All dark no blight

We were fortunate enough this evening to have some warmth in the air despite winter edging closer, though it wasn't nearly as warm as the welcome we received from the Town Hall hotel manager who greeted us for the first time and invited us to meet the resident dog, Dizzy (see photo) before we set off on our run!

It was a lovely start to our group run, which was tonight in partnership with Thrive LDN, with the mission of raising awareness of mental health issues ahead of World Mental Health Day on Tuesday 10th. GoodGym sessions across UK will be running in partnership this week so be sure to check out Thrive and the other run reports over the next few days!

We set off towards London Fields where we were greeted by our task owner at the Shrub land TRA Gardening Club. Our group of 16 (including two new starters Nick & Matt) set to work on removing blighted tomato & bean plants, whilst salvaging the produce to be used by the community gardening club. We were also lucky enough to unearth some (oddly-shaped) carrots, which will no doubt go to great use by the community growers. Towards the end of the task, attention shifted to weeding both on the footpath and the soil bags. For the group's fantastic efforts, we were invited to a Pumpkin Party this Saturday, promoting all the great things you can do with the pulp which otherwise often gets discarded around Hallowe'en time. If you're interested in going, it starts at 2pm and you can RSVP on their website here.

After the task we did some nice sociable meet and retreats at London Fields, then headed back through the Victoria Park darkness, guided by our headtorch owners, and back to base. Thanks as ever for a wonderful evening and see you next week!