popped along to see our hard work and explained 20 bird boxes will be placed along a trail for the lower school children to try to spot them all.

Vicky's son picked Stephanie's as the the best painted bird box, which was well deserved, as she was able to combine a practical but stylish design of green leaves.

Luan, Olalekan, Kirsty and Julie were back for another session reviving the outdoor space for the school pupils. Vikki had 2 jobs for us this week - creating a habitat hedge and constructing a gate. Ola took on the gate and persevered all session, showing great determination,overcoming incorrect instructions and a lack of pre-drilled holes to create a great looking finished product!

Luan teamed up wiith one of the school parents and did a great job of removing the ivy, while Kirsty demonstrated her fantastic new tools that Father Christmas had provided. She must have been on the 'very nice' list. The loppers were particularly great for chopping the branches for the habitat hedge and the hori hori (a cross between a trowel and a knife) was great for making holes for the support posts. A great job by the team as always.

Looking forward to meeting at the Phoenix Cultural Centre on Wednesday evening to paint the nesting boxes.

Rebecca, Anne andAlys took part in the awesome annual Doughnut Dash organised by Phoenix Running Club.

It involves 5.3k out and back laps along the river Thames and at the end of each lap you get a doughnut! The event is informal and friendly and participants can start when they want between 7am and 8.30am and finish when they want before 3pm.

Becky started just after 7am with the first lap in the dark but the opportunity to see a lovely sunrise.

After a brief break to take her nephews to the playground to let her sister run, she clocked up 4 laps (21k). Anne did a superb job and clocked up 15k over 3 laps. and Alys smashed through 2 laps.

We all enjoyed our doughnuts and giant doughnut shaped medals, which to be honest were the two main reasons we were there running up and down the Thames in freezing cold January weather.

Yesterday afternoon, Saturday 20th December, Kirsty, Anne, Olalekan, Melanie and Rosa (who joined us for her first ever community mission - Welcome to Goodgym) met at Woking Leisure Centre for a festive community mission supporting Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

Our task was to promote Shooting Star’s Christmas tree collection service, which takes the hassle out of recycling by collecting trees from homes on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th January. A minimum donation is welcomed helping raise vital funds for the charity.

The team headed out from the Leisure Center, through Woking Park, around the White Rose Lane area, delivering leaflets to houses and blocks of flats. Covering a few kilometres along the way, the route gave us a little workout with slopes, steps and staircases. The weather stayed calm, crisp, and chilly, ideal once we got moving. Festive vibes were boosted by Anne and Kirsty’s Christmas tutus, which definitely helped spread some extra cheer.

It was lovely to be out in the fresh winter air, combining exercise with something that really matters. Shooting Star Children’s Hospice supports families with a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, as well as bereaved families, across Surrey, South West London and North West London. Every leaflet delivered helps spread awareness and support for this vital service.

By the end of the session, we’d made a strong dent in the leafletting task and everyone kindly took extra leaflets home to continue spreading the word locally.

A tree-mendous effort from the team.

After weeks of hushed whispers, knowing glances and enough rumourfuel to power a sleigh, tonight the truth finally landed: Woking GoodGym had once again received the words we’d all been waiting for: “Could you help pack the Xmas bags at the foodbank warehouse in Knaphill?”

Could we?

Oh yes, yes we could, and no one thought we couldn’t!

Like elves hearing the first jingle of Santa’s bells, we were ready to fill 90 sacks with Christmas time treats.

Each bag received a carefully curated mix of food, treats and love, ready to be delivered across the local community. Every time someone shouted, “We need more cereal!” it sounded like a joyful Christmas emergency.

This task is always a highlight for Woking GoodGym: an evening where teamwork, generosity and seasonal silliness blend perfectly. Knowing that every bag will brighten someone’s Christmas is the best reward.

It was lovely to see Louise from the Woking GoodGym alumni joining us with her son Henry, alongside a fellow alumni Bryan, the 2025 newbies are now well settled in, but of course, veterans, Anne, Adam, James, Katie and Wayne were missed from the production line. 90 bags packed within 45 mins, our most efficient effort yet AND no one lost a finger to the stacking containers, a Christmas miracle!

🎅 Well done GoodGym – another year, another mountain of Xmas bags, and another evening of excellent elf-level teamwork!

Thank you for the photos Nadia! 📸 Welcome to the crew, Zoe - you’ve earned your tutu 💃🏻