Living on the Edge lead to Trimming a Hedge (and BENCHING 23 PEOPLE - That's right!!!)

It was a lovely light evening in Richmond and a bumper crowd of GGers assembled at Wholefoods for our Monday night running fix. A trip to ETNA (East Twickenham Neighbourhood Association, a community centre that hosts a wide range of activities for all ages, 7 days a week) was on the cards and there was a spring in our step at the thought of continuing the good work we have been doing there over a few separate sessions.

First things first, off to the Green where Mark put us through our paces a great warm-up, getting us in the zone with the culmination being pairing-up to alternate through some core-strengthening exercises which featured rather too many planks for most people’s liking. We were spurred on with motivation from our partners who were 'living on the edge', so we made it through and soon we were on our way to ETNA.

A new route took us along the Quadrant and up past the station, then down the A316 alongside Old Deer Park before heading down onto Ducks Walk, then on through East Twickers and round the corner to the ETNA centre to be welcomed by a very smiley task owner Sian.

Already on site were a cycling-shoed EL and new boy Danny, making short work of tidying the bush around a trunk. The rest of us were divvied up between cutting back weeds and clearing the beds, planting new flowers, and painting a bike shed a very fetching shade of eggshell blue (thanks EL for the colour advice on that). Fortunately this time around we didn’t have to do the task in silence (see 4th February run report)…

Everyone set to work and were soon having a great impact. Weeds were coming up everywhere and being replaced by new plants for the spring, more bushes were being cut back, and the four in the bike shed were bemused by the fact that the paint didn’t seem to want to stick to the slats. We soldiered on with extra coats and in the end managed to make our little shack look half-way decent. Then came the grand photo where we demonstrated how to 'BENCH PRESS' 23 people, making it look easy and with a smile on our face - Got to be a record surely!

The task was a lot of fun and we all left for the run back energised by the thought of the summer evenings we’ll spend doing good together. A warm welcome to newbies Eliza, Katie and Danny, and welcome back to Gemma and Aaron.

Big thanks to Sian for greeting us at the task and don't forget there is a '10 miler' along the river if you fancy it this weekend!