Today 10 of us met at Solutions and ran 2.3km to Park Hill to assist friends of Park Hill.

Back again for seconds was Charlotte, it was nice to see that we didn't scare her off and her outing with us last week was such a memorable one that she just had to return for an encore. Nice to know GoodGym is more infectious than the Corona virus and once someone has been to a group run they are hooked and not seeking a cure.

When we arrived at Park Hill we were met by Catherine who had some tools and instructions of what she wanted us to do, Josi was unable to be there today because she was ill, so while some of the group went back to the ranger's station with Catherine to get the rest of the tools the others stayed and get started on trimming back the ivy bush. While we were working Nicola joined us, she was still a bit sore from her weekend adventure at the grizzly run.

When the others and Catherine with the rest of the tools they all chipped in trimming the ivy and bagging up the cuttings in the bags provided by Catherine. After bagging up all the cutting we had two large bags which had to be taken back up to the rangers station to be dumped however the bags were too full to be carried by 2 persons but just right for four. We had two sets of fours, the ladies and the gents they all grabbed a side of their respective bags and set off on a race to the rangers station. The ladies took the lead and didn't look back as they were determined to beat the gents, under the leadership of Dovile they stretched their lead and took little rest when they got the opportunity to but as soon as the gents tried to close the gap they would speed up a gain ensuring they maintained breathing space between them. At the final climb up the hill the gents managed to get within touching distance but the ladies were determined not to be beaten and they did triumphed.

Next week we are running to The Peppermint Children's Centre to help with their outdoor space sign up here

Tonight we welcomed Charlotte and Dennis to their first group run we hope you had a good time with us and we'll see you again soon. We also welcomed back Alicia who has been a member since 2017 and took sometime out, welcome Alicia its good to have you back again.

Tonight we ran 7km to the allotments in Thornton Heath to finish off spreading the wood chips along the path. With thanks to Andy who delivered a truck load of wood chips over the weekend. He was kind enough to send us a picture of the mountain of wood chips he had delivered. Although we had seen the picture until we got there tonight we didn't expect it to be that much. However that did not scare us because we knew we were up to the challenge. It was also a good opportunity to show Charlotte and Dennis what we can achieve in 45 mins. It was also great to see them getting stuck in. We didn't get to spread all the wood chip but we sure did make massive inroad into the mountain that had disappeared and leaving only a little more for the next set of volunteers going along tomorrow to complete.

Pam was suitably impressed with what we had done and told me to make sure I mentioned how hard the group had worked and how grateful she was for what we had done.

Well done to the fantastic eight, Ian, Jenny, Andy, Magdalena, Dovile, Peter, Sarah and Martin on completing The Vitality Big Half on Sunday. Lets not forget Hannah and Nicola who went along to cheer them, great work team.

Do join us next week as we return to Park Hill to check on the bulbs we planted last year to check on their progress, sign up here.