The Thorn between 5 Roses

Tonight 6 fantastic runners ran 3km to help out at Locke Park - 50% Sheffield GG tonight, thanks team!

Starting at our usual meet up spot at Shaw Lane, we joined by Suse a GG Sheffield runner, thanks for coming! Kim and Steve were raring to go as always! With Steve keen to warm up before leaving, Kim taking it steady after giving blood and Mairead celebrating a good result at SW!

After a few side steps, some ever so elegant leg swings and a quick plié from Steve, we headed off up the hill to Locke Park. Upon arrival we realised we were a little early, so some of the group passed the time with a jog around the bowling green, whilst he others waited for Debbie. Sharon met us there after a quick run around the park!

Debbie, one of the park's volunteers, was very happy to see us and quickly explained what they would like us to do. Since the last time we were there, the bed we were clearing had been overtaken by weeds. Debbie explained that instead of continuing with clearing the bed of all plant life, she would instead love it if we could clear all of the weeds and tidy it up.

Armed with gloves, secateurs and bin bags we set to work attacking the weeds. One particular weed was covered in sticky fuzzy balls, which seemed to stick everything! Suse and Steve enjoyed seeing who could cover the other in the most amount of these sticky balls and I have to say I think Suse won hands down!

Debbie's mother was on hand to provide advice on what was what and which weeds to remove, from the comfort of her wheelchair. She was clearly very green-fingered but wasn't able to do the physical work anymore, so I think she enjoyed being able to contribute by 'project-managing' the team!

After almost an hour we'd filled 10 black bags full of weeds and the bed looked totally different! Debbie was extremely grateful and couldn't believe how much better it looked. We said our goodbyes and headed back to base. We incorporated the removal of all the sticky balls into our stretches, with a great back of the leg stretch to sort out our shoes!

Until next time team!