Whether it was April showers, the solar eclipse or the dark clouds of Storm Katherine , it was a very dark and wet 'Second Monday of the month Group Run' session in April to Buccleuch Gardens in Richmond. A lively 2km there before the skies broke and a more direct route back when we were soggy!

Steph's celebratory 250 good deeds cape (achieved in under a year!), doubled as a poncho as he headed out into the rain and battled through the dense shrubbery at the back of the Gardens to collect litter. In the gloomy light, black clad and caped, our CCL superhero looked like he might have stepped from a Batman film or a Gothic novel. Except for the big smile, the running socks and the sod-the-rain attitude, which were pure GoodGym. Congratulations on an amazing achievement.

More brave souls (including Vix,on her first mission, showing she’s got the same chutzpah and can-do attitude) braved the rain to help with litter picking, bagging huge quantities of green waste, relocating daffodils and building a second (and brilliantly constructed) twig and branch barricade.

Others worked in the Arcade to strengthen the legs of our willow-withy plant supports, making them ready to support our summer annuals.

Because of the weird gloom, the rain and the time running 🏃🏽‍♂️ away, we didn’t manage to do any planting or seed-sewing before heading back to the Tap Tavern for our monthly social and a chance to dry off!

If you like gardening or want to help out, look out for some extra GG Richmond Buccleuch Gardens Community Missions over next couple of weeks or sign up for our next second Monday Group Run on 13 May.

We were re-wilding St Mary Magdalene churchyard and burial grounds. These burial grounds have been decommissioned a long time ago, but Ken still gave us diggers a warning, that it is unknown how many graves are still in the ground! Thankfully we didn't need to dig too deep and it was just a small patch, where seeds were strewn across. We will need to see how this patch will look like in the next month. Also, a big welcome to Olivia, who joined us for the first time!

A sunny bank holiday Monday is an extra bonus reason to get out and do some good! Today's 'anywhere' litter pick was just the task.

A group arranged to meet at Old Deer Park to pick together (let Liz know if you would like to be added to the group to keep up to date!).

Beth battled an Easter hangover to pick up other people's mess. Steph got up early to clear up evidence in the street of the night before. Anita cleared up around Manor Road and reported fly-tipping to the council too. Amy was surprised to find Twickenham Green quite clean. Liz and her son tackled the local park and filled four disgusting bags.

Back to normal group runs next Monday, finally back on British Summer Time! ☀️

On this 1st day of spring weather, 6 GG members did a spring clean, where we were tasked to clear up the leaves at the front section of Heatham House Youth Club. We cleared around 10-15 large bin bags filled with leaves and quite a lot of litter which unfortunately gets thrown from the street across the wall. We were very pleased with our completed task and went off for a well earned coffee and enjoyed the lovely sunshine!