What a difference 6 months makes! Back in October we had a super-soaker of a Community Mission at the Highfield Unit of the Warneford Hospital. Today we were basking in the sun as we gardened.

The Highfield Unit is the young person's ward at the Warneford Hospital. It has a large garden, which is wonderful for the young people but quite hard to keep in order with just one gardener for the whole hospital site. Today we were called in to work some GoodGym magic.

One of our small teams focused on the garden area outside the dining room: This was the domain of the injured GoodGym runners ;-) Since our last visit the weeds have re-established themselves, so we cleared them and pruned the unruly shrubbery to improve the mealtime view. Through in the next-door section of the garden another GoodGym team de-tangled brambles from choking the rosemary bush and apple sapling, and weeded and pruned as much of the border foliage as we could manage.

It's going to take a few visits to get he garden looking it's best, but we made a good start today filling 9 wheelbarrow loads of weeds and brambles.

The Highfield Unit have sussed the way to our hearts, supplying hobnobs and water to keep us fueled and hydrated as we worked.

Welcome Amy - glad you could join us for the first time.

Top suggestion of the day: Mayor Mark should instigate Umuganda in Oxford.

This Wednesday's food parcel packing list was our biggest yet. We packed 43 parcels of food and other essentials (6 more than last week) and delivered 29. Those parcels will support 53 adults and several children and babies. The parcel numbers are rising every week, which is a concerning measure of how many people are struggling in this lockdown.

This week was all about distributing an absolute mountain of tofu, alongside plentiful fruit and vegetables, and lots of fresh noodles. Perfect for January healthy eating - tofu stirfry anyone?! Perhaps a few of the shops over-ordered tofu for Veganuary?

Much as we like a good group natter we're delivering in pairs (sticking in households/bubbles where possible) and staggering arrival times at the foodbank while the coronavirus numbers are rising so steeply. The last thing we want to do is put anyone at risk, so these seem like sensible precautions.

Welcome to Anna - thanks for joining us!

Other causes for celebration:

• Mark did his 50th Good Deed last week
  
• Jocasta did her 10th Good Deed last Wednesday
  
• Samantha AND Laura both did their 10th Good Deed tonight
  
• Morgan's red GoodGym membership Tshirt got it's first outing
  

Well done all of you!

On a fresh Autumn morning a naive young hobbit set out from the shire (Kidlington) on a long and dangerous mission. Overcoming a variety of goblins and bike stealing demons, the hobbit eventually arrived (1 h 30 min later) in the mysterious land of Old Marston. Fatigued from the journey, the hobbit rested in the wilderness, unsure whether he had the strength to continue his mission. However, he was soon joined by a hardy band of five fellow travellers. Under the guidance of a wise (power-tool-wielding) wizard, the group of six were tasked with digging a ring shaped trench for wild flowers to be sown. With renewed vigour, the Fellowship of the (Flower) Ring was formed.

The following period of time tested the resilience of the Fellowship, with deep set roots and treacherous conditions proving difficult to overcome. At times the group were tempted to through down their tools and give in, but the importance of their mission had been made clear by the wise wizard (who in keeping with the films.... frequently disappeared for long periods into the bushes).

At last, the final blow was dealt and the ring of weeds was destroyed. The Fellowship of the Ring were congratulated by the wise wizard and had a cheeky selfie (they missed this part from the film) before sowing wild flower seeds for the Spring. Then it was time for the hobbit to return to the shire for Sunday lunch and a long hobbit like snooze.

Thanks to the the wonderful GGer's who joined and to Anwen/Al for helping to organise last week