Last night saw the return of the GoodGym Newham crew to Care4Calais’s East London storage facility, with a fresh batch of instructions and some fresh faces too!

Our mission this time was to tackle the racks of winter coats, transferring them into some large bags, presumably ready for longer-term storage, and also to sort through some newly donated clothing by both size and type. Among the usual suspects of jeans, jumpers and jackets, we uncovered some absolutely stunning larger-sized dresses – so elegant, in fact, that a new pile reserved for ceremonial dresswear had to be created. A wonderful reminder of the generosity of these donations.

It was especially great to welcome Nadirah, who joined her first Newham task – a warm welcome to you! And a face familiar to some in the form of Camden Town John, who made the trip over for the first time in a while. Always lovely to see runners crossing borough borders for a good cause.

Well done to everyone for spending your Tuesday evening to pitch in with such good spirits.

Next week, we’re switching gears with a flyering session for Cody Dock’s Summer Open Day. Sunshine (hopefully), community vibes, and a chance to get our steps in while spreading the word – hope to see you there!

Hilary took on the task of leading the team from the Aquatics Center.

Kevin and I opted for a shorter run from home

Tim walked from Stratford so was the first to arrive and so was there to welcome Zetta on her first GoodGym task.

After a quick catch up with Paul,Brad,Adam and Eugene who we haven't seen for a few weeks.

We also welcomed Emily and Juan to there first Goodgym task and Nick on his first visit to Emmanuel Church.

Once all the introductions had been made Sybil set us to work with weeding the flower beds at the front of the church and also trim the shrubs,with the help of two of the church wardens.

Sybil then took me to the side of the church to plan out what we will be doing when we return July.

Weeds pulled and shrubs trimmed we packed up and took the tools back into the church where Sybil had laid on a wonderful set of refreshments. Sybil sent Eugene home with a food parcel.

Next week we head to Newham Hospital

A return to an evening task st Emmanuel Church.

This week Sybil had asked if it would be possible for us to give the church a spring clean ready for their Easter services.

A received a very warm welcome from Sybil who then led us into the church.

Brooms,feather dusters and clothes at the ready we split into groups and proceeded to dust and remove as many cobwebs as possible.

Kevin was in charge of ladder holding while Adam gave the ceiling a brush.

Graham and Brad with the help from one of the church wardens fashioned an extra long brush to reach the cobwebs above the arches.

A quick refuel thanks to the wonderful lady wardens who had made us cheese on toast in addition to tea and coffee and fruit,we also finished off my birthday cake. Refueled we made a final push to get the final webs before we said our goodbyes not before Sybil made sure we had some fruit for when we got home.

My health and safety advice was met with a wailing and a gnashing of teeth. I thought the suggestion that we should "lift with our knees" was pretty sensible, Hilary and Nick had different ideas. From their reaction I thought the piece of advice I'd been given in every health and safety talk in any manual labour type setting had been an elaborate hoax... opinions varied across the group... anyway, lots of lifting was indeed required as we headed to the Education Links school, where we were greeted by Mark who is a trustee of the school.

The mission, clear some space on the outer walls to make room for a new mural to cover the entire front of the building. Some other items for disposal had also been organised outside the school for chucking in a big skip. Classic goodgym fare. The team (8 strong, good turn out!) divided and conquered, plenty of smashing stuff into smaller bits along the way, elbow grease required, and got the job done.

Many thanks to our host Mark who gave us really clear direction and explained some of the context of what the work will facilitate in terms of the new mural and how the kids at the school will benefit.

Hope to see you all next week superstars!