All the shingle ladies, all the shingle ladies!

Meet and Retreat

The weather was miserable, but faces were smiling as we met and welcomed everyone at the Coop in North Maidenhead. Our warm up walk (0.75km - thanks Sheila for leading the four walkers) and run (1.5km - thanks Jess and Sophie for back-marking the five runners) brought us all together again at Sandringham Road - a circular street en route to the task that was just crying out to be used as a track.

Here we paired up runners and walkers and sent them off in opposite directions round the loop. When they met, they greeted each other with squats and then turned around and 'retreated' back the way they had come. The walkers kept a consistent pace, so the challenge was for the runners to up their pace on the retreat and get back before the walkers. We completed the exercise twice and the runners did really well to beat their walking partners both times. Maybe next time we can squeeze in a third round?

Holyport by name, Pot-holey by nature...

Then hi ho, hi ho, it was off to work we went. Our task for the evening was shifting shingle for a community football club, who are Holyport by name, but pot-holey by nature. Well their access road was pot-holey anyway. Now it's only half pot-holey!

With help from our lovely task owners Richard and Jason, and by the light of their superior floodlights, we worked as a team to shift 35 heavy wheelbarrow-fulls of shingle along the lane and into the puddly holes. As we worked the rain poured down, but spirits were high and the work kept us nice and warm. Whether breaking up the shingle with a pick axe, shovelling and forking it into the wheelbarrows, running it down the lane, or tipping it out, we got an excellent workout. This soggy work was accompanied by cheerful chatter and the singing of various songs about the number 5. It was very satisfying to hear the rhythmic chip and scrape of tools on stone, and to see a big dent appearing in the shingle pile

Eat and Retreat

We were making such satisfying progress that it was hard to stop, but Richard's cookies and Anita's wonderful home-made sweets gave us a good reason to call it a day. We munched happily as we headed for home. We hope to return again soon.