Prince Rupert Court is supported housing for older people in Freshbrook, they requested our help to clear a section of the garden which their gardener has not had time to complete.

Stuart met us for the briefing because he could not bear to miss out on being number 13 in the count. Then headed off in the car to meet us at the task with the gloves.

For Earth Hour we each gave an example of how we are making a positive change to the environment compared to this time last year. There were some great anecdotes of reducing plastic waste, going meat-free once a week and cutting down on driving miles by car sharing and walking/running instead. Well done everyone, keep up the good work, every little change helps.

We then set off for Prince Rupert Court with Lily backmarking. It was a long run by our standards, 4.5km, with plenty of time for chat on the way we heard about Emily and Sam’s training for their 100km ultra is going. That’s only 11x our combined mileage from this task….gulp, good luck!

Dominique met us and introduced us to some of the residents who were sitting in the lounge finishing hot chocolate and marshmallows. Then we went out to de-weed and the residents came out too for a chat which was nice. De-weeding also involved taking out quite a few plants which looked perfectly okay, but the residents had voted that they wanted the area graveled. That’s decisive democracy in action, there was no second referendum or people’s vote, straight to action. We also took out a rose plant and rehoused it in a pot, lets hope that survives. Updates will be posted on Twitter #RupertRose.

Everything leveled and matting put down the task was done in double quick time and we stepped back in for a picture before running back to Oasis for a coffee. Thanks to Helen for taking the photos.

So...we are back next week at the usual time and place. We will be heading to the Central Community Centre in the Railway Village to do some more weeding! It's guaranteed to be fun with GoodGym, so don't delay - sign up here today!

And don't forget that we have a Community Mission celebarting Earth Hour straight after parkrun on Saturday; find out more here!