A lovely event run by our friends at Refugee Action Kingston to help refugees move on and feel part of their community.

Tonight we had three missions in one! How did we do it? Four of our volunteers went to Refugee Action Kingston to sort the kid's clothes, another went to another RAK office to hang a blind and the rest of us went to Elm Road... phew! Here's the run report about our amazing volunteers...

Nettled but Not Defeated at Elm Road!

In sweltering heat, the GoodGym crew took on the nettle jungle at Elm Road playground, working with the local community group to help reclaim the space for local kids. Armed with spades, forks, and a few poorly chosen gloves (ouch!), we tackled the stubborn roots - some so long they felt like they were heading for Narnia.

Marcos and Tom kept spirits high with sports facts while litter picking, and Rachel captured the action on camera. Newbie John gave it his all but ran out of water - thankfully, local residents came to the rescue with bottles of the good stuff!

Despite roots hiding under the fence, we cleared a massive stretch and even uncovered some old mosaic tiles. One hot, sweaty hour later, the bed was clear and the team absolutely smashed it. Great work all round!

Such a sort out at Refugee Action Kingston

Claire, Anna, Laurel and Sabir ran and walked their way to Refugee Action tonight.

We were greeted by air conditioning which was a welcome relief plus lots of children’s clothes that required sorting. Having made signs for different age categories we sorted the clothes by size for boys and girls and boxed them up so that they could be easily selected by the customers. The area is now much more organised and I’m sure we will be back to tackle the coats another day.

Driller thriller

Dave went to a RAK office to help fix a blind. In his own words has a hot sweaty mess but at least the charity workers won't be now.

GoodGym Kingston - you are simply tri-mendous!

Our group run this week took us to Refugee Action Kingston and we were tasked with jobs at two different locations. Claire, Dave, Emma and Farzeen all ran and walked to one of the offices were they were asked to take apart a desk so that it could be transported to the other location. They were a very efficient team and they got to work making sure all the screws were accounted for so there would be no issue with reassembly. A staff member then drove the desk in her car to the second location while the runners transported themselves to help unload.

The second location was where all the other GoodGymers were hanging out and organising the rest of the shelving units. The women's clothing area and toiletries was tidied up by Tom, Anna and Marcos, Amy got stuck in to the bunting making sure there were no knots and neatly folding it ready to put away, and Raquel and Luke sorted the menswear. As soon as the desk arrived it went up in the lift and was reassembled well within the hour we had there.

A great session with lots of big and small jobs completed. Heidi from Refugee Action Kingston was so grateful that these jobs were completed as it then frees them up to concentrate on other important tasks within the organisation. So well done team! Thank you for all your help.

Tonight's task was to help one of Kingston's amazing local charities, RAK (Refugee Action Kingston) . RAK help out refugees in the area to integrate, live fulfilling, independent lives and become recognised and active participants in their local communities. Part of this involves the provision of clothing and other essential items. Our task tonight was to sort through a load of these donations and help organise their storage system.

As with any catch-all store, there are a few departments at RAK: Mens, Womens, Kids and Toiletries. All of these areas needed reorganising and tidying up. A recent fire inspection suggesting that all cardboard should be disposed of where possible so any items in boxes needed repacking. There were also a whole load of unsorted donations that needed to be split into department or discarded, if the quality was below-par. We separated into groups and did what GoodGym does best - use many hands to make light work. Always amazing how much can be done in a short period of time!

Welcome to Kitty and John on your first tasks! Excellent to meet you and hope to see you next time :)

The glorious sunshine has unfortunately been causing issues for Refugee Action Kingston as the sun streams into the office and is too bright. Dave and Rachel went over and put up a blind so they can now get some shade and sit comfortably at the desk.

Dave and Rachel got their goodgym t-shirts on and went to help Refugee Action Kingston by putting up a blind in their office but when they got there there was no-one there!

We left a message on their answerphone to get in touch to rearrange and went back home with the drill.