As in previous years, we joined Rotary York Ainsty's Santa sleigh to provide some elves to go door-to-door collecting donations for York Mind. We were lucky that the temperature was a balmy 11 degrees this evening - much better than previous years' rain and very cold temperatures. The sleigh made its way through the streets of Woodthorpe, stopping regularly so that Santa (aka GG-er James) could have a chat and give out sweets to some of the local children. Lots of people had their cash ready for us and one chap gave us a small bag full of coins that he had collected. A lack of cash was not a barrier as, for the first time, one of our elves (Nick) had the York Mind card reader app on his phone so he could take card payments without people needing to go to the card reader with the sleigh. It was great fun to shout "Nick" and see him come running! We had a pleasant 2½ hours of collecting before returning to our start point, tired but feeling more in the Christmas spirit. We will find out later exactly how much we have collected - can we beat last year's total?

Supporting a more sustainable version of Christmas shopping, four GoodGymmers headed to the monthly Acomb clothes swap (three of us (relatively) fresh-faced, one slightly less so). We were quickly put to work putting out the clothes that people brought for others to browse and choose from. Highlights were the Christmas sparkly rail and the new addition of both a bra and a wool drop (for any unneeded bras and wool respectively). With plenty to do, the time flow and it was time to say farewell until next month.

Thanks everyone!