Wednesday 20th March 2019
Report written by Ant Withstandley
Today is the spring equinox. Technically, this means the centre of the sun is in line with the equator but as far as I am concerned it simply means spring is here. Okay, there is no sudden and dramatic change in weather or anything but I ran to Walthamstow today along a canal in daylight. What is more, the clocks change soon and GoodGym will be tasking in the daylight. I can't wait, it's been a long dark winter and although I have loved the tasks and the runs, I have missed the extra scope we get in the daylight to do stuff like drills and time trials in the lovely Lloyd Park.
But, let's not get ahead of ourselves there is still a few weeks of after dark volunteering to do. There was tonight's task at St Mary's (more on that in a mo.) and next week we have a very special assignment; GoodGym is teaming up with the World Wildlife Fund to mark Earth Hour. We will be doing a related task at the lovely Willow Brook Primary School. In view of the fact that today's children may be living in a dramatically changed planet due to human activity, it seems appropriate that we are doing an Earth Hour task at a primary school. You can read more and sign up here If you are a Twitterer then use #VoiceForThePlanet
Right then, on with tonight's labours. We were at St Mary's Churchyard today. The church has recently established a lovely little pond in the yard, I think I saw Raymond sizing it up for carp potential! This lovely water feature meant a mound of earth has been displaced and needed relocating so this is where the hardworking GoodGymWF crew came in. Our task was to move the earth to another part of heaven, or a small corner of heaven with this being a churchyard and all that - hence my pun!
With the recent wet weather the earth, let's call it mud from now on, was heavier than lead. Kudos to the crew who worked like navvies shifting the lumpy loam from the pondside mound to a newly prepared flowerbed nearby.
After packing away our tools we went on a short run before hitting some slow - medium - fast reps of part of the churchyard 3x3 and some great running form on show by all
Great work everyone
☮️
The churchyard contains numerous interesting graves and four listed tombs, and is divided into four railed and enclosed areas with public access to only two; it is bisected by paths which are in frequent public use. There are some 1300 visible monuments in and around the church, and it is thought that over 26,000 burials took place here. The first church of St Mary Walthamstow was founded in the early-12th century on the site of an older church. The current building is largely 16th-century with later alterations. The timber-framed Ancient House near the church probably stands on the site of the original Manor of Walthamstow.
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