For tonight's group session we teamed up with the Merton Rotary Club and Faith in Action for the Santa sleigh collections. Starting with a small team at the meeting point we soon snowballed as more volunteers joined us along the route and there was snow stopping us once we got moving.

With the festive tunes blasting we were (rockin' around the Christmas tree) knocking on doors and shaking our buckets. It was heartwarming to see the excitement on the kids' faces as Santa passed by and the community was incredibly generous.

A massive well done to everyone who came out to help. Yule be glad to know you’ve definitely made the Nice List this year!

We will be back next week helping with more collections so why not sign up and join us: https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/helping-with-marshalling-the-santa-sleigh-and-collecting-for-charity-c8ab3799-3be4-4cc8-99bf-d431721eb9a5

On such a chilly night, it was good to have an indoor task to keep us warm for our group session. Abby set us to work sanding, taping, wiping and painting some of the church skirting boards, to match the newly painted walls. Although we were a small group, we whizzed through the task in record time and Jon even managed a bit of a lie down. We had to admit the results were simply brush-taking (although we didn't want to get too emulsion-al).

As ever, the regular volunteer day at the community garden was a hive of activity. We got stuck in loading wheelbarrows, mulching flower beds, digging over the compost and generally having a good workout in the mild weather. A mischief of mice, an armada (yes!) of newts and an inquisitive robin all livened up a very enjoyable session and meant we stayed well over the hour. We'll be back!