A definition of nostalgia is a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning to return to some past period.

And I admit, looking into my own eyes in the shimmering pond at the Christchurch School Community Garden, my thoughts drifted upwards into the blue, and through the clouds, and they wafted, blown by the wind of nostalgia, to Wednesday evenings of the past… digging up dirt and moving it to the back of the garden… watering plants and shovelling dirt… digging a hole for a pond, and getting mucky with dirt… oh my, with all that dirt, my heart doth hurt…

But it shan’t, because tonight we were back. For the first time since the pandemic.

We, 15 of us, met in Greenwich’s Naval Colleges, which moved with a buzz of summer activity – there was sunshine, warmth, runners and walkers, and people just out and smiling, enjoying the vibe. We nattered until the bells cried out for 7pm, and our run leader (and twinny), Alex, started off with a welcome to Greenwich newcomers, Rawan and Tom (welcome both, hope you had a good evening!), and an important question - what’s your favourite cake? Well, us Greenwich bunch have a varied palate, and we surely encompass all possible variations of the proverbial tastebud. We had:

Chocolate Cake Birthday Cake (whose?) Apple Pie Millionaire’s Shortbread Colin the Caterpillar (I hear there’s also a Clyde, a Curly, Cecil, Morris, Cuthbert…) Cheesecake (with real cheese)

This chat got us itching to move in the direction of cake, but Alex skilfully herded us onto one of the ‘greens’ for a political warm up. Basically, like Parliament, we had to run around, and then – we U-turned, we climbed the ladder, we headed to the other side - and we had an awesome time doing so too; it was great to see so many of us laughing together.

All warmed up, cake out of our immediate thoughts, we headed to Christchurch School Community Garden. There, we were met by a familiar friendly face, Fiona, who’s one of the team that curates this awesome green space for the local community in East Greenwich.

After some moments moving around the community garden’s multiple vegetable plots and heady flowers, we were given our task. The hedging, in all this sunshine, had grown through the railings and was overhanging the adjacent footpath. So, shears-abundant, we headed onto the pavement outside, and we just started clipping. And pruning. And lopping and cropping and snipping and thinning. In minutes, the change was impressive, and some of us got out brooms and swept up the foliage, and others wheelbarrowed them to disposal. By the end of the task, I think it’s fair to say we made a lovely difference; just 16 happy helpers in 30 or so minutes.

And with an artistic tunnel-like photo (see evidence above), that was a wrap. It was awesome to be back at Christchurch School Community Garden, and if you’re looking for sanctuary, it’s open every Friday from 10:30am. Go check it out, go fuel your own nostalgia.

Thanks all :)