Tonight we ran around 5km to help out at a school in south Croydon

Tonight we headed down to Howard Primary school in south Croydon to do some work in their playgrounds. We split into three groups with one tidying up and weeding around the nature reserve – great care being taken not to fall in the pond in the dark! A second group weeded a patch near some planters to keep it tidy for the children and the third group dug 6-12 inches out of a planter to new soil could be put in which would be more suitable for seedlings. We were all amazed at the facilities of the school and all the different themed play areas – a few of us wishing we could go back to school there. We did sneak a turn on some of the equipment which was a far cry from the basic seesaw and slides we had all these years ago!.

One of the playgrounds was set out like a track and field arena so rather than the session I‘d already planned we had an impromptu circuit session with press-ups, track running, hop-scotch and suicide sprints – a great mix of strength, speed and coordination.

We left Dom, who found the task for us, to tidy up as we headed back to Solutions to cool-down and also chat about the DBS process and how to become involved in Missions and Coach runs. Thanks goes to Ian for coming up with the punny title – saved my rather tired brain tonight.

Next week we are heading to Waddon Youth Centre to help control the thorny bushes and fast-growing ivy so don’t forget to sign up and come along for some running and fun.