It was a pretty fresh morning on London Fields and with the beginning of half term numbers were low. That said the ever dependable Nick and DoE volunteer Zach meant that there was a great core team before we dragooned a few parents into helping out so we would be able to put the run on. Luckily Alfred's family were in attendance in numbers and were able to marshal the far reaches and see their son romp home in first place with a clear lead. Running her own race and in fierce competition Sasha came in as first woman splitting Conor and Gabriel. Freya had an epic finish having dragged her dad, the tail walker around. By 9:30 we were all packed up and keen to get somewhere warm. Huge thanks to the Lido staff for letting me sit in the warm and process the results.

Sam and I entertained ourselves whilst building Mr A's metal bed frame today with tales of previous bed related missions we've been involved in across various random parts of London - thankfully Mr A's bed making task will be memorable for (a) being exactly as described on the tin, with all the parts correctly labelled and provided, easy to follow instructions, a correctly sized Allen key, and the right amount of screws, washers and little plastic plugs to lock the slats in place, and (b) Mr A, who's English is limited, taking the time, once we'd completed the task, to compose and then translate a short thank you message on his phone for our efforts.

Volunteering at Hackney Night Shelter

Today's valentine's mission was delivering 3 x chicken and wedges to Mrs N. The queue at humdingers soup kitchen was long and friendly as usual on a Friday. Mrs N very pleased with delivery and in good spirits. Was a bright clear day for running. All good.

Ms A's discharge from hospital is 3 months overdue and being prevented by the lack of a bed at home. Luckily, there was a new bed ready for assembly. Cue GoodGym to get the task done.

Ivo and Anne were greeted at the property by a member of Ms A's support team from the hospital who gave access to the property and then busied herself cleaning the kitchen while the bed assembly ensued.

Boxes 1-4 were opened, emptied and their contents laid carefully on the floor. Mild panic at the lack of any instructions or worse, any nuts and bolts, proved unfounded when the critical items were found encased within the wrapping of the bed's platform. (A folding, preconstructed platform - I've not come across one of those before in all the bed assembly tasks I've done!)

From there, it was reasonably plain sailing. Ivo interpreted the instructions, proving very adept at distinguishing a 4 inch bolt from a 4 3/4 inch bolt, and soon there was a recognisable bed.

Progress ground to a halt, however, when the 'arms' and cylinders, which lift the mattress and allow access to storage below, resolutely did not move and remained in the open position.

With visions of Ms A having to sleep at a 45 degree angle, balancing on her head with her feet to the ceiling, we couldn't give up. Finally to our relief, Ivo's suggestion of 'pure brute force' proved to be exactly what was needed (the instructions didn't mention this) and the bed platform eased into it's horizontal position. And stayed there..... until we let go ...

Thankfully the deep, luxurious mattress was weighty enough to keep the arms and cylinders in check and there was a perfectly normal and very comfortable looking bed to admire when we left.

We were back at Robin Hood Garden this week and they had a list of jobs for us and the UCL Volunteers.

We chose to dethatch an area of grass which would be turned into a meadow. With spades, Spikey fork thingy and a pickaxe we got to work and in no time cleared the area. Indi also got to work sawing slats for a beehive (pictured).

Vicky and Peter were grateful for our work and I'm sure we will be back 🙌