The NCN goes near my house, and there were a few places where it was almost obscured by plants, so I attacked them with saw and loppers. Can you match the before and after pictures?

Tracey joined the YMCA paint party in Alvaston where we freshened up the street furniture; benches, bike stands and bollards. It was great to catch up with Matt, Emma and the rest of the team from the YMCA, and to see their new minibus, the "green machine".

Many thanks to the YMCA team for inviting us along, to the benefactor who kindly donated the paint (rather a lot was needed), and to Steve's Fish Bar, who generously provided a free lunch for each of the volunteers.

Ashley, Pete, Ellen and Rachel welcomed Mandy's new recruit Sue along for a group effort litter picking in the city centre.

After the group had gathered up all equipment needed for the session including Mandy and Ashley's professional grade litter pickers and Pete's which was a thoughtful Christmas gift, it was on to collect litter from the streets in some eco-friendly bags that were given to the group by the hotel that's the start point.

It was great to see Mandy again and welcome along her friend (and soon to be relation!) Sue and to see Ellen again who educated the group with some fascinating facts about the history of some of Derby's buildings.

Some interesting finds from the night included part of a toy crane and food packaging in the shape of a sombrero. Sue also found a few bones and part of a pigeon....possibly all connected, or once connected to be more accurate. A favourite find for doglovers of the group was meeting Zeus, a male staffordshire bull terrier, where a pit stop had to be scheduled in for some furry appreciation.

The group chatted to a passer by who asked about volunteering with GoodGym once they found out a bit more about the organisation and what our local group gets up to, hopefully a face we'll see again and thanks to members who had their GoodGym t shirts proudly on display tonight.

Thank you everyone for coming on a chatty catch-up whilst clearing the streets of everything from food packaging to hazardous glass.

Gwyn and Tracey helped out at the first race in the Derby Midweek Series. We were fortunate enough not to have to run in the rain, which drenched us both earlier in the day.

Our job for the evening was to note down the bib numbers of the runners as they finished the course. We each ran one race and volunteered in the other. Everyone seemed very pleased to reach the finish line!

Tracey ran the mile in David Denton's Derby Midweek Series 2023-2024 Race 1. It was a wet day, but the rain stopped for the race, which was fortunate because we volunteered as well, involving pencil and paper! I ran the 5k, which starts 20min after the mile, so that most people ran both. It was good to see David and Eva there, and we chatted with some old friends too. Bizarrely, a wooden obstacle appeared on the course between the first and second laps of the 5k, and one unfortunate runner tripped over it.

Ashley and Pete once again visited Derby Womens Centre to do a tidy up of the front entrance and garden area. Since this was a lunch time task we quickly set to work to do the most we could in the time. Fortunately the garden wasn't so bad, only punctuated by playing a round of 'Is it chocolate or is it poo', a game with no winners.