Four candles

On a chilly January evening, 25 runners and walkers covered 5km to help out at Crofton Books

It’s our birthday! We are four! That’s four years of making a big difference in Lewisham. We have helped numerous community groups, rain or shine, our runners have visited older people in their homes to help change a light bulb, tidy up a garden or move some heavy furniture and we have visited isolated people for a weekly chat.

Just take a look at the stats:

Good deeds: 6,816

Coach visits: 1,478

Missions: 352

The amazing thing that happens over time, is that we not only help others deal with isolation, we help ourselves feel less isolated, building up this incredible community and making what will probably be lifelong friends. Our runners have joined us sometimes as beginners and have gone on to build up their distance, strength and confidence, some smashing goals they didn’t think they could reach. Well done to everyone who has come along over those four years, you’re amazing.

Talking of amazing, two of our runners have completed 200 of those good deeds between them! Congratulations to Clare and Rebecca, who have both earned their wings this week.

On Saturday we had a starter session after parkrun in Hilly Fields, picking litter and keeping the park looking lovely. You can read all about this here. This coming Saturday there is another opportunity to join in during the day, with a community mission in Luxmore Gardens - if you have never visited this space, it’s well worth joining in, it’s pretty special.

Tonight saw our annual birthday visit to Crofton Books, with Emma kindly leading the runners after a little warm-up (and my, did we need it, it’s certainly turned a bit colder!). Thank you also to Caireen (who has been with us since day one, as has Jacqueline!) for back-marking and keeping us all together.

On arrival at Crofton Books, Jason talked us through the various jobs, with some more physically challenging than others. We had:

• shelf shifting
• book lifting
• poetry writing
• shelf shining
• book sorting
• love seeking (searching out books for the Valentine's shelf)

As always, time slipped by at pace and we found ourselves gathering to hear the beautiful words of John and Stephen (sadly, I didn't get a copy of all of the haikus and Stephen's poem, but they will no doubt be on display in the shop).

No visit to Crofton Park would be complete without a little run up and down Hilly Fields finest incline. Well done everyone on pushing hard and working on your form!

After our run, some of us headed to Mamma Dough in Ladywell, to tuck in to some delicious pizza and the gorgeous birthday cake they had made for us - a nutella-stuffed doughy number four, with four candles (or fork handles...?). Thank you!

Next week will be business as usual, heading out to continue our good work. Our task is yet to be confirmed, but sign up anyway and take a lucky dip!

See you soon x