We had a great time today at the Community Hospice Shop in Welling.

Our visit began with a comprehensive tour of the premises, guided by our host, James, who gave us an insight into how everything operates behind the scenes. We also received a health and safety briefing—an essential part of the process when dealing with such a vast amount of donated items.

We learned that this location serves 16 charity shops across the borough, which means an incredible volume of donations constantly needs sorting. It’s a big task.

With our team—Caroline, Ann, Zita, and me—ready to get stuck in, we rolled up our sleeves and set to work sorting through bags of donated clothes, linens, shoes, handbags, and even the odd toy here and there.

The sorting process itself was a real eye-opener. Donations were separated into various categories: 🔹 Quality – pristine, gently used, or worn-out items 🔹 Gender & Age – men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing 🔹 Specialist Items – vintage or designer labels, set aside for specialist charity shops 🔹 Condition – freshly laundered and neatly folded vs. those with stains, paint marks, or signs of heavy wear.

It was interesting see what had been donated. There were some high-end and vintage items, lots of decent quality stuff all the way down to unusable. The good news? The majority will be resold, raising essential funds for the charity.

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience. The three-hour session flew by, and we met some nice new people along the way. I imagine we’ll be back before long—there’s always more to do, and it feels good knowing that every bit of effort goes towards such a worthy cause.

This morning saw us at the Community Hospice's warehouse in Welling, sorting donations to be distributed to the charity's shops across Greenwich and Bexley.

After a warm welcome and some training by Andrew and James, we set to work inspecting and sorting the pre-loved clothes, shoes, bags, soft furnishings and other assorted items into separate bags ready for their onward journey to hopefully find a new owner.

There was lots of chatter and the time flew by.

Thank you for having us Andrew and James. And congratulations to Jane and Zita on your first GoodGym task 🥳!

We have another session at the warehouse next Saturday. Places are limited so sign-up soon if you'd like to go along!