Another sorting session at the Community Hospice shop in Welling, and today’s turnout was Ivar and Ann. 3 hours spent in the seemingly endless piles of donated items, and we dug out a few trinkets. A single baby Yoda slipper, a Christmas tree tie and a pink cowboy hat among the nice surprises, and less said about the (stained) bad surprises the better. An impressive amount of things went from the unsorted to the sorted pile during our time there, all cheered on by some enthusiastic pigeons bringing the noise from above! Until next (or nest) time, pigeons!

We have regular sessions sorting donations at the Community Hospice warehouse, and they're always a voyage of discovery - we never quite know what we''ll across in all those black bags. And, while we tackle the bags at random, there are often themes to what we find.

This morning's finds? Lots of cuddly soft toys, a magical mix of Disney and Harry Potter clothing and books 🪄, and a fine range of baseball caps 🧢. Plus a belt with (almost) the GG logo as its shiny gold buckle!

It's a fun way to spend a few hours, with plenty of chat, and a tasty selection of biscuits to go with hots drinks when we take a break.

Huge thanks to the lovely warehouse team, James and Andrew, for having us along and patiently helping us decide what's suitable to sell and what has to go to 'rags'. The Community Hospice is such a wonderful local charity and we love lending a hand.

Why not come along and join us at our next session? No experience needed, just curiosity, and enthusiasm! Who knows what you might discover...✨

Just two of us today - Ivar was doing his first hospice clothing mission.

Pretty unremarkable donations; though again we had lots of shoes… I personally had some glass slippers which some lucky shopper will no doubt snap up.

Ivar’s discovery of a massive kilt was a surprise - it nearly got put in the blankets. Typically Scotsmen did use their kilts as blankets when travelling.

Masses of winter clothes today, so that’s good. Not so much in the way of coats, maybe they’re due to arrive next week. It’s odd how donation types go in waves.

A good productive morning with lots of chat too.

This morning we were back at the Community Hospice warehouse in Welling, sorting through bag after bag of donated clothes.

Each bag gets emptied, checked, and sorted. Anything not suitable for resale is set aside as rags, which still earn the Hospice a small payment per bag. Everything that can be given a second life is carefully separated into women’s and men’s winter clothing, children’s clothes, textiles, shoes and bags, summer wear, higher-value branded items, and seasonal outfits. It's all eventually dispatched to the Hospice's shops across Bexley and Greenwich.

There are always surprises to be found. This time, our favourite finds included a collection of children’s sunglasses (complete with a random pair of swimming goggles!), some dramatic black-and-white high-heeled platform shoes, and a hooded Halloween cape that was reminiscent of the recent finale of The Traitors!

James from the Hospice team was on hand to help us decide what to do with the more puzzling items that didn’t seem to fit anywhere. He also happily joined us for a team photo — complete with a set of bridesmaids’ posies that are looking for a new home.

We'll be back again soon - look out for the listings and come along to see what treasures of your own you can find.

The Goodgym Bexley donation-sorting team, Caroline, Simon and Zita, got together this fine Saturday morning in great spirit and ready to tackle the metal carts full of kindly donated items.

While giggling and sharing stories, our hands were busy opening one bag after another.

There were "No bad vibes" just "Little things", something floral and pretty.

We got to hold a few Elsa and Ana dolls, and joked that someone had 'Let Them Go' 😊

Lovely morning spent with gorgeous people at the Community Hospice shop.

Well, it was once more unto the breach, dear friends as we returned to attacking the wall of mostly black (but not all) bagged donations, stacked up in trolleys waiting at the Greenwich and Bexley Hospice warehouse. Waiting, indeed, for some ‘expert’ sorting by seasoned old hands and GoodGym-ers Caroline and me.

Once again, we tackled a huge assortment of new, nearly new, not bad, okay, just-about-usable or ‘I don’t think so’ type clothing. During the session, we did uncover a couple of mildly amusing T-shirts, plus a hat which I rather liked.

Supervisors James and Andrew were as friendly as ever, and we were all treated to some onion bhajis and samosas—cooked on a donated air fryer which was being tested. We’re prepared to make sacrifices. It works—yay!

Simon