It was a glorious day for the Picnic on the Green. Dave and I turned up to help the Milton Neighbourhood Forum take down the gazebos and tables.

Dave seemed to have a magic touch in dislodging tent pegs rammed into the grass, and with helpers at every corner, we very quickly removed the covers and dismantled the poles.

A quick litter pick, and carrying tables & chairs to load onto the van, and we were rewarded with a whippy ice cream to send us on our way. A good workout, doing good.

We were very pleased to be back here!

Our first task was to rescue a bench that had been gnawed by an over-enthusiastic resident; after a bit of sanding and a lick of paint it was looking almost as good as new!

We also fought the very thorny brambles and weeds on the main pathway. This involved multiple wheelbarrow trips to the composting area where we discovered large sand dunes.

Thank you Lucy for showing us a much more scenic route from the Lido to the task this evening. It was a twitcher's paradise, two sets of swans with their cygnets, ducks with their ducklings and even a majestic egret! Far more interesting than the concrete monstrosity road bridge I'd have taken us over.

When we arrived, Judy and Katie were already on the platform and had found very, very little to do with the planters. Neither the GoodGym planter, or the one planted by the Men's Shed had anything in the way of weeds, or even litter.

Clearing the litter on the platform didn't take long at all, so things should be looking glorious for the judging session on Friday. We extended our pick on to the playing field behind the station, where Andy made friends with an excitable dog, and Jen rode a reclaimed bike found in the trees.

Gosh, that was a blustery one!!

In slightly different running conditions from last week's heatwave, four of us headed off from Hilsea Lido before collecting the rest of the crew at the Mountbatten Centre. We welcomed Paul to his very first session - epic commitment to come to a beach task when it's blowing a hooly!

Judy's recommendation to bring smaller bags was certainly a good idea, as bin bags would probably have doubled as parachutes with the additional sea "breeze". Weighed down with a few large stones (and a random shellsuit), we got to work filling our bags.

The more interesting finds included a drill picked up by Katie, Andy's mysterious 6 / 9 / g and most fun of all, a message in a bottle!! Sinéad messaged the number on the note, I'll keep you posted if we find out from where and when it came.

Epic work in challenging conditions, folks, well done! I think my favourite photos might be the ones featuring Andy in a t-shirt and shorts whilst Louisa looks ready for an Arctic Expedition 🥶