Rachel and Jen held a coat and boot collection at St Paul's School on Kingston Hill and picked up a full car load's worth. There were so many warm jackets and shoes and these will be passed on to children that really need them this year. Thank you to everyone that donated! The Kingston Town Children's Centre on Villier's Road, Kingston were really grateful.

Well, what a night to be playing on the adventure playground - errr, I mean tidying up the Children's Centre. A huge storm blew over Kingston minutes before meeting at the Quaker Centre, leaving us all fearful that our running clothes would be better off exchanged for wetsuits and swimsuits. Thankfully we held our nerve and didn't cancel and the weather was kind to us for our evening's activities. A few spots of rain but nothing of the downpours and thunderstorms that were promised by the Met Office. Phew!

A fantastic turnout this evening which meant we whizzed through the jobs list much to the surprise of the task owners who had to create some extra tasks to keep us busy. The ivy was cut back, dead plants and weeds were removed, leaves were bagged up, the bike cover was washed down and an old, rotten planter was dismantled and the soil was re-purposed. We all had a chance to chat to each other and welcome familiar faces back into the fold.

After our task was complete, Brenda and Sophie offered us fruit and juice which was a welcome surprise as all that gardening was thirsty work. So thirsty, in fact, that we said our farewells and headed to the Albion for our monthly social.

Great session and lovely to see so many of you out. Hope to see you next week if the weather holds out!