Delivering the goods at North Finchley Community Store

Today, 15 June, Subham and I headed to St Barnabas Church in North Finchley to help out at the Community Store.

The store has a regular delivery on Monday mornings and needs a bit of GoodGym muscle to help get everything from the van into the shop and storage areas. Unfortunately, the delivery was delayed, so Subham had to leave before it arrived but thank you to him for coming along and being ready to help.

When the van did eventually turn up, there was plenty to shift, including fresh fruit, frozen goods and various other items. I worked with Kenny to transport everything into the store and down into the storage area.

Inside the shop, items are given a points value, which can change depending on stock levels, expiry dates and what needs moving on quickly. It’s a brilliant system: helping local people financially while also reducing food waste.

This is a regular Monday GoodGym Barnet session, so do look out for it and come along when you can. It’s practical, friendly, useful work and a great way to support the local community.

GoodGym Barnet helped out at the regular Friday gardening session at Stephens House & Gardens, working with Julian between 10am and 12pm.

Arriving at 10am sharp, Julian and I got stuck into tackling brambles in various locations around the park. These were deep-rooted and determined, with their usual talent for spreading far and wide if left unchecked. The work was so tough that my spade actually bent while trying to dig out the roots!

As always, it was a pleasure to be in such a magnificent park, with bumblebees buzzing around and lovely conversations with park users interrupting the hard graft in the best possible way.

At 12 o’clock we downed tools and headed to the Bothy Garden for a well-earned social tea and biscuits.

This is a regular volunteering session supporting Stephens House & Gardens. You can also support the house by using the café, renting rooms within the house, or getting involved as a volunteer.

Come and check it out if you’ve never been — it really is one of Barnet’s special places.

A few people came online to do Yoga for Stephens House House and Gardens and GoodGym.

Yoga talk

Yoga helps you relax because it gives your body something simple and steady to follow: breath, movement, and attention. As the breathing slows and the body softens, the nervous system gets the message that it is safe to settle. So relaxation is not something you force — it’s something you allow to happen.