There is a special community that meets - in an unsuspecting basement - on Tottenham Court Road every Wednesday during the year's colder months.

Orchestrated by the brilliant Brooke and the team (including the super kind Russell) at the American International Church, different community groups come together to cook, build beds, and make a home for an evening. 💚

The C4WS Homeless Project provides warm respite from the streets and a supportive step towards stable accommodation.

Since October, our wonderful GoodGym folk have been setting up dining rooms, assembling camp beds, and finding out the best way to fight with a duvet cover.

And last night was no different ☺️

Our lovely group - of Alex, Auriela, Caitlin, Gosia, Jackie, John, Louise, Siobhan, and Steve - worked with aplomb and speed, and all whilst sharing stories and laughter ♥️

We'll certainly be back as soon as the evenings sharpen and darken 💛

Thank you, everyone, for bringing your energy and time last night!!

Wednesday nights in GoodGym Camden are always a chance for celebration, but this week we had the joy of a very special celebration!

Jackie and John gift our community so much, and they've been doing so for 10 whole years!

With that in mind, our wonderful group of Auriela, Caitlin, Emily, Gosia, Jackie, John, Natalia (back from France - welcome back!), and Steve had 3 tasks this week:

• Make a meaningful difference at the American International Church (as always) ✅
• Enjoy each other's company + make sure you laugh at least 5 times (as always) ✅
• Surreptitiously sign a card for Jackie and John (we don't do this every week) ✅

Over 40 minutes, our brilliant group achieved it all!

Having prepared the dining room and assembled (and dressed) the beds, we congregated in the Church's back room to celebrate Jackie and John - and - thanks to Gosia's generosity (thank you!), a couple of happy sparklers added some fizz to the moment ☺️

Here's to next time!

The early evening light stuck around for a little longer yesterday. Before it finally departed for the night, things felt more like spring.

Which was a happy way to start our evening making a difference.

A smaller group of 4 met in Somers Town to warm up with a game of count to 25. We started with confidence - someone (perhaps me) even said - "This will be too easy! It's only 4 of us!!"

It wasn't easy, folks. Twice we didn't make it past 1...

...BUT! We did make it, and passersby were surely struck at our sheer joy at counting to 25.

Arriving at the American International Church, we had the joy of meeting wonderful regular faces and 3 brilliant new folk from UCL and KCL (you're all very welcome!!)

Over the next 30 minutes, this lovely group made up 3 rooms of beds and a dining room for the Church's Winter Shelter. And at moments, I paused to enjoy the connections and stories and laughter within this special group.

Nice work, everyone! Here's to next time!

(Check out Gosia's wonderful Insta video here!)

There is a large hall in Tottenham Court Road's American International Church.

It's the sort of hall you can imagine Charles Dickens in - he'd probably say something profound like - this is a nice hall.

And it's usually home to West End casts rehearsing plays and musicals - if you sneak in on a Wednesday night, you'll usually glimpse costumes and sets and a large double bass.

But last night we were tasked with turning the hall into the evening's winter shelter. And by 'we', I mean our wonderful group of our first good-gymers Auriela, Kiera, and Kayla (welcome, all!) and our Camden regulars Alex, Emilie, Emily, Gosia, Louise, Jackie, John, and Steve!

On arrival and having been welcomed by our brilliant host, Brooke, a smaller group of Auriela, Emilie, Kiera, and Kayla headed straight to an empty room that they soon turned into a welcoming dining room!

And while our smaller group were good-deeding, our larger group were doing the same - the hall popped with beds and the beds got dressed with warmth!

After 30 happy minutes, we turned out into evening Camden just as the shelter's guests were starting to arrive - nice one, everyone!!

It's been nearly a whole month since we last helped the American International Church's winter shelter.

That was New Year's Day when the streets were quiet... restful... contemplative...

...yesterday the streets were positively noisy... thoroughly restless... and (perhaps) quite thoughtless!

Eight of us - Alex, Alison, Charlie, Jackie, John, JC, and Steve - gathered in Somers Town - in a nook of quiet - to warm up with a game of Simon Says, before we navigated our way (while sharing stories and conversation) through Bloomsbury's bustle.

A wonderful group of four - Gosia, Ivar, Jo-Anne (on their first good deed - welcome!!), and Will - met us on Tottenham Court Road and we descended down into the basement from which scents from the evening's cooking were bubbling..!

If I'd set up a time-lapse camera, I'd now be able to see a wash of red t-shirts sifting duvets from sheets, pillow cases from towels, amidst camp beds popping up and out and into place. In 25 minutes, this group set up a welcoming space for the evening's guests.

And while this was happening...

Another group were speedily opening tables, arranging chairs, and laying tablecloths - the empty room became the dining room - and it was fit for the food (also being cooked by volunteers) in the kitchen next door.

A big thank you to you all! As well as to our brilliant host, Brooke! Here's to next time!!

King's Cross, Holborn, and Camden aren't known for being sleepy.

They're never usually quiet.

They're usually exuberantly bustling.

Yet yesterday... as our intrepid group of New Year Good-Deeders made their way through... they could hear their footsteps... they could barely hear any traffic... and (for the first time in decades) they could easily hear their conversations!

This was the joy of Central London on New Year's Day!

And our wonderful group of Anne, Ivar, Louise, Jackie, John, Steph, and Steve were one of an unusually small number populating our city's central streets!

They were doing so for good reason.

It was a Wednesday, which meant it was an American International Church Winter Shelter night, and this group were ready to sprinkle their usual good-deeding magic.

Amidst stories from the festive period, nine beds (across three rooms) were assembled, dressed, and tidily organised ready for the shelter's evening guests :)

And it wasn't just the New Year that was in need of celebration... because Jackie, who is a rock in our Camden group, had hit her 200th good deed!! Congratulations, Jackie, and thank you for being such a special person and wonderful part of our group!!!

Here's to next time!