3 intrepid Good Gymers arrived at the Oxfam Superstore in the polar vortex which was Cowley. After an induction and safety briefing with Kate we began sorting and pricing in earnest. Whilst Katie returned to her natural habitat (sorting books) Ben and Holly tackled the mountain of games and toys! The Oxfam team made us feel incredibly welcome and it was wonderful to be able to tell them about all the community projects we've helped with! A tea break half way through our shift was incredibly welcome as it was a little chilly in the back of house!

Hopefully we'll be returning to help in the New Year!

Hotwheeling it from Florence Park Junior ParkRun (despite a punctured tyre) Julia and Ruth joined Milly, Jo, Anna and Kate at the Oxfam Superstore for a morning of sorting, cleaning and pricing donations - focusing on clothes and homeware.

It was our first time at the Oxfam Superstore this morning - always exciting to have a new GoodGym task location! Welcomed in by the familiar face of our GoodGymer pal Kate (the womenswear manager at Oxfam Superstore), we quickly signed in and had an introduction to the superstore before it opened to the public, before heading behind the scenes to sort donations.

Books! films! clothes! games! furniture! They have something for everyone here.

Oxfam strives not to waste anything, so items rejected for the superstore displays might get listed in their online shop, sent to other Oxfam shops, or if items are unsaleable then as much as possible is recycled. People can book a timeslot and then drop off their donations at the back door, so there are always lots of items getting delivered.

We divided ourselves up between sections of the sorting space, rolled up our sleeves (metaphorically), and got stuck in.
Holly headed to glassware to sort, dust, and polish.
Zoe was the only one of us with sufficient caffeine in her system to be trusted to check and count all component parts of board games.
Anwen sorted and priced DVDs. Apparently the classics are the most popular genre in the charity shop, and Harrison Ford is a favourite.
Meanwhile Julia and Rachael proved that it's not only on litter picks that we find pants, unearthing a whole bag of underwear as they sorted clothes donations (thankfully, wearing gloves!). Shoulda brought the litter pickers.

Our 3 hour shift flew by, fueled by tea and biscuits and motivated by a bit of ABBA on the radio. It was fun to see everything that Oxfam is doing at their Cowley Superstore. We hope to revisit soon.

Braving the early morning frost, the 3 hardy Goodgymers of Aoife, Ben and Isabella set about to help the Oxford Oxfam group set up for their One World Fair at the Oxford Town Hall.

There were upwards of 30 different organisations arriving ranging from Cultivate Oxford that were selling locally produced veg to Amnesty International and Abundance Oxford who were providing information on their work.

Our main task was to provide a warm welcome to those setting up stalls, direct them to their allotted table in the main hall and to help them unload produce and gifts to sell. We accomplished this and more with Goodgym help provided to transfer plates and mugs to the kitchen area, lay plates of biscuits out in the refreshments room and untangle the fairy lights and bunting for the entrance hall.

The Oxfam team were very appreciative of the help and we even got a thank you mug of coffee at the end!