Underground, overground, we are weed-free!

On a balmy evening in Penge, eleven athletes ran 5km and tended to the planters at Forest Hill Station.

This week's congratulations went to Ian, who managed to bag himself another parkrun PB (on the day his daughter ran her 50th event), well done both of you! Ian has been training towards a half-marathon, this coming Sunday in Plymouth and his hard work is clearly paying off. Briefing over, we headed outside to warm up a little, picking up Bliss along the way, who was joining us for a bit of GoodGym tourism from Greenwich, welcome!

Our run took us on a similar route to last week, but missed out that last bit of extra challenging hill, turning instead towards Forest Hill and winding up at the station, where we met Bradley, who was completing his 25th good deed this evening (he's ticked those off very quickly!). We were also met by Ollie, who was taking some photos, so keep an eye out for our beautiful runners on the GoodGym social media :)

Alight here

Outside the station are two very large planters, somewhat overwhelmed by some very tall, spiky plants. Task owner Quetta, from the Forest Hill Society, was waiting with secateurs, gloves, forks and trays of geraniums. Our job for the evening was to cut back the spikes, tie up the daffodils, clear away any weeds (and rubbish) and plant the geraniums. Of course, work started before I got my act together and took a 'before' photo (you can get an idea of transformation from the series of images above though). It was interesting carrying out a task at such a busy spot, with crowds of people surging through every so often as trains paused at the station.

Working with just one bin bag, Louise did a great job of ferrying compostable materials back and forth to the station platform, where it turns out there is a lovely little garden and even a compost heap. I have passed through this station many times and have spotted the planters on the platform, but not this lush little area. As the planters took shape, it was time to do some watering, which involved some watering can filling and a bit of creative hose attachment following the loss of the key to the tap.

On your Marx, get set...

Time now for our group photo, which was 'bombed' by a passing commuter (we did try to recruit him, but he was off!). Saying our goodbyes (until next time), we headed back towards Crystal Palace Park, pausing en route to admire not one, not two, but three Blue Plaques! The first was for Eleanor Marx (which, it seems, Tim was involved in having installed), next was Sir George Grove (of particular interest to our resident musician, Dan) and finally Sir Ernest Shackleton, dear to us all, as regular explorers of the south east of London.

Arriving at the park, we were met by Hannah, who had been carrying out her own good deed, helping a man who had fallen, waiting with him until an ambulance came. Hannah's timing was perfect, as we embarked on a brief fitness session, with a bumper burpee challenge to the tune of 'Happy' and, oh, how happy everyone looked! As we stretched, we talked about Hannah's upcoming 100th parkrun, this Saturday at Norman Park, do come and join us if you can. We also wished Ian good luck at his half-marathon and looked forward to next week, when we will run up and over to another new task at Westow Park, sign up here to join in.

Have a great week and see you soon!