On a freezing November day, a group of hardy GoodGymers ran, walked – or got the bus – to St Joseph’s hospice in Hackney to help them clear up from their Christmas Bazaar, where they were selling a wide variety of books, clothes and bric-a-brac to raise money for their vital work. With a good chunk of money raised, everything needed clearing away that afternoon so that the space could be returned to normal ready for Monday morning.

There was a wide variety of tasks to complete, and we initially split into four teams led by some of the more experienced volunteers. Once our initial assignments had been completed, everyone mucked in with whatever needed doing, under the guidance of the hospice staff – from taking down tables, to stacking boxes of books in the basement, to carting unsold clothes back to storage. It would have taken the staff most of the afternoon to get everything put away, but with 15 of us we were able to make swift work of it, finishing within a couple of hours.

With everything packed, we had fun posing for a group photos with some of our favourite finds from the basement, before heading back off into the cold!

Big shout to Frances for the run report