It was the wettest group in Lewisham since the time we visited GRACE and ran back in a thunderstorm, I’d checked throughout the day and a lot of people had signed up for the celebratory evening but then I stood in Glassmill wondering if it would just be me running to Beecroft.

I should have had more faith, of course people began to arrive and not just from Lewisham, but from Sheffield and Stockport (lovely to have some more fellow Northerners visit) and everyone braving the rain to do good!!

After a quick run through of the news from the past week: GoodGym Croydon Parkrun takeover at Bethlem Parkrun, Community Missions and Bradley winning a 10 mile race, it was time to head out into the rain and warm up. I was so excited about having enough people to use tennis balls in the warm up that my description of the warm up was so confusing but after some rearranging of people and re-explaining what on Earth we were doing, we got there and warmed up we set off on the uphill (slight incline if you’re from Sheffield) and arrived at Beecroft before we knew it and slightly more soggier than when we left Glassmill.

Before we could get stuck into the amazing cakes that a parent at the school had made for us (thank you so much!!), a couple of tasks needed completing:

• moving bags of sand to the front of the playground to an area that is going to be made into a Peace Garden
• creating a water maze using pipes that will be attached to the side of the shed (photo's included for those who don't know what one of them is - I didn't at first!)
• hanging bells in order, in the Sensory Garden area so the children can learn to play some songs (mainly Christmas Carols)

*Garden forks earn popping corks! *

Once the tasks had been completed it was time to celebrate all the hard work that has been done since July 2018. Whilst we tucked into cupcakes and Prosecco, we watched a presentation that showed the transformation of the area and the various stages and all the people involved - there were a couple of speeches as well.

Everything tidied away and we began our run back to Glassmill, I switched up the route on the way bag to run past Hilly Fields but at the last moment decided against hill repeats as everyone was pretty drenched by now and time wasn’t on our side. Instead we continued back to Glassmill with a sprint finish for those who wanted to and inside to the warmth to kind of dry off a bit and stretch (thanks Amber!).

Thanks to Oli for backmarking and providing the excellent puns!

A big thank you to everyone for their efforts with various tasks (digging, wheelbarrowing, painting, more wheelbarrowing, shovelling and missing out on the heavy duty tools!!) over the past 18 months, it’s amazing to see what we’ve helped achieve, from groups runs to missions that have taken place at Beecroft. A huge thank you to Gemma for all her efforts in getting the project off the ground and being there on Monday evenings organising and encouraging us in all weathers!

Next week, we are off to Crofton Books which is a lovely indoor task!