What a fantastic turnout at Ray Mill Island (RMI) today. 6 Goodgymers joined 11 Friends of RMI volunteers and tackled a range of jobs.

One group, including Carys, set off to identify trees and paint signs to identify them, whilst Mick continued his work on the mid path, moving the stones into place. Whilst Sheila and Christine started out weeding the rockery, Ed fixed a new sign to the mural and then joined Jen and the rest of the group with weeding the proposed nursery area.

By the end everyone was helping in the nursery area, apart from Mick who continued flexing his muscles moving the rocks around.

The two hours flew by with lots of progress made.

Karen and Helen worked their way through five crates of very cute toddler shoes to ensure they were all good enough quality to be given out. Meanwhile, Carys and Sheila K worked through the crates of larger shoes making sure they were not too worn or scuffed and in pairs. Sheila A was doing a final check on piles of sorted clothes and making sure that the boxes for referrals were topped up. Another busy morning at the Baby Bank!

As ever, the Baby Bank had a busy morning. Mark was in the Toy Room putting together toy packs for different age groups. I didn't catch up with Sarah, but I presume she was clothes -sorting. Meanwhile Carys and Sheila were downstairs answering the door, and getting to grips with which items we can and cannot accept, and checking that incoming cots and buggys had all the bits and pieces and were fit for purpose. I think we were all a bit frazzled by the end of the morning!

In true Goodgym style, Carys ran, Carol and Sarah walked, Sheila cycled, and Helen came straight from a Pilates class to volunteer at the Baby Bank. There we met with Sam, Mark and Kate for our regular Friday morning session. Helen and Sheila were put onto checking Baby Buggies. The airport had just delivered dozens of buggies that had been left at the airport and never reclaimed. These were checked for age, quality and suitability for handing out to families, and cleaned. Any lightweight ones were put aside to be sold to raise funds. Afterwards we joined the other upstairs who were busy clothes-sorting and putting together referrals. Helen and Sheila went through the shoe donations, checking they weren't too scuffed or dirty. By the end of the session, the checked clothes had been sorted and the shoe donation travel cot was empty. Result! It was great to see so many Goodgymers there, making a real difference