It was a perfect night: a warm, windless evening; a great new task location nestled within Richmond Park itself; FOUR new Richmond runners (welcome** Yasmin, **Sophie, Katie and Kate) and the return of Andy, STOP THE PRESS - we have a male runner at Richmond...YAY! Anyway, Andy is from Hounslow GG on a quest to beat his friend to 50 good deeds (39 and counting…). But it was special mainly because of Holly Lodge: a fantastic charity providing educational opportunities for children, many with learning disabilities, giving them a unique and inspiring interaction with a little corner of countryside right in the heart of London. We were all buzzing from meeting a new task host with oodles of passion for what she does and really in awe of the facility itself. Having dropped leaflets for this charity in the past, it was so good to now see what they do.

We were there to paint a classroom floor. After a quick run up Richmond Hill (just once this week, how good you are to us, Mark…), it was a short run through the park (unless you were running with the back marker who got lost – sorry again, Kate!), past quiet scenes of deer antlers peeping out of the long grass and a clear view to the Shard in the distance. Then, into the tucked-away idyll of Holly Lodge where, armed with paint rollers and some fetching blue plastic shoe covers, we made short work of the task having almost, but not quite, painted ourselves into a corner.

In fact, we were so efficient, we even had time for a quick tour of the nature trail set in two acres of land. Like all the best safaris, early evening creates the perfect environment for getting close to the animals, or in this case beasties, and we saw enough wildlife for Andy to suspect our host had an accomplice up ahead sending out the frogs, badgers and bugs on cue for our arrival.

A lovely fast run downhill on the way back was the best ending we could ask for. We’d love to come back, Holly Lodge, do have us again.