With a bit of determination, it will be possible to move Mr L’s spare bed for him to sleep downstairs but sadly the efforts of Cat and Linda were scuppered by bad luck on this mission today. First we found the bed frame was just slightly too wide to fit round the stair bannisters, no matter how we manoeuvred it. Then, after carrying it back to the upstairs bedroom and turning it upside down, we managed to free the metal sprung base from brackets on the wooden end-boards… only to hear the disappointing sound of one of the four legs snapping under the strain. Now the leg will need repairing before the bed can be reassembled for use. We moved the mattress and frame sections to the downstairs sitting room, and Mr L declared himself happy that at least the job was started!

We stayed indoors on fireworks night, so the only bangs we heard in our task were the shuttering up of other shops in The Glades Shopping Centre as we worked after hours to brighten up Greener and Cleaner's unit with some white painting.

Tamsin first asked us to coat a sign board that had its fair share of scuffing. We got out the roller and brushes and made it look a lot smarter! Other painting tasks were to touch up walls where adhesive tak had taken off bits of paint, and the doors and door frames, which had only had one coat of paint to begin with. Finally, we coated a trolley for the sign boards in white too.

Linda did a cracking job of painting the sign board, and Hannah coated the door, with Louise covering the sign trolley beautifully. In between some cutting in, I helped Tamsin raise some bunting :)

We'll be back at Green and Cleaner in a couple of weeks for Christmas decorating - would be great to see you there!

Three GoodGymers spent a cheerful hour helping a couple of regular volunteers with unloading deliveries ready for the next day’s opening period at the Borough Food Cooperative, which works to redistribute otherwise wasted produce. There was less donated stock than usual so after stacking shelves with parsnips, apples, bananas and other fresh goodies, Clare, Julianna and Linda had time to help sort packaging for recycling. The session was a first experience at this task for each of us – hopefully we will return!

Ms S had a step ladder ready in position beside her bedroom window, so putting up her freshly laundered curtains was child’s play. We made an effective team – me climbing up to manage the hooks and Ms S passing each curtain – leaving plenty of time for a friendly chat about community and the power of volunteering.