Another baltic December eve last night. With the footy at the Olympic Stadium, tens of thousands thronged into the arena. We had other plans, a new task to finish off a mightily successful year for GGN. With our membership almost doubling. October and November attendances at 185, compared to January and February's 102....that's a bit massive. And that's down to you guys, getting involved, grafting after work, bringing mates, spreading the word etc. Let's have more of this. 2018 promises a lot.

A quick warm up, with some bored young weasels next to us vying for attention, then an xmas themed random weekly question "favourite xmas song?" Pogues, Mariah Carey and George Michael to name but a few. 'Tis the season guys, so fill your boots on the cheese. We all followed Esther (who kindly sorted the task), down pitch black canal paths, to our destination. A hidden gem in Hackney. What a bit of magic, with vast wooden adventure structures for the kiddos, I was stunned by the size of it. Can imagine the upkeep of that place is full on, hence where we come in. Shifting x tons of mulch and large logs about 60 metres, to the other side of the playground. I reckon we've got two more tasks on this, as my before and after pictures look the same! That's not to say you'll didn't make a sizeable dent, more that all mulch piles look the same. Mulch of mulchness.

We headed back after some very appreciative words from Angela, then got stuck straight into a relay race, as you do. Two teams of six went head to head over a roughly 150m loop. Highlights were Kev and Esther going the wrong way, to make it a closer spectacle, no one would question your navigation, nooo. Their team still came on top, some excellent arm driving and powerful finishing - LOVE IT.

Grub and awards to finish. With what sounded like Kiss FM on full whack in the background and some well sozzled sorts enjoying their xmas shindig on tables next to us.Still a lovely way to finish the year, hope you've all got your awards framed by this evening.

We are all systems go on Jan 3rd, let's start the year with a punch, out in numbers, getting stuck in to help worthwhile tasks. Sign up here

Have a corking three weeks, see you next year peeps.

B