Fortunately the drizzle had stopped by the time we met for the last Surbiton Rotary collection of the year with Father Christmas. Santa's sleigh was on top of a milk float and it really was a sight to behold. It drew lots of attention - cars beeped their horns or stopped so kids could wave and have a word with the big man, himself. It was our task tonight to go along the river roads in Surbiton to collect money for small, grass root charities in the local area.

The group collecting were very friendly and it turns out we had met before at a himalayan balsalm bashing task at Berrylands. Small world! We knocked on lots of doors. People were either not interested at all or very, very excited to see Father Christmas and we collected coins and, amazingly, lots of notes. I have no way of knowing how much my bucket raised but I was delighted at the generosity of the people of Surbiton.

We had to stop at 8pm as we couldn't have the Christmas music blaring after this time. The float stopped at a Rotary member's house where he had mulled wine and mince pies at the ready. What a lovely way to end the last task of 2022.

Merry Christmas, GoodGym Kingston!