In our largest turn out of the year so far 30 runners helped on a triple challenge at the Children's Scrapstore in St Werburghs.

The Children's Scrapstore is an Aladdin's cave of things that can be used by children for creative play. The items are donated by local businesses and then the wonderful team at the Scrapstore sort and make them safe for children to play with. They had plenty for us to do this evening so it was great that we had so many runners. Including 5 new faces, welcome Lucy, Kirsty, Simon, Nik and Ellie!

After splitting into two groups for the run to St Werburghs, the meandering pacey group and the easy strollers . We timed it to perfection and met at the lights just up the road so we all arrived at the task together. Kelly from the Scrapstore welcomed us in and explained our three challenges.

• 1 - Distribute leaflets around the local area
• 2 - Move furniture from a hallway into the back office
• 3 - Process loads of items ready to be used
  

Alice led the 7 leafleteers into the streets to spread the word about the fun the could be had at a Scrapstore birthday party. While Woodwose Matt directed the 10 furniture shifters and everyone else took a work station in the warehouse and sorted that scrap.

The furniture team had an added challenge in the fact that the staff are very fussy about how things are arranged on their shelves and would not be happy if everything did not go back in it's right place. Being the sharp focused they are they took photos and, once relocated, put everything back on the shelves in the right place (hopefully...). In the warehouse Fi and newbie Kirsty took on the totally tubular task of cutting pipe into lengths. As you can see from the photos they got a bit carried away and started pretending to be robots at some points, well who wouldn't!? Others cut thread from bobbins, sorted phones, took apart chairs and cut nets. It was busier than carnival at Clapham Junction during rush hour.

As the time ran out the tasks were all pretty much complete and we had achieved far more than anyone had expected. We took a group photo (minus some of the leafleteers who were stuck outside because the door was locked, sorry!), split into two groups again and headed back to Queen Square. On our return the first group completed some drills of lunges, skips and grapevines before we all assembled at the end for a stretch. After a news update and Dave's genius pun suggestion we said goodbye to some while others came for out monthly eats, which was a lovely curry at Tikka Flame organised by the wonderful Paul.

Thanks to those who came along tonight, I hope you had a great time. We really showed how much a group of eager runners can do in such a short space of time. Good luck to all you Larmer Tree runners this weekend.

Scrappy Running,

Gary

A flipping marvelous 24 runners came along on pancake day to help Incredible Edible clear beds in a Jackie's Garden in Stokes Croft.

There was a chilly wind in the air but that did not deter our brave runners in red from taking to the streets to get fit and do good. After our usual intros and headcount we ran the short mile trip to the Bearpit to meet Hannah from Incredible Edible. She welcomed us with her now customary surprise at our group size and glee at the potential of work we could do. Hannah gave us an intro to what Incredible Edible do, telling us how they use unwanted patches of land all around the city and turn then into productive and educational veg and fruit patches where people can learn to grow and also harvest the plants when they are ready, which everybody is free to do.

We were then given tools from the container of gardening wonders. There were forks, spades, wheelbarrows, and loads more. Everyone chose their weapon of choice, with Alex happily being our resident bag lady, and then walked the short distance to the garden. This garden is special because it was mainly the work of one lady who poured her heart and soul into creating it and making sure it was kept in good condition. Her name was Jackie and she sadly passed away in December. It was our pleasure to help maintain the garden and her legacy.

On our previous visit to Jackie's Garden we cleared loads of leaves and carefully dug out weeds. This time it was a full on tear it up assault on the flowerbeds to clear them for planting in the spring. Everyone picked a spot and dug, chopped and cleared. One team, including Dave, Richard and new recruit Florence, took on the task of bagging up leaves and carrying them back to a compost heap at the Bearpit, while Ian and Vito decided they were going to take out a seemingly small harmless stump (more on that later).

As time passed the pile of leaves disappeared, bushes were torn from the ground in what resembled a miniture version of the orks tearing down the Forest of Fangorn (one for you LOTR fans out there), and the stump was turning out to be more than a match for our shovels and small pruning knife. In fact it left us more stumped than a cricketer who has just stumbled out of his crease while bamboozled by a physics conundrum as the wicket keeper swipes his bails off.

Time eventually got the better of us but we certainly had the better of the garden. Loads of ground was cleared and even though the stump remains we achieved loads. The team loaded up the final barrows of bush and we headed back to the Bearpit to down tools and run through a few drills to keep fit and warm.

It was a short trip back to base where we stretched out, talked about pancakes and of future greatness at Bristol Children's Playhouse on Saturday and The Scrapstore next Tuesday.

Thanks for all your effort tonight guys,it all panned out beautifully. We totally battered that garden and shroved those bushes who's boss. Catch you on the flip side.

Gary