Beyond the PAIL

Blue sky, gentle breeze... - all the better for watering trees

A blue sky and a gentle breeze set the tone for tonight's wonderful two-task evening.

25 of us gathered on our hotel steps ready for a couple of mobility exercise before heading out to two great gardening tasks.

Task force member Bryon had saved the day leading a digging crew to the Kedlestone Community Centre in Hollybush Gardens, to meet Margaret, one of our longest standing task owners who needed some urgent digging.

The team blitzed the area, achieving a huge amount with small trowels and lots of weeds. They worked tirelessly along multiple borders, deftly ditching weeds of various shapes and sizes to help this dedicated community team keep the gardens pristine and pretty for the residents to enjoy over the summer months.

I, in the meantime, took the remainder of the runners to meet Joanna and Jane of Friends of Meath Gardens for a wide variety of gardening tasks in and around this huge park.

Teams were divided into watering tasks (one headed nostalgically back to the canal with the large trolley to tend to the trees with large pails of canal water; others filled from the tap and lugged oversized buckets around the park...). There were two other tasks beautifully tended to by our very proficient new runners: Lara and Nancy took on The Heavy Weeding Work, while Iffet and Lucy were responsible for getting some new seeds bedded in.

The Lower Body Blast workout

Before we knew it, it was 8.05pm: our fellow gardeners had arrived from Hollybush to meet us for tonight's fitness session and we were making our way over to Steve's chosen sunny spot for tonight's Lower Body Blast workout. After a hiccup with our playlist (some of Cardi B's lyrics proved to be not quite in keeping with the gentle feel of our evening), the runners blitzed all manner of moves from single leg combat kicks, to one-legged planks. Amazing work and, I say it every week, your balance is improving by the week. Well done everyone!

Monday Mentions

A massive warm welcome and huge thanks to tonight’s first time runners, Iffet, Tom, Nancy, Susie, and Maelle. You did SO well! We just loved having you on the run, and really, really hope you’ll consider coming back and joining in again very soon.

Thanks to Dave and Jo for lovely backmarking; to our wonderful task force member Bryon, for leading the Hollybush task, some great pics and for getting the crew back to Meath in terrific time.

Exciting things coming up…

So next week we’re at a new task, giving a sanding and lick of paint to some newly adopted large planters on Roman Road! It’ll be a fun one – guaranteed. So, have a look and see what you think.

And don’t forget on Saturday 27th July, we have the Tower Hamlets Planting Party, a mixture of our favourite activities to which everyone is invited. Do think about coming along, whether for a bit of planting, some running-and-Pilates, or a bite to eat at our picnic. Or a drink at the pub. Details and sign up are here.

Okay, that’s it for another week. Have wonderful week everyone: enjoy your running, enjoy our July sunshine, and we hope to see you very soon.