It was a most lovely summers evening and lots of new runners plus some regulars too were all gathered at Papa's Park. We were ready to do some running and also to help out our community at the same time.

We celebrated Sylvie's 50th good deed with party poppers and then headed off for a warm up. We did a nice 'getting to know you' round where people had a good chat and made new friends. Then we were off down Brixton Road to the lovely Kennington park. Our last visit to the park helped them regain their Green Flag status so we all felt happy and a bit smug about that. There's never time off in this park though, oh no!

The bindweed needed some serious un-binding, the roses needed dead heading - luckily our petal-identifier in Chief Lucy was there to point out what was a leaf and what was a petal and what was alive and what was dead and therefore needed heading.

This is a petal! Said Lucy very helpfully

Rebecca and Kiro took to giving the shrubbery a haircut and we can all thank Kiro's mum for giving him a lesson in not leaving the cuttings on top as they go all brown and look ugly.

A crack team of litter pickers filled many bags with all kinds of wonder, including some bubble blowers, a party horn and a driver's license next to a particularly large and empty bottle of vodka.

It's a much more sophisticated drinker in the park these days, mused Steve as he collected thrown away craft beer cans

Some others watered the trees that were in need of a big drink. It was all a big effort and we got lots done.

With that we headed over to a leafy area and did some walk out planks before heading back to base for some stretches. Thanks Lambeth!

We had a turn out of 27 last night, which was very impressive given England were busy playing football in the World Cup. The whole night was set to the OOOHs and AHHHHHs of pub gardens, shops, houses and restaurants, all glued to the screens.

Not us though. Brixton Windmill gardens are soon to receive a mystery shopper to judge them on their Green Flag status. One group took a nice short, quiet route to the Windmill, whilst John H led a group on a longer run around Brockwell park. On arrival, there were lots of jobs to do. We needed to use the hoes to neaten up all of the edging on the paths. We also had to pull out weeds from the edges of the playground too. George C went off to water the plants and some people did some handy litter picking. After 40 minutes of hard work, it was all looking so much better. Good luck Brixton Windmill, we hope you get your award!

London borough visitor Chi ran a short but horrific abs session involving 3 minutes of pain and discomfort. My abs will thank him in the end. Then Jess ran a much calmer yoga session. Once we were all stretched out we ran slowly back to base down an unusually quiet Brixton hill. After some stretches we got back home in time for penalties, which is really the only good bit of football. Hooray!