Pedantic Paul painted the pickle factory perfectly - and it was all white

No rain tonight so certain people who asked which task was inside needn't have worried after all :)

We had two tasks, one to help out Baggator youth project paint their Pickle Factory and one to help out Full Circle, hosts of the Docklands Youth Project.

The Pickle Factory painters were led by Charlie and were charged firstly with checking on the origin of the name. In fact, in a bizarre and unexpected twist of fate it turns out that the Pickle Factory is so named because it used to be a Pickle Factory. Apparently it still smelled of pickles for some time after the factory closed. Thanks Charlie for confirming this.

The second objective was to get busy sanding and painting at this fantastic local project which offers the local youth all manner of activities ranging from bicycle maintenance through table tennis and even programming workshops run in their lovely theatre space. I'm pleased to report that great progress was made here too, though there is still a little left for a return visit in a couple of weeks time.

The Full Circle five plus four, so called to poorly mirror the alliteration on the previous task but actually inaccurate as the fabulous Emma joined us later, set off to clear their outside courtyard of leaves and brambles so the grass mat could be relaid. We were a little early so we squeezed in some step ups - where someone apparently fell over in an embarassing manner but I can't possibly reveal who - and an unnecessary second flight of steps.

Ann-Marie met us and we were soon at work raking brushing and bagging everything in our way until we had 6 or 7 full bags and a nice clear courtyard. Some of us will return to lay the gravel and mat next week, but Ann-Marie seemed really please with our progress so far!

After a varied pace lap of Queen Square we congratulated the runners at last weekends Kelston 10k and reminded everyone to check on their plans for Bucharest! Finally, a number of us went on to our monthly eats at Bella Vista, brilliantly organised by Clo and featuring a genuine Emma selfie at last.

And the run title? Well, Richard came up with the excellent It'll be all white on the night, but I'm pretty sure its been used. So I've gone with Caroline's lovely tongue twister instead - just because it made me smile.