Gwyn was king of the (bouncy) castle at St Philip's Church jubilee garden party! Tracey helped too, assisting the bos; we met lots of new people, and did a stirling job of keeping the invaders under control. We gave out red, white and blue balloons to all the children. Some of them came a lot of times!

The event was in celebration of the Queen's platinum jubilee, which leeds me to the interesting fact that the windsors themselves have visited the church!

Our next community mission will be to Elvaston. See you there!

Gwyn and Tracey did a bit of tidying in the flower bed at St Philip's Church in Chaddesden. We were given a very warm welcome to the task by Anne.

We embraced our inner Charlie Dimmock, and (d)rew on our knowledge from the Every Flower Counts survey, stemming from the No Mow May task, without even breaking a sweat, to identify some common species of wild flowers that had crept in to the bed, warding them off into a huge bag destined for compost.

Once spruced up, the entrance of the church was fit for a Queen. Did you know that Elizabeth II actually visited St Philip's Church in the 1950s? We're hoping she'll come back again and see us on Saturday.

The pigeons and weeds out in the street seemed determined to undo our hard work from previous community missions, so we needed to be one step up and show them who was the Boss at St Philip's.

Naomi, Gwyn and Tracey were reunited once more after meeting across the river only yesterday, with high hopes of working on a dream and bringing a little human touch to sprucing up the church's main entrance.

Gwyn was a jack of all trades, clearing up bird waste, loosening weeds with a ramrod-like fork, and being general sweeper-up. Naomi (she's the one with the elbow-power) focused on the weeds that were growin' up in the flower bed and along the edge of the car park, weaving her way skillfully around the used cars. Tracey swapped between tasks (one minute you're here, the next you're over there), doing a bit of raking and some weed picking (the dandelions were tougher than the rest).

Afterwards, with a hungry heart (well, hungry tummies) Gwyn and Tracey tucked into a jacket potato and salad at the community cafe and had a chat with Reverend Sarah, who passed on her thanks for our hard work, and her hopes for glory days to come for the venue;

There's a secret garden around the back of the church, and I have reason to believe we'll get involved there in a future community mission (or two). Watch this space for details. Maybe we could combine it with an exercise session, after all, we were born to run.

Tracey, Pete and Gwyn went on a community mission to help get St Philip's church, Chaddesden, ready to be opened as a community cafe and meeting centre. The church ladies were very helpful and we had a great welcome and hot drinks. The pigeons were less helpful, having covered the path with guano, so our first job was cleaning this up. Also unhelpful were the trees, who'd used Storm Arwen as an excuse to drop leaves everywhere, so there was another job. When it rained, we were invited inside and found some cleaning jobs there, after the spiders had been busy rascals in every nook! We filed five bags with garden rubbish, and had a great time chatting to each other and to the church ladies. Pete took on the hard job of planting a little border by the entrance, and cutting away brambles. The cafe will be a good place to visit when it opens at the end of the week.

It was lovely to return to St Philip's Church in Chaddesden. They have been really busy since our last session there, and it was great to see that the area that Ashley and I had weeded has now been covered in gravel to keep the weeds down.

The First Half (Outside) Today's original task was to continue with the gardening work, and weed a flower bed parallel to the pedestrian pathway into the church. I managed to get about halfway down this, despite a bitterly cold wind, when I was invited in for a warming cup of tea.

The Second Half (Inside) Whilst chatting over tea, the church representatives decided that there was a more pressing need than the gardening, and they were happy for me to leaf the bed half-weeded, and to help with an indoor task instead. Their electrical equipment is due for PAT testing on Tuesday, so I helped gather up toasters, kettles, extension leads and fairy lights from various parts of the building and stack them on some tables for ready access when the electrician arrives. I also fitted in a quick whizz of the hoover around a newly decorated room, ready for the floor to be skimmed prior to the arrival of a new carpet.

Everyone at the church was really appreciative of me helping out, and we're all looking forward to the opening event of the community cafe. There may be some last-minute help needed in preparation for this - watch this space for opportunities!

The Future...

Amazing things are on the cards for St Philip's Church in Chaddesden - rather than this beautiful building being maintained for just a select few, attending for only a couple of hours every week, their vision is to open it up to the whole community. Already welcoming people for a weekly craft session, plans are also in place to set up a community cafe, and activities supporting people with learning disabilities and mental health issues.

The Present...

The grounds of the church are in need of a little TLC, and today Ashley and Tracey met to tackle the first step of this process - weeding the wide border next to the main entrance. Despite the drizzle, it was an absorbing task and the time flew by (lubricated by a cuppa or two). As we were working, several people passed by on their way into the church for the morning services, and everyone was impressed with the difference we were making.

After the weeding, Ashley suggested finishing off with a litter picking session, and we pottered around the perimeter collecting cans, bottles, wrappers and a paint brush!

The church representatives were truly delighted with our contribution, and would be very glad to welcome us back again.

The Past...

A couple of interesting historic facts about the church:

It was built in an industrial style in celebration of the industry of the Peak District; this is also reflected in the names of the surrounding streets.

The bell in the church tower originally came from one of the villages that was flooded to become Ladybower reservoir.