Six days after GoodGym Ealing's last visit to Care 4 Calais, a lot had happened. Boxes and boxes of new stock had arrived, all with red writing on the side. Task owner Tamzin explained that using the clothes in these boxes was verboten and that the reasons were complicated. Instead, lots of the other clothing had moved around to make space, meaning that everyone had a fun game of hide and seek to try and complete their requests.

The GoodGymers were mostly left to their own devices, unless they needed help, with a steady stream of requests to complete. Some were simple like finding a pair of shoes or an XL hoodie. Some were more complicated, like digging out school uniforms or guessing the size of abayas. Others needed some black market deals. Men's winter jackets were like rocking horse poo and needed special approval. Equally, there was a drought of umbrellas, unless you had the right contacts.

All the requests that could be completed were bagged and labelled. The more unusual that couldn't be sourced, like a volleyball, school skirt or even a wallet will need to wait. Maybe they too will appear on the black market soon 🫰.