London’s weather is cold and hard during the winter months.

Luckily, most of us can escape into bright, warm, and welcoming spaces each day and every evening. But – there are many who can’t – and we are fortunate for initiatives and community spaces, like the American International Church, who host a cold weather shelter (in partnership with Camden’s C4WS) once a week from November through to March.

At GoodGym Camden we’ve been helping to set up their weekly shelter, and this Wednesday we were back to prepare for a full house, which was scheduled for that evening. There were five of us in total, including GoodGym regulars, Alex, John, and Jackie, and we also welcomed Charlie to our group, too – a very warm welcome to you, Charlie, and it was lovely to chat and share the evening with you!

We arrived at quarter to 7, and we went in, and being well accustomed to the task, we got going. We laid the beds out, put clean and fresh sheets onto mattresses, and then we attempted the Duvet Dance – have you heard about it? It’s a new trend (not yet on TikTok), which starts with throwing an inside-out duvet cover over your head, and then fumbling about to find the duvet’s corners (although, sometimes not the right corners!), and then propelling the cover onto and around the duvet to form a perfect sleep. It is quite challenging! But – after our season with the American International Church – we are on-trend, and we hope to perform the dance to accompanying music at the next London GoodGym social...

And then, after our dancing, and chatting, and working, we were done, and the shelter was ready and prepared for their guests that evening. We took a few photos (blurry, I’m sure – right, Alex?) and we headed into the night, and took in the evening with a gentle jog back to King’s Cross.

Thank you, all, and I am really looking forward to the next one ☺