Beth Hudson

An earlier start than first planned, meant that Vicki and I were joined by Beth, Sam and Betsy to clock up some extra steps and deliver some leaflets for the Fratton Fun Day on Sunday.

We did Clive Road first with Betsy putting leaflets through all the low letterboxes and Beth & Vicki starting on the side that seemed to have more houses!

We heard the ice cream van and his techno wild west music doing the rounds of the Fratton roads and when we were half way down Newcombe Road we saw a man who'd bought 3 ice creams... one of which he gave to Betsy - obviously impressed by the amount of enthusiasm she brought to the leaflet drop!

We ran out of leaflets early into Sheffield Road and were back at the start in about 35 minutes.

Team work makes the dream work!

p.s. that was good deed number 400 for me tonight, 100 to go till the next t-shirt!!

Sam, Betsy, Beth, Katie L, Aoife and Mel met at the BPA to collect our hi-viz, gloves, litter pickers and bags. We said hello to Jane one of the Trustees who ran through some health & safety rules and off we went. Rather usefully, two bin bags had been attached to the bin bag holders which meant we could separate rubbish from re-cycling as we went. We made a start on the path beside the play park, but noticed a lot of rubbish in the play area that we couldn't reach. Sam and Betsy opted to clear that area, whilst the rest of us went into the wooded area to find out if there had been any parties! We had the usual finds of plastic sweets & crisps packaging, but it wasn't too bad. We did find lots of very tame squirrels much to the delight of the visiting children. We moved on to the open field and made our way down the left-hand side before making our way back across the middle, meeting a man on a bike who had lost his phone and retracing his earlier cycle ride. Fortunately, he later came back confirming he'd found his phone and was much relieved. Again, not too much litter, but Aoife did find a bumbag and football boot soles with studs intact (does that count as the oft found item of clothing?), but nothing too unusual. In the meantime, Sam and Betsy had found the squirrels, with Betsy getting up close and personal with a couple of them, even getting a high five from one. Betsy also found a white hatched egg shell – can anyone tell us which bird might have hatched it from the photos? Sam, Betsy, Mel, and Katie joined by hubby and children had drinks, biscuits and lollypops at the BPA cafe, before making our different ways home.

It was the final Vaccine Clinic with Carole in charge, as usual, it was busy then quiet with quite a few dna’s. A ‘Sorry You’re Leaving’ card was given to Carole at the end of the clinic from all the volunteers and hugs were given and tears shed.

We all had so much fun marshaling the Portsmouth Gay Pride Parade! The sun was shining 🌞Approximately 1000 people walked the parade, lead by Portsmouth Batala. So lovely to organisations and the community all participating.

Katie and Abby were the designated lollipop ladies. Only one person swore at them.

The rest of is made sure the parade stayed on route.

More photos to come!

I arrived to find that I was the only volunteer after the Royal Voluntary Service volunteers were accidentally cancelled tonight and John was unwell with a high temperature after a Covid outbreak at the surgery. Luckily Shelly from RVS was already on her way from Chichester when the shift was cancelled and had phoned John who told her to come along. We were fairly busy to begin with, but it tailed off towards the end with quite a few no-shows.

Beth & Vicki were at the children’s clinic today for the 5-11 year olds.

Some nervous children on arrival but smiling on departure.

Special guest appearances from other goodgymers on their way to a group gardening mission (hence title).