Katie and I headed to Mrs S’s house on a cold Monday evening for a last minute mission. None of us were particularly well prepared, but I somehow had my head torch in my bag, Katie had a spare pair of gloves for me and Mrs S improvised with some kitchen scissors due to a lack of shears.

Mrs S’s garden had become very overgrown during the summer, with a mixture of thorny plants and some huge jungly weeds. We got to work pulling those up while Mrs S sought out the scissors and then I cut down the brambles and overgrown roses and Katie used an excellent stamping technique to get them into the bags.

Once the overgrown plants were gone, we got to work sweeping leaves and soil off the paving slabs. This wasn’t without its mishaps, as I attacked Katie with the broom at least twice - this is why your run leaders give you a talk on the safe handling of tools!

After about an hour we said goodbye to Mrs S, who was amazed how quickly her garden had been transformed. It’s a shame it’s getting colder now, but at least she can enjoy looking out at it!