->Summer Loving

This evening we swopped our normal meeting point at Splashpoint LC to our alternative one at Worthing LC so that we were nearer to our task at May Close community allotment in Goring where were back to assist our friends at Breathing spaces who support local community green spaces.

It was great to welcome first timer Jay who was quickly introduced to this evenings group, Paul, Belinda, Barbara, Anne, Duncan, Gill . Lucy ( lovely surprise!) and a little later Michelle too. I had already received apologies from Roxy and Ros who were working and also from Sue enjoying a well earned holiday.

We set off on the mile warm up run to our task. The front group double backed to flank the middle and back introducing some early sprint work which seemed to set the tone for the evening.

We arrived to a great welcome from Lisa and Claire together with a surprise appearance from park ranger, Keith who had a truck load of wood chip loaded ready for some action.

With the exception of Belinda , Barbara and Michelle ,none of the group had visited this community allotment before so it was a delight to introduce them to this secret garden tucked away behind houses in a residential close. Definitely a great summer task . I cant imagine us being there in the winter .... or can we ?!

Barking mad

The group split into 3 with Paul , Lucy and Gill on shovelling the woodchip from the lorry into wheelbarrows , Jay , Duncan, Belinda and Anne on wheelbarrow shuttles and Barbara and Michelle levelling off the bark onto the flowerbed. The aim of this task is to stop the weeds and grass growing and was helped with a layer of cardboard underneath the woodchip for further prevention.

People tried wheelie wheelie hard

Jay set the pace this evening with some impressive wheelbarrow shuttle runs leaving Duncan doing his most competitive best to keep up :) :) Lucy was taunting him with a 'he's got a chip on his shoulder' plus a few others came out with with 'he's barking up the wrong tree' and 'his bark is worse than his bite' How endearing that puns are now an integral part of everybody's Monday evening brain waves !

In the meantime Belinda and Anne kept both the boys on their toes with less puns an more action with their quiet energy, happy vibes and efficiency.

With the supply and finishing end of the chain also working quickly all of this team work meant that the task was finished in double quick time.

Finished Butt Not Finished!

After a quick conflab Claire and Lisa quickly found another task for us which involved filling a huge water butt with 10 litre containers of the Sussex best water brew.

This was a great bit of strength work to carry and lift the water up and into the butt. Jay ,Paul and Duncan totally nailed this whilst Michelle, Belinda,Anne, Gill ,Lucy and Barbara got down to ground level for some impressive speedy weeding filling one of the wheelbarrows in a short 10 minutes.

I cant believe we achieved so much in such a short space of time. Double numbers again this week really did help and it was an absolute delight to see what we achieved.

Snap Happy

My favourite photo of the evening was our farewell one with our GG group , Lisa, Claire , Keith and a lovely couple called Ginny and Ian who were tending to their allotment and watching on with interest whilst we had been working . With a final wave goodbye with a promise to return we set off back for our run and fitness taster.

The home straight

The front group set off on an extended route home with Anne , Jay and Duncan powering on whilst the remaining bikes and runners set of back to base. We waved goodbye to some whilst a few remained for some fun , fitness and strength work in the form of press ups , squats and 3 rounds of burpees.

Social gathering alert !

It was so nice to welcome Jay to our group tonight and we hope you will join us again soon . We meet every Monday !!

A reminder that we are meeting at Splashpoint next week and also have our soclal evening at the Big Fat Greek Taverna on Wednesday 8th August from 7pm onwards . All welcome to eat or just pop down for a drink. Please sign up for this later today on the run page so that I can book a table. It will be listed as a party !

Have a great week

Julia x