Karen W

Last night's Group Run took us to Galleywall Nature Reserve, we were back for the second time in a few weeks but still not quiteeee sure how to get there without Sam on the directions leading us there and back!

We were composting, clearing weeds from the surrounding of the pond, wood chipping, litter picking, building a whole new hill for more plant life to grow and cutting down reeds while hearing all about Vic's upcoming walking and running holiday to Devon.

Nelly did a great job at chopping sticks to a very precise six inches and adding these to the compost circle of life. Emma managed to avoid falling into the pond, did a great job at clearing the overgrowth and even discovered a friendly frog who was enjoying our work. Karen transformed a seating area that will be used by children with a new layer of wood chip and Emma made sure there was not a piece of litter left in site.

Another great week at Galleywall! Thanks to Jane and team for having us.

Another successful session at Brixton Windmill where we did a whole selection of jobs!

• Dom (a goodgym newbie 🙌) and Matt headed off to the shade to dig up a selection of berry bushes as there were too many.
• Karen and Esse set to work weeding around the children’s play area.
• Sam and I trimmed a bush (that was not home to any birds) to make it look a bit tidier.
• Esse and Sam uncovered the bottom of some small trees ready to be fed.

After a bit more than an hour in the sun we headed off home, or in Sam’s case mission no3 of the day 🚀

We were tasked with giving a second coat of paint to an office room in a Thames Reach Hostel. We'd already helped to clean and prep the walls and paint them on a couple of previous occasions.

We had one big paint roller, one small paint roller with a long handle and a selection of paintbrushes available so we armed ourselves with one of these each, taped up the plug sockets, doors and notice boards then got straight to work.

Karen was on corner-duty with the paint brush, I was using the big roller to cover the middle areas of the walls, and Sally was targeting the tops of the walls which were out of reach without the long handle on the roller.

Just over an hour later and we'd given the room a good coat of white paint to cover the first layer we helped with a couple of weeks ago. It's gone from white with some patchy areas to super white and even all over!

A busy session at GROAD (Get Rid Of And Donate) in North Dulwich. Karen & I arrived in the rain, and started out helping to shift some of the latest stock into a storage shed out the back of the community hall. As the sun came out, the donations started to arrive: boxes and bags of all sorts of unwanted or unneeded bits for us to sort through, organise and then re-box and re-bag: teenie tiny babygrows and bibs; jeans for all sizes, ages and genders; kitchenware and crockery; jigsaw puzzles and books; trainers and boots; toiletries and pillow cases. Almost everything dropped off to us was in great condition. I'm sure that the onward recipients of the gorgeous Burberry jumpers will be delighted - and I hope that the donated bikinis get some use this summer too. Goes without saying that by the time Karen & I locked up, the rain re-started... another damp run home.