It was a delight, as always, to help out at the annual community dog show in Cator Park, raising money for environmental projects here and in nearby Alexandra Recreation Ground. Both green spaces receive regular TLC from the energetic Friends group, who also know how to put on an ace event for families and four-legged friends to enjoy. After five hours of good-natured doggy competition in the arena, fuelled by refreshments from volunteer stalls, the team worked hard to dismantle gazebos and store everything away... then home for a well-earned rest.

This apparently referred to a missing stall holder and not was in reference to any of the contestants at the Paws in The Park Family Dog Show!

I found out about this community mission just ten minutes before it was due to start, but I am highly motivated where dogs are involved! I quickly cycled over to Cator Park and met Mark from GG Crystal Palace (formerly known as GG Bromley)

Handily Mark is an expert at putting up gazebos, and is also tall - which are two qualities I do not posses! After a game of musical gazebos - involving legs going up, down, on the hill, shuffling sideways, up the hill, down the hill and eventually carrying a fully erected gazebo to a different location altogether, we had helped two grateful stall holders get set up for their day.

At this point Linda the task leader had arrived and Mark, having already been helping for a couple of hours, said his goodbyes before the dogs started arriving.

Anyone who knows me knows just how much I love dogs, having set up a side job as a pet sitter, so there was no way I was leaving when there were dogs to meet!

So after hovering about being useless for a while, I met Jill (or Gill?) from the Friends of Cator Park who quickly put me to work on the cake stall with the Very Important Job of making tea.

Well, it just so happens my second favourite thing after dogs… is tea! I’m northern, and I was delighted to see a tin of Yorkshire (the superior tea), so I got my apron on and got stuck in with making the first of about 700 brews….

The cakes sold like… well, hot cakes, causing Linda to exclaim “we are dangerously close to running out of cake!” - a line that no one wants to hear!

Fortunately, Jill/Gill was on hand to prepare gallons of coffee using just a camping stove and a cafetière, and I had my bike for an emergency milk run, so all was not lost.

We had a dog dressed as Trump (Make America Great Dane - Oli’s superior pun), some of the Best Sausage Catchers this side of the river, and just some of the Goodest Boys and Girls! We also had Ruby, who was not good because she leaped up and pinched a flapjack, causing her embarrassed owner to have to buy it 😂

I also talked to a few people about GoodGym, including a lady who said she joined GoodGym and felt a bit nervous so had never joined a session, but after meeting me & hearing my assurances of just how inclusive and friendly GoodGym is, she said she was going to come along now which is fantastic. ❤️

Friends, I have found my calling. And it is making tea at dog shows. I was so DELIGHTED by the whole thing. It was as good as the time I was volunteering at Surrey Docks Farm and they let me walk a ferret. This may have been one of my favourite GG tasks of all time! What a lovely day! 🐕

Armed with litter pickers and goodwill, a heroic gang of GoodGymers chose how to help clean up their own areas... Matthew in Wandsworth and Adi in Sydenham's Mayow Park, while Linda and Paul were both alongside the River Ravensbourne in Brookmill Park. Linda' trusted litter picker hoisted soggy, abandoned clothing out of the river and cleared bankside vegetation of plastic bottles that Paul hadn't been able to reach. Paul also pulled out a couple of clumps of the invasive Himalayan Balsam plant.

As always, it felt satisfying to pick a task that helps make the world a nicer place for both people and wildlife.

It was inspiring to visit Ms L’s council-owned eco-home, where cool energy saving features inside – including large double-glazed windows to reduce the need for heating and lighting – are complemented by solar panels outside and a pretty green garden. Proud of her flowering plants and mature shrubs, Ms L wanted some help with pruning taller branches from a step ladder. It was a quick job to neaten things up, and I left the trimmings for Ms L to chop into smaller pieces for composting.

On a sunny bank holiday Monday we began to gather at Glass Mill and work out who was doing which route.

We had one group head up Belmont Hill and tick off the trees lining those streets and then another group heading over to the streets surrounding Hilly Fields. And then myself and Julian were ticking off the ones around our start point.

We were met at Glass Mill by Eva from Street Trees for London who gave us some tips and advance for checking the trees health. We then set off to cover various parts of the borough.

Once Julian and I got to the last tree we felt refreshed from a slower paced group run task and also like we now knew what we thought happy soil looked like!

We regrouped at Glass Mill before heading our separate ways after an evening of goodness to round off the bank holiday.

Next week we're heading to Luxmore Gardens!

With temperatures due to reach extreme highs once again this week it was time to make sure the new hedgerow saplings in Ladywell Fields continue getting enough water to thrive. I joined a team of volunteers hauling buckets from the River Ravensbourne and carrying them along the hedgerow - a good workout by the time we'd doused all 300 young trees.