It was the first group run since the clocks changed and we were looking forward to a group run in daylight. And I was mostly looking forward to not taking dark blurry photos!

It was time for one of our regular group runs to The Albany but first we had to take a detour to see the teenage herons. It has been hit and miss recently on the amount of litter in the garden and with the grass getting longer it provided a good hiding place for the litter.

Not to be deterred and without Vic's extending litter picker, we still managed to half fill some gigantic bin bags. If they'd have been normal sized bin bags then I think we would have filled them.

It was time to say our goodbyes and head to The Brookmill for our social.

So much so that we're busy arranging a second group run to move another pile of mulch that is being delivered - keep your eyes peeled!

It was a shorter run to Ladywell Fields and then a bit more of a run to get to the mulch pile. The mulch needed to be 3 inches deep and 1m around the saplings. This is to make sure the ground retains as much water as possible to give the saplings the best chance of survival.

We split into groups, one group tackling the furthest away saplings with the wheelbarrows and the other group ferrying buckets of mulch to the nearer saplings.

We soon got into the groove and soon the pile of mulch was no more but the saplings well mulched.

After much discussion at Glass Mill about layers and waterproof jackets, and agreement that there was only a small chance of rain. We were wrong!!

Before we became aware of that, we happily made our way up to Deptford, and divided into groups. One group headed to the end of Creekside and the other started at the beginning of Creekside with the goal to meet back at the meeting point at 8pm.

Soon enough the rain started pouring but the flats gave us some shelter and I thoroughly enjoying being able to see red t-shirts running around the maze of flats and everyone trying to find eachother on different levels.

We'd started running out of flyers so headed back to the start point to wait for the others and then the downpour started!! And maybe a bit of hail throw in.

Rejoined by the other group and seeing the error of our ways in dividing the flyers way out of proportion, meant we still had a handful to deliver. We made sure these were done on our way back to Glass Mill whilst avoiding giant puddles that had formed in the last 45min.

Great work tonight team, especially in the rain and cold. Next week we're heading to RUSS to help in the garden so wrap up warm!!

We were due to be visiting Lewisham Unity this evening but unfortunately there is a fly tipping issue so that visit has been postponed till that is under control. Instead we had plan B - split into 3 groups and complete 3 different tasks.

Task 1

7 of us headed to TRAID to pack up the stock ready for the next season of stock, having the maximum number possible we were very efficient and had the task done in around 45min. This task usually takes us over an hour when there's only 3 or 4 of us so it goes to show what a difference extra pairs of hands make.

We had time for a quick group photo and then it was time for me to head to Glass Mill to meet the rest of the team.

Task 2

Making our start point look clean and tidy again! There was lots of litter around our start point and the team collected bags of litter and achieved the aim! No super obscure items except maybe a Lime Bike....

Task 3

Last but not least, Alison and Lindsay headed out armed with GG posters and a list of local supermarkets, with the aim of putting up the posters on the community notice boards. They managed to find 4 and I put one up on my walk to Glass Mill so thats 5 supermarkets with a GG poster up. Hopefully we see a couple of new faces!

Thank you for all your effort last night, we certainly made a difference!

After a quick warm up of practicing picking up the trees and then throwing them onto the giant piles, it was time to set off to find some abandoned Christmas trees.

My group branched out a little too far and ended up separated after the first road. After searching high and low for abandoned trees it was soon time to head to out meeting point to be reunited.

Only 5 days later than last year and oh so many less trees!! We still relocated 12 Christmas trees to recycling piles at Hilly Fields. These Christmas trees will be used to make woodchip for our local parks.

It was also an evening on celebrations, it's 9 years that we've been doing good in the borough!! Happy 9th Birthday!