We were in high spirits last night at our group run as it was the first time in months we met in bright evening sunlight. Couple that with the fact that we had some great racing last week (well done Florian and Steph!), the promise of a new task at Duke's meadow, and with lots of the group off to Paris for a weekend of marathons and croissants, everybody was in fine form!

We set off through the beautiful grounds of Chiswick House, and soon arrived to find Jo from Wild Chiswick waiting for us with all the tools we needed for the job. Duke's Meadow is run as a trust and over the years it has created fabulous play areas, planted hedgerows, wildflower meadows and an orchard to increase the bio diversity of the park. The trust is a social enterprise focused on sustainability and volunteers maintain the area.

Our job for the evening was to cut down the cherry tree suckers that have sprung up around the more mature cherry trees. This new growth saps energy away from more essential components, particularly fruit-bearing branches or foliage, and spread outwards rather than upwards thereby taking up space for other plants. Without wasting any time we snipped away and cleared the branches for collection, happily working away under a falling blanket of blossom and sky bursting with sunset colours.

In just a short amount of time the difference was clear, so we packed up our tools and made our way back across the field. Great work everybody. By the way, if you notice a notable improvement in the quality of some of the photos this week, you can thank Michelle and Lucy for an upgrade on my efforts with some lovely snaps! Next week we're at Cavendish school to do some more work on the nature area. Looking forward to seeing you then.

Happy running Paris racers!