Today's task was all about the holly and the ivy, and more specifically saving the holly from the ivy.

We kicked off at the Bridge House announcing our Jubilee celebration plans - nothing that notable tbh... And then we hit the road, praying the rain wouldn't come down.

We were headed to St John's church. They've got a lovely meadow area which feeds bees and even has some produce growing for locals who want to get involved.

Hail No!

We got lucky and arrived dry as a bone. Sara explained our task - the ivy was starting to choke the holly, so get rid of the ivy around the holly, but not all of the ivy... because it still looks nice.

Armed with secateurs and many black bags we cracked on.

Ivy the Terrible

We had a solid 35 minutes of pulling and trimming and bagging. It was surprisingly therapeutic (and a good workout on the old guns). We had a few filthy finds - Maxim's "Red Bull" won the stink prize.

Baa Baa Black Sack - 15 bags full

Now the holly will be safe for a little while and it may even get some use in the church's Nativity services at Christmas?!

Still dry, we took a quick snap and headed back to base.

Nice one gang 💥

Tonight's Group Run was to Melvin Hall, a community centre in the middle of Penge. We'd already given a gate one coat of paint but another was needed, as well as some fence protector on a new fence panel!

First though, we met at the Bridge House, and then went for a little jog around the park - including a teaser of Lightopia which looks set to be pretty awesome actually. There were even more dinosaurs than usual! And they move. 😬

It was another couple of k until we were at Melvin Hall, where we met John (and Holly and Hannah) and were given brushes and paint.

Sam and Tom got on with the fence while the rest of us blitzed the gate. It took a little while but it gave us a chance to ponder Stephen's big question of the night - "What have we learned today?" Thankfully George shared some wisdom about red lights on headtorches not attracting bugs - enlightened! 💡

Holly learned that hanging bats look like they're dancing if you flip them upside down (see pic...) 😅

We cleaned up (some got messier than others...) and then speedily jogged back up the hill to the Bridge House.

Nice one guys! 🎨🖌

Next Monday we're (hopefully) going to wrap up the painting at Upper Norwood Library Hub - sign up here!

Tonight we were back at Upper Norwood Library Hub after starting to pull back the ivy a couple of weeks ago. They’ve got a fence they want painting but the foliage had gone a bit out of control…

We met up the Bridge House, (welcoming brand new to GG, Thomas 👏) and jogged up the hill to CP triangle.

We found our equipment left in one of the bins outside and got cracking. We finished the job in a cool 25 mins, shearing off some bigger bushes, trimming back the brambles and yanking up the ivy.

We bagged it all up, managing to avoid some of the thorns… and shot back down the hill to base.

Providing the weather is okay, we’ll be back there in a couple of weeks to do some painting!