Sevan and Kash joined A.B., who had been on duty in the Soup Kitchen since 4 pm. A.B. and Sevan started the 6 pm shift by labelling the donated clothes with size markers. After putting a label on one item, Sevan, by order of the Boss Lady Emma, went on the front line to distribute takeaway meals: spaghetti bolognese with lentils or tomato & herbs pasta. After 25 minutes of a big rush, the queue for food dispersed, and the remaining clients showed up less frequently.

The clothes tables, where Kash was assigned, had a pretty steady stream of clients coming in. A.B. later joined that section and made sure the table was well-stocked, the customers informed what was available and the outfits neatly folded. Closer to 7:30 pm the GoodGymers at the clothes duty began separating the impractical (too summery, fancy, scanty) items from the practical ones, and putting the impractical sort into a bag going to be donated to a charity shop as those clothes were not suitable for the rough sleepers in the winter.

The shift finished on time, with quite a few bananas left without any takers. Hopefully, Emma or other volunteers have a banana bread recipe so the fruits will not get abandoned!

Todays Mission brought GoodGymers to the drop-in session at the spooky Northfields Allotments, for final preparations and set up for the Halloween family event being held later in the day!

The day started bright and early with four GoodGymers on hand, Clare leading the charge for all the arrangements of the Halloween event, and with Kash, Sevan and Christos on litter picking duty along Radbourne Walk. Walking along the eerie entrance route of the event, the team picked up and disposed of bottles, wrappers and cans… and dug holes… clearing the path for visitors’ safety!

As the team made it halfway down the litter picking route, we welcomed some much-needed extra hands by Steph, Chris, Tish and later by A.B - now enough GoodGymers to divide and conquer the ghostly tasks at the Northfield Allotments, and spookify the Radbourne Way entrance route.

With Kash, Sevan and Steph continuing to make safe and clear out all the litter from their path, Christos, Chris and Tish were on hand with members from the Allotment community putting up decorated ropes and banners across the entrance route, swiftly carrying, connecting up the carabiners, and testing the batteries for the lights. But wait… this rope doesn’t fit across the walk… Some improvisation needed to rearrange the decorations and some creative problem solving with nearby trees to get all of the banners attached.

Lights checked and ready for the show!

What’s next on our list of tasks? Time to set up the tables and chairs in the main area of the event, with GoodGymers bringing out the Halloween-decorated table tops, attaching the legs and giving everything a spring clean before visitors arrive. Plastic chairs were carried out, as though appearing like ghosts from nowhere by Kash and the remaining group set to cleaning and wiping these down. Listening to the Halloween tunes played by A.B. helped to make quick work in setting up the chairs.

Some final odds and ends completed, and the Allotment was looking more ghoulish and terrifying! A parting comment by Clare for the completed tasks – “You really saved us today!”

Looking forward to seeing the incredible event!

The first Halloween-themed session of this season had a staggering turnout of six GoodGymers at Northfield Allotments! Was it the sunshine throughout the day, the lovely dog Rocket, Clare's marketing strategy for the Allotment tasks or everyone's craving for carving? We don't know!

The Pumpkin Trail organisers and the GoodGymers had 109 pumpkins ahead of them to carve - it was quite an intimidating number! Luckily, Rocket the dog put everyone at ease with his serene demeanour. For the moral support he provided, Rocket rightfully scored plenty of ear scratches and even a few treats from Michelle!

Michelle, the most seasoned GoodGymer at the session, showed everyone what efficiency is, without skimping on quality (everyone seeing Michelle perfecting her bats can attest to that). She probably carved most of the GoodGym pumpkins although she claimed she had never done that before. Well, some of us remembered that last year, she was able to even carve a pumpkin face with a hammer if needed. What a legend!

Apart from Clare, who had a go at the pumpkin craft the year before, each GoodGymer was a pumpkin-carving virgin about to turn into an artist. While others built confidence wielding the knives, Clare got into the business of gutting the pumpkins with a knife and an ice cream scoop - someone had to do it together with Martin (the allotment holder interested exclusively in pumpkin gutting rather than decorating them) to supply craftspeople with carving material. Clare reignited her artsy side at the end by carving her last pumpkin with an amazing flame pattern.

Roberta showed us the precision of a dental surgeon with her elaborate pumpkin teeth patterns. Her creativity, combined with some inspiration from the internet, produced pumpkins with precise cat and bat designs.

Alaa, being into arts and crafts, put a lot of meticulous knife work into her creations, unleashing her talent to come up with probably the most intricate pumpkin faces we have seen today. The number of pointy teeth in her last pumpkin would put a great white shark to shame!

Kash appreciated the sheets with pumpkin face templates at the tables, but eventually decided not to follow the rules and created her own avant-garde styles from creepy pumpkins with stitches in place of eyes to twisted half moons and stars.

Diana, who was about to find out today that deep inside she was a hidden GoodGymer, already must have known she had an inner artist. Her pumpkins went beyond the ragged mouths and ghoulish eyes. Diana's creations were full of subtle beauty, with their gorgeous smiles and hearts in place of their eyes - just as they came from a place where Halloween meet Valentines.

Welcome to your first GoodGym Diana!

By 6 pm all the pumpkins were dunked in bleach for protection from rotting and hidden under tarpaulin. We all keep our fingers crossed they will not suffer any attention from the foxes and slugs before Saturday! The allotment team was astonished at how quickly everyone managed to finish the job as a team.

"We would not have done it so quickly without GoodGym! We'd be carving them for three days!" - Christina.

The pumpkin carving is done, but there are still tasks at the allotments ahead of the big event - come along on Friday and Saturday for more fun decorating the site!