Sanctus are a local charity based on Broomfield Road that provide a variety of valuable services and support to homeless and vulnerable people in Chelmsford. Hopefully, with a bit of our hard work, their allotment will grow some fresh seasonal produce to make nutritional meals which they provide for free to their service users in their café.

Our meeting point was at the car park at the end of Arun Close. Before all of us had even arrived the early birds Myself, Russell D, Laurie and Toby were tasked with helping a local dog walker to find her lost keys. We all got busy having a look around and after a few minutes Russell D found them dropped behind a car. One good deed down we waited for the other GoodGym runners to arrive before making our way down to the allotment plot.

Caroline came well prepared with her own gloves, fork and most importantly… Wellies!! I think it’s fair to say no one quite expected the overgrown jungle that awaited us and those wellies came in handy to stop the barrage of the stinging nettles. Oh how I wish I had some. There was a bit of trepidation as to where to even make a start, but forks in hand we spread out and began digging, trying to remove as many weeds as we could along the way.

Anna who joined us on her first Chelmsford task arrived a little bit later than the rest of us, but showed her horticultural knowledge which will prove more than useful over the next few months and along with Lucy, Toby and Sarah managed to dig up quite a few potatoes and a lone parsnip.

The hour flew by, sure the site still needs a lot of work but we made a great start and already have made a massive difference to the plot.

We took the scenic route out of the allotment to say hello to the local chickens before saying our goodbyes and heading off back to our respective homes. Thanks for coming along everyone, we will be back soon to continue what we started.