Carol, Karen, and Helen took part in a very productive GoodGym mission at the baby bank on Friday morning. They began the session by sorting and storing new deliveries that had arrived. Karen and Helen cleared the doorstep donation area by moving the items upstairs while Carol assembled a cot bed. The team then worked to select equipment, cots and made up bags for collection. It was the first time Helen had done this type of task at the baby bank!

Another session at the Baby Bank and another huge pile of clothes to sort. It was nice to coincide sessions with Sue for a change, who usually goes on a Wednesday. Despite a team of corporate volunteers also being in, everything was calm and we had a productive morning quality-checking the clothes donations, with just the occasional 'Aw, that's cute' being uttered as we worked. Carol took on the most important task of the morning, making tea and coffee for all the volunteers

Another busy morning at the Baby Bank. 4 of us were put on the dreaded door duty - answering the door and accepting donations and handing out referral packs to the health professional requester. We were kept extremely busy, checking that donated prams, cots etc met all the safety standards and had the correct bits and pieces before we could accept them. We got our steps in carrying clothes and toy donations upstairs for checking. Everyone rose to the challenge and we all learnt much more about what can be accepted and also how to collapse modern prams! Sheila A was also put in charge of the referral phone for the first time, checking off when referrals were ready for collection, where they had been put, and when they had been collected. Rebecca and Lauren were extremely grateful for our help, freeing them up to do other things Sarah was upstairs - sorry, I didn't get a chance to catch-up with what you were doing, but I'm sure it was mega!

It was another busy Friday at the Baby Bank. Six GoodGymers joined other regular volunteers plus a large group from a local company on a Social Responsibility Day. While Sarah was putting together referral packs for families, the others got on with sorting clothes. It was first time that Sheila K, Carol and Helen had been given this task but with help from old hands Carol and Sheila A, they quickly got to grips with ensuring that nothing got through that was dirt, too worn or too bobbly. We want to treat the recipient families with respect and only give them good quality clothes and equipment. Huge kudos to Sheila K for running all the way there - and all the way back!

Karen and Sheila went to help at the Baby Bank at the last session before the facility closes for a week. Karen took on sorting the shoe donations, checking them for wear and tear before putting them away in the appropriate box. There were several youngsters doing their voluntary section for their Duke of Edinburgh awards. They were checking clothes donations and Sheila was doing the secondary checks, trying her best to keep up with them before the piles toppled over!

Kate, Sheila K and Sheila A were all asked to put together referral packs at the Baby Bank. Kate was upstairs on clothes while the two Sheila's put together equipment, nappies and toiletries for 3 different families. Then we moved upstairs to help put together toys and books for a family of seven children. Yikes! Luckily a corporate group had been busy organising all the books into age groups which made our task so much easier. Hopefully the goodies we found for them will provide the stimulation their social worker says they need