Making a rail difference

As the evenings get a tiny bit lighter, 18 runners took to the streets to cover 5km of running and help clear the space at Hither Green Station embankment.

I, for one, was glad to see Oli this evening, with his top quality punning skills, just look at that lovely title pun!

It's been a really great weekend for missions! We had Emma and Monica helping an older person in her garden, we had Samuel and David picking up a gardening task that had been postponed because of the wind and we had Sarah, Louise and Tim out on Blythe Hill Fields, helping to plant trees with the Friends group - excellent community involvement!

GoodGym shearing squad

At parkrun we had Sarah giving sign language support to my pre-run briefing for the first time. It was great to be able to make everyone feel welcome at Hilly Fields and, if anyone else is able to offer this support, do let me know! To round off a weekend of great teamwork, some of our runners were at Crystal Place junior parkrun, helping our neighbours at GoodGym Bromley to make the run happen through volunteering - well done to Sarah, Livi and Darryl for turning up to high-five and encourage our junior runners.

Tonight's task was taking us on a 5km round-trip to Hither Green station, where we were due to work on clearing the brambles and levelling the steps. We can't head off on a run though without a good warm-up! A very big thank you to Kim this evening, for leading us in some fun and games to get our hearts racing and our muscles warm. Thank you also to Marta and Chloe for back-marking and to Conroy for leading up front on the way back - what a team!

Bush to the limit

We were met outside the station by Anne-Marie and Carol, who quickly got us all kitted out in some dashing orange bibs and told us about the various jobs. Splitting into smaller groups, we had teams working on:

• shearing the brambles away from the pavement edge
• tackling the brambles inside the embankment area and getting on top of the overgrown shrubbery
• planting some little saplings, using a nifty technique with the trowel
• making the steps down to the embankment safer (they were more of a slide than a step when we arrived), using some wood, soil and top construction skills

Step brothers and sisters

As we worked, we heard that there are hedgehogs here (I'm sure I heard some rustling) and also foxes, so this area is a haven for wildlife, right next to a busy railway line. As always, the time slipped away and we all gathered at the bottom of the steps to admire the work being done. Juliet had a very professional looking way with a trowel and got that last step looking good and strong. This will make a big difference, as people are often carrying tools as they make their way down here.

Before we ran off, Anne-Marie gave us some chocolates to share - yum and thanks! We will be returning next Monday, to work on the other side of the tracks, raking the ground then sowing seed (how lovely is that?!). If you enjoy hanging out in HG and also fancy pulling on some waders, we have the opportunity to join in a community river clean-up on Saturday March 30th (waders!), sign up here to get involved.

See you soon lovely people and stay good! x