Despite the cold weather and pseudoscientific babble in the press about "Blue Monday" thirty three of us seemed to be in rather high spirits as we all gathered at Highbury Pool for a choice of two tasks for the evening: Membrane laying at Girdlestone Gardening Club and clearing a garden at Whittington Park Community Association.

We extended a warm (as warm as we could manage in freezing conditions) to first timers Emma, Lawrence, Joe and Olivia who had a great first outing with us. I suspect if this lot made it out on the coldest night of the year they'll be back again! Well done, guys.

We split into two main parties for the evening. Steve and Patrick were in charge of a gang heading up to Girdlestone and Simon and Caroline took care of a crew destined for Whittington Park.

Steve explains what the Girdlestone Gang got up to:

10 of us, a tiny bundle of enthusiasm and lycra ran the entire length of the Holloway Road to help Jan at the Girdlestone Gardening Club lay a membrane on the paths of their garden in anticipation of the wood chippings to be delivered the following day. It was cold, God it was cold but after a brisk pace being set by Patrick we almost warmed up, but not quite! As I said it was cold. The task was completed with astonishing speed and efficiency and we left a very happy Jan to think about the delivery of the woodchip.

As for the debate, are there ghosts, this did not entertain us long. A resounding no amongst the people I consulted, but a more satisfying discussion ensued between myself, John and Aussie newcomer Alex about diferences and attitudes towards race between England and Australia and how cold it was! A perfect Monday evening really which was almost spoilt by Simon's insistence that the steps leading to the Emirates stadium should be sprinted up five times! But no, on balance, a perfect Monday evening.

Steve

Simon describes what occurred with the Whittington Wanderers

The rest of us headed up to Whittington Park Community Association in two groups - one led by Simon and the other by Caroline - to attend to an overgrown garden at the back of their One O'Clock Club, a centre for a toddler's group located within the grounds.

We kitted ourselves out with a variety of gardening, running, washing up and latex gloves and set about pulling up weeds and tugging out dead plantlife while munching biscuits and discussing spirits. Three of our lot believed in phantomy things, with Will not being sure and first timer Lawrence providing the best line of the evening: "I don't believe in ghosts, but I support them".

20 minutes later we had two large bundles of garden waste and the area looked far more suitable for a bunch of littl'uns to toddle around in.

We headed back in three pace groups, led by Caroline, Aidan and Simon. Simon's group bumped into the Girdlestone lot, who had a ghost in tow: Ryan had joined them en route. We were in danger of being back to the pool on time so we diverted via Emirates and ran up and down the stairs a few times, before continuing on to blast our way up a couple of hills. A top workout.

Some of even went home warm.

Simon