We ran around 6km to water some thirsty plants and start attacking the ivy!

Another hot and sunny evening greeted us as we gathered to head off to St Augustine’s Church in south Croydon. Before we left we welcomed Conroy who will be the new Croydon Trainer from August onwards. Also with us tonight returning after a long absence was Michelle, Paul who has moved jobs to Croydon and will be coming to us from Bromley and then a super-tourist Chi who is close to running all the London GoodGyms!

Ingrid led the group to the Fairfield Halls where Conroy took his first GoodGym warm-up before we all headed to St Augustine’s for our task. There we met Sue and Bill who explained a little bit about what they were aiming to do in the grounds and gardens then gave us our instructions. Lots of watering some very thirsty plants and also pulling the ivy from the top of a large compost heap. We were going to try some digging but the ground was just too hard even for GoodGym muscle! The grounds are beside a nursery and we filled two large blue Ikea bags with toys the little angels had obviously been throwing over the wall – some future shot putt champions there I think.

Task over we headed into Sue’s for some chilled drinks, melon, freshly picked brambles and bread and hummus – a lovely feast, thanks Sue. Conroy then led the group back towards Solutions with a quick stop for an abs session led by Chi then back for our cool-down and chat about next week’s run and task.

South Norwood Parkrun are also looking for as many GoodGym volunteers as possible on Saturday 11th of August to help Julie, the Run Director, and Andy, her husband of 1 day, and the core team celebrate their wedding and 200th and 250th parkruns that morning. So if you can please sign up to their volunteer roster and help Julie and Andy celebrate in style.

Finally…. Next week, my last week as Trainer (sad face!) and we will be off to Park Hill Rec for some mural painting and gardening then down to Matthews Yard for the end of the month social. See you all there.