Where there's a Wilderness there's a way

On a suitably gorgeous evening in Lewisham, twenty happy souls sped through the streets and parks to reach the Wildcat Wilderness, covering 8km and taking on tasks such as weed-slashing, glass-clearing and bramble-bashing.

This week started off with some celebrations, with respect going to Nykolette, who volunteered at the British 10k yesterday (and bumped into Jack, who was also volunteering!), Steve and Monica, who volunteered at Hilly Fields parkrun, Deirdre (and Monica, she was on a roll), who did a weekend mission and, in her absence, Lucy, who won a tug-o-war competition. Oh yes, we've got it all here in Lewisham.

It was lovely to welcome two newcomers tonight, Lewisham Love to Velile (or 'V'), who was on his first ever GoodGym group run and Maria, who has been to a couple of other runs, but was enjoying Lewisham for the first time. A pleasure also to welcome back some returners that we haven't seen for a little while, we like it when people come back :)

Big thank you to Nykolette and Corrado, who took on the back-marker role for the first time.

Tonight was all about embracing a place that we at GoodGym Lewisham love very much. In the past week, our friends over at the Wildcat Wilderness have been broken into four times, with the perpetrators causing extensive damage to the shed, the shelter, the pond and - most upsetting - to the beehives, killing a whole colony of bees. Over the course of the week, Maria has worked hard with various groups of volunteers to repair any damage, to strengthen fences and to keep her spirits up with the support of this amazing community that we are lucky to be a part of. Due to a postponed task tonight, we were able to pop over and add our support and practical help.

After a quick warm-up, we ran through Ladywell and were soon at the gate, being met by Maria and her weed-slasher! Tasks were allocated and the various groups disappeared into the wilderness - as a trainer, this particular task really does keep me on my toes, jogging between the different areas, making sure everyone is engaged and happy and taking lots of photos, of course. There were a number of jobs that needed our attention this week:

• glass gathering - the ground here is littered with broken glass, with shards buried in the soil, ready to be uncovered by the rain (lots of small children visit this space, so it's vital that this glass is removed)

• weed-slashing - a GoodGym Lewisham favourite stress-buster :)

• pruning and tidying - whole areas needed cutting back, making way for the new hives and also for an outdoor kitchen

• untangling - a mass of dumped and rusted metal, brambles, wire and general rubbish needed sorting and moving from around a poor tree, giving access to the fruit later in the season

That's a lot of work going on!

Time flew by, with our volunteers fuelled by blackberries, so I ran around, gathering up the workers, ready to pair up our gloves, return our tools and pop over for a quick look at the impressive raised beds - this was particularly interesting for those who came here last time, when the beds weren't even in place. Once again, it was mentioned that we really should have a social right here, I would LOVE to make that happen one day!

Our run away from the wilderness is always done with a smile on our faces, restored by a brief encounter with nature in the heart of Catford. Thank you for inviting us in Maria, it was a real pleasure to spend time with you.

We ran back through the park, a warm glow all around and took time to stretch, back at our start point. There was talk of a social, with the decision being made to go out for some food post-run in two weeks time, following a couple of big races for some of our regular runners. If you think our evening looked like fun (always), why not join us? Next week we will go towards New Cross (it's been a while), to the Woodpecker Youth Centre, sign up here.

You might like to take a look at the crowdfunder being organised by the Wildcat Wilderness and Rushey Green Timebank, to raise funds to replace the beehives, build a cage to keep the bees safe and to develop a programme to engage young people to learn about beekeeping.