Twelve Goodgymers met at LeisureWorld for an evening of litter picking in response to the Great British September Clean; a national campaign which, during this critical year, replaces the usual spring clean. Well done to those who were close enough to walk or run to the task and welcome back to our newest members.

We clothed ourselves fit for action in high-vis vests, head torches, a warm layer and sturdy gloves. Tav used a black sack to model this season's Goodgym must-haves: a skirt a la Alexander McQueen and a leg garter a la...well...a la Tav! We distributed pickers and set off through the car park, picking as we went, then along the River Colne and accompanying paths. Goodgym is keen to help with the local RiverCare group in keeping this stretch of the river and its banks free of litter and pollutants, for people, wildlife and beauty.

As the dark cloaked us, we switched on torches and became shining figures of luminosity - not so much litter warriors as litter angels! Our finds were mainly dropped food packaging and members reported less discarded masks, which is heartening. In addition, Rachel dug out a long plastic tube and Ben excavated a party's worth of abandoned bottles and cans. Bob found a fancy hair clip which he'll recycle for his daughters and Emma and Tav had an intriguing chat about whether a half full bottle of raspberry alcopop contained enough alcohol to be considered sanitised for consumption! Overall, we were surprised at the reduction of litter compared to our previous scan of the same stretch. We speculated the reasons - end of summer, previous litter sweeps etc - but we hoped it was a result of people's increased regard for their living space, for others and for the environment.

A final mention must go to Rachel's find of a stunning spider and web, suspended between vegetation on the river bank. This sparked some spider ponderings and some inept night time photography from Vanessa. Autumn is a great season to spot arachnids as it's their mating time and soon the hedgerows will be strung with pretty webs, glistening in the early dew - glorious! My research indicates our task spider was of the Orb variety (likely the Common Orb Weaver Spider), on account of the web pattern.

Finally, we gathered to deposit our sacks and remind Goodgymers of our next litter pick this Sunday, 20th September at Bluebottle Grove. Well done everyone for venturing out for our first truly dark task of the quarter. Perhaps we'll attack the car parks, skate parks and residential paths next time - ah the irony of rubbish scattered in sight of council bins!

Thank you and see you soon.