Slabsolutely Slabulous

It was a peach of a morning in more ways than one as the fourteen of us (every single one in a red GG shirt) gathered, warmed up and set off on our run.

After a last minute request we dropped off Irena, Hannah and Andrew in Victoria Park, to help Gav of the Victoria Park Action Group carry out some running repairs to the Willow Tunnel, which we had helped to build last year. Big thanks to Will for locating the tunnel for us!

The rest of us headed across the park and out onto the Malago Greenway down to the Novers Hill end where we were greeted by lovely Raluca and her band of volunteers who continue to develop the area with the aim of building a Berry Maze - an unique maze made out of berry plants, from the humble blackberry to the exciting jostaberry, designed by the children from the local school, built solely by volunteers, ready for the whole community to pick and use instead of an overgrown field of weeds. A natural hub for community events and an awesome play area. All in one!

Today's job was to pick litter where the brambles had been cleared, including the removal of slabs and rocks embedded in the ground, these being placed on a giant slab before being taken away in wheelbarrows. This is so that the area can be ploughed next week.

We hi-vizzed up, armed ourselves with litter pickers and off we went, scouring the area for anything that might clog up the plough.

Along the way we were assisted by a plump little dog who couldn't quite make up his mind if he wanted to lick us or eat us, but he was enthusiastic to say the least!

Needless to say, we cleared lots, filled loads of rubbish sacks and helped get the area ready for the next phase. We'll be back again soon to help with some mulch spreading (yay!) in a couple of weeks and may also come back again after that to place and fill some planters (double yay!).

We were fantastically looked after by Raluca who had provided bottles of water and an array of fruit, including some fabulous looking donut peaches, plums and bananas - yum!yum!

Then it was bye to Raluca and all the slabs, great and small, and we headed back to the park to pick up the "Willow Three" who had done a brilliant job on the tunnel, before trotting back for a warm down and lunch (although cake seemed to be a very popular choice this week).

It was great that we were able to help out Gav in Victoria Park, as well as being able to do justice to the main task, so thanks to all of you for coming along.

Big thanks to Charlene for backmarking today too.

See you soon!