Litter Sweet Symphony

A good sized team of 29 runners headed to the Royal London Hospital this evening to help out the brilliant team from Barts Volunteers.

Safety briefing: Beware the wind

After a very patient start ("Bear with me, while I brief you on the health and safety of running in the wind...”), we sped along Aldgate & Whitechapel High Sts at varying (and erratic, for some of us) paces, taking advantage of green lights for speed work, and red lights for a bit of recovery.

Task owners Nancy, Marufa and Richard were waiting for us in the foyer with a variety of different tasks...

Gardeners galore

A small team of keen gardeners headed out to the front of the hospital for some overdue pruning of the rose bushes donated very kindly earlier in the year by the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, while another, larger team followed Nancy out to the John Harrison Garden, the hospital’s only green space, for a huge litter-pick; weeding and litter-picking the many planters, and more rosebush deadheading.

Doing the ward rounds

Meanwhile, Marufa and Richard took a good-sized team of 12 up to the wards to deliver newspapers and FFT (Friends and Family Test) papers. They finished in record time and it wasn’t long before they joined fellow runners for one last blast of a litter-pick in the John Harrison Garden.

Chasing one last challenge

Finishing with one final, “12-minutes-to fill-your-bin-liner” garden challenge the team then gathered to pose proudly with their litter-and-weed haul in front of a trolley now groaning with full refuse sacks.

“Of COR-se we can finish with some abdominal work”

We then sped back to the foyer for some pics and…core work. Of cor-se (see what I did there?). We worked on a standing balance challenge, to prime glutes and hamstrings for the run back, and some core work on the hospital floor, including the Elbow Plank with Donkey Kick. Ouch. What can I say? Good work, guys.

And then we were racing back down significantly less busy high streets, back to base, for some last minute stretching.

Your efforts were so much appreciated

What an evening. What teamwork. To say you were a fun, dynamic, productive and highly effective crew is an understatement. Thank you for getting so much done, and I’m sure I speak for Nancy and the Barts Volunteer team too (Nancy told me that there weremany positive comments and acknowledgments on the work you were doing in and around the hospital this evening ,by people making their way home through the grounds). You should feel very proud.