Rumble (of thunder) in the jumble

During an almighty downpour, 16 determined superstars ran 5km and helped to sort through clothing at GRACE.

Oh my, this is not the kind of weather that prompts most people to pull on their running shoes and head out! The rain and general gloom didn't stop this wonderful group of people from doing just that though and we even had some first timers on board! A big welcome and Lewisham Love to Liz, Zara and Juan - if you can make this kind of evening your first run, you're made of tough stuff! We also welcomed Girija, who normally runs with GoodGym Southwark, we hope you enjoyed our SE13 brand of goodness!

Well done to everyone who ventured out yesterday to help at Hilly Fields junior parkrun, what a team! It takes 20+ volunteers to make it happen each week, so it made a big difference to have our helping hands on timers, barcode scanners, tokens, marshalling and tail walking. On Saturday, some of the same people had been up there doing a quick pre-parkrun litter-pick. We will try and do this every week over the summer, as it gets really bad, with people having picnics, but not clearing up afterwards - join us next Saturday if you want to make a difference.

Another chance to do some weekend good! This coming Saturday we have a community mission at the beautiful Grove Park Nature Reserve, meet there at 11am and clear a space for the bees, what a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning/lunch time!

We were due to visit the Wildcat Wilderness this evening, but it was clear as soon as I woke up that it would be waterlogged and too slippery to work safely on our task. We had been asked by GRACE if we could help them urgently with preparing for a big shipment to Greece on June 23rd, so things worked out perfectly in the end! Kim and Amber led the way at the front of the group - thank you both - with Itmari keeping us together at the back.

Bags of fun (and baby clothes)

We arrived at GRACE promptly and were met by Louise, who was taken aback by how many of us there were! We were shown through into the main space and were impressed with just how much work has been going on since we were last here. You could see the effort that has been made to organise everything, with boxes neatly packed, stacked and labelled. Our job for the evening was to pull out donations bags and sort the clothes into summer, winter and babies', with the summer clothes going to Greece and the rest being stored until later in the year.

Questionable styles on teetering piles

Quite quickly, we had clothes flying to the various piles, with any dirty or unsuitable items being thrown in the 'rags' bin. On the whole it was a disappointing visit in terms of odd finds, with very little on the pants front. This was made up for though, by Vic and Oli's game of random garment Twister (just check the photos)! As quickly as time ticked away, the clothes stacked up and we had sorted enough items for Louise and the team to organise for the shipment.

As we gathered at the back door to leave, there was a deep and foreboding rumble of thunder. We gritted our teeth, pulled up our hoods and headed for home. Really well done to everyone who made it along tonight, it wasn't easy running back in that heavy rain! Next week we are at Beecroft Garden Primary School, so a 5k run and an outdoor task (please be sunny!). If you are thinking of parkrunning on Saturday, then Hilly Fields is the place to be, as our very own Kim will be running her 50th parkrun, let's help her celebrate!

Don't forget, we're coming up to our annual summer social at Wildcat Wilderness - just bring something to share on the BBQ (or salad etc). All details and sign up here, please do sign up, so we know how many to prepare for, it's going to be just lovely.

Thank you Oli for this week's excellent puns!