Glade Runner

Following the work done by Saturday's group at Petersham Common, we headed back along the sunny river path to the same area to meet task owner Ken.

A lovely 2.5km run brought us to Ken armed with loppers, litter pickers and bags, ready to brief us all on the evening's tasks: elm sucker lopping, roadside litter picking and glade clearance.

Action couldn't begin though before bestowing Beth with the hard-earned '50 good deeds' sash. Beth has been racking up tasks since the end of January this year and has already hit this milestone through a mix of group tasks and missions. Congratulations Beth!

Groups set off to do each task, with pickers finding endless bottles, cans and vapes, alongside more unusual finds including a Thai music CD case, a clay pot and a tea towel.

Ken also showed us the 'glade' area, around a 300 year old Field Maple, protected for conservation. The work in this area involved cutting back any tree saplings to keep the glade at grass level. It's an honour to be part of protecting something that has seen so much.

A quick photo session ended the task before a run back to Richmond centre along the river and through the high street.