Waking up to a slightly cooler day at the tail end of this heatwave was a good start for this community mission, and on the same day as the momentous return of parkrun, our Goodgymers WhatsApp groups was a buzz with messages of running and volunteering at our local parkruns and an excitment to be up and running again (pun intended!) (and of course this CM was timed so people could do both!)

We did our first visit to Sanctuary Family Support in August 2019 with a spot of painting, planting and litter picking. Returing this weekend as 15 months of the building being locked down and all the staff and volunteers working from home has left the Yarden in a bit of a sorry state!

We set to cleaning up rubbish, clipping back some hardy overgrown plants, sweeping and scraping moss of the ground, and washing down the garden furniture. Today was all about cleaning up and making the space usable again, and we will be back in a few weeks to help plant some more new flowers and add a bit of glamour and sparkle.

Sanctuary Family Support are a local charity providing support to families of substance misusers, the substance misusers themselves and Kinship Carers. They offer one-to-one counselling as well as a progreamme or courses, workshops and community activities.

Sanctuary was founded by four parents in 1999, who realised then that there was a need for the service as there was no support services available to families in turmoil when they discover their son, daughter or other family member has a alcohol or drug problem, or both.

The Yarden is a perfect space for a little oasis and it's our pleasure to work the fabulous team at Sanctuary to help make that possible.