It was a real pleasure to complete my first ever volunteering stint at Lewes parkrun. The morning arrived foggy and cool, with the sun making a few brave attempts to break through the mist — but never quite managing it.

I joined the volunteer team at 8:30am, ready for the 9am start, and was genuinely astonished by how many people turn out to support this event. My previous volunteering has mostly been in North London, so it was lovely to see such a strong, enthusiastic team here in Sussex.

I ended up chatting with Richard, a keen runner all his life who now volunteers regularly to give something back to the parkrun community. We were paired up as marshals, stationed to guide runners around the cones — a surprisingly hard job, but someone’s got to do it! We took our role seriously, encouraged the runners, and enjoyed being part of a wonderfully friendly and committed group.

A great start to helping out at Lewes — and hopefully the first of many.

Second Mission of the Day – Supporting an Elderly Couple in Totteridge

After our morning in Colindale, George and I headed to our second mission, helping an elderly couple who had been feeling overwhelmed by the effort of clearing their home and garden shed.

We’ve visited a few times before, and this session was all about finishing touches. We met Mr J, who showed us through to the garden, where we repacked the shed, sorted through items no longer needed, and moved everything to the front garden ready for collection. We also swept the front steps clear of leaves and gave the space a much-needed tidy.

Before leaving, Mr J mentioned that his back gate wasn’t closing properly, so I took the screws out, reset the bolts, and got it working again. With everything sorted and the sun beginning to set, we wrapped up for the day another satisfying mission completed.

Cultivating Colindale – Community Mission Report

George and I teamed up with four keen asylum seekers from the Colindale Hotel for a morning at the Cultivate Colindale garden project. Anna welcomed us and showed us the impressive progress they’ve made transforming a once-derelict patch of land into a thriving community space.

Our jobs were to plant bulbs, sow wildflower meadow seeds and pull up some old dried weeds. The asylum seekers threw themselves into the work with real enthusiasm, making a big difference in a short time and helping the project take another step forward.

After wrapping up, George and I headed off separately—me by bike, George by public transport—for our second community mission of the day in Totteridge, supporting an elderly couple at home.

A great morning of teamwork and community spirit.

As usual, we gathered at the Phoenix Cinema our GoodGym HQ and kicked things off with a chat about our favourite childhood TV shows. Classics like Blue Peter and Teletubbies got a mention, though one of us admitted to not having a TV at all .. probably the healthiest choice in hindsight!

Tonight’s mission was to visit the Tiny Forest ,always a magnet for litter , and to try our hand at that noble GoodGym art form: plogging (litter-picking while jogging). With the forecast looking grim and darkness closing in, we decided to make it more of an athletic adventure than a scientific one.

Plogging is a fine art part exercise, part medieval jousting (minus the horse, of course. The trick is to stay moving while accurately spearing bits of rubbish at speed, then deftly flicking them into your bag. Add wet leaves, gusty wind and headlamps, and you’ve got yourself a proper GoodGym challenge.

After a lively 3 km run to the Tiny Forest, we introduced Beattie and Lucy to the three new forest plots nearby part of an ongoing citizen-science experiment testing how different soil preparations affect young tree growth. Do go along and have a look; it’s fascinating to see the differences emerging.

A final round of litter-picking and some bonus plogging on the way back brought us full circle to the Phoenix, where we enjoyed a well-earned breather and some light refreshments.

Who knows with a bit more practice, perhaps GoodGym Barnet could enter the World Plogging Championships!