Five volunteers helped move furniture, pile up boxes and pack books so Crofton Park Library is ready for the decorators to move in next week. Fueled by chocolate the box making and packing technique was streamlined and everything was taped up in no time.

On what what a really really miserable evening, well done for getting yourselves out and into the rain, I'd normally say I don't know what all the fuss was about, it's only a little bit of rain...it wasn't, it was horrendous running conditions!

The highlight of upcoming Community Missions was discussed in great detail at the start, tree and hedge planting at Surrey Docks Farm. Not only do you get to see all the cute animals and do some good planting trees and hedges but you also get a qualification at the end. A qualification in tree and hedge planting! Saturday 10am at Surrey Docks Farm - I can't wait to hear all about it from those that attend.

As a group we voted to have the head count indoors and run straight from Glassmill to the task to avoid time spent in the rain.

The task tonight was to run to Crofton Books without getting absolutely soaked which we failed miserably because we all arrived rather drenched. The real tasks of the evening were:

• Reorganising the modern classics section that was completely out of order
• Categorising a set of books into theme/topic
• Organising the bookshop
• Moving books into sacks that will be sorted through and decided whether they stay in the bookshop
• Moving some heavy items (I'm not entirely sure what they were)
• Writing new themes for sections in the library

There were a lot of tasks to be getting stuck into and a lot of organising going on, and book buying (maybe that was just me). Before I knew it, there was 5 minutes to go and the reorganising of the modern classics had nearly made it to the end of the alphabet. We couldn't leave without completing that so in the meantime I gathered/dragged everyone together and away from the books for a group photo.

We began to make our way back to Glassmill, in the quickest route possible to avoid time spent in the rain. After a quick stretch and discussion about next weeks task, which is being led by Conroy.

Thanks Chloe for backmarking on the way there and Stephen on the way back.

On a chilly January evening, 25 runners and walkers covered 5km to help out at Crofton Books

It’s our birthday! We are four! That’s four years of making a big difference in Lewisham. We have helped numerous community groups, rain or shine, our runners have visited older people in their homes to help change a light bulb, tidy up a garden or move some heavy furniture and we have visited isolated people for a weekly chat.

Just take a look at the stats:

Good deeds: 6,816

Coach visits: 1,478

Missions: 352

The amazing thing that happens over time, is that we not only help others deal with isolation, we help ourselves feel less isolated, building up this incredible community and making what will probably be lifelong friends. Our runners have joined us sometimes as beginners and have gone on to build up their distance, strength and confidence, some smashing goals they didn’t think they could reach. Well done to everyone who has come along over those four years, you’re amazing.

Talking of amazing, two of our runners have completed 200 of those good deeds between them! Congratulations to Clare and Rebecca, who have both earned their wings this week.

On Saturday we had a starter session after parkrun in Hilly Fields, picking litter and keeping the park looking lovely. You can read all about this here. This coming Saturday there is another opportunity to join in during the day, with a community mission in Luxmore Gardens - if you have never visited this space, it’s well worth joining in, it’s pretty special.

Tonight saw our annual birthday visit to Crofton Books, with Emma kindly leading the runners after a little warm-up (and my, did we need it, it’s certainly turned a bit colder!). Thank you also to Caireen (who has been with us since day one, as has Jacqueline!) for back-marking and keeping us all together.

On arrival at Crofton Books, Jason talked us through the various jobs, with some more physically challenging than others. We had:

• shelf shifting
• book lifting
• poetry writing
• shelf shining
• book sorting
• love seeking (searching out books for the Valentine's shelf)

As always, time slipped by at pace and we found ourselves gathering to hear the beautiful words of John and Stephen (sadly, I didn't get a copy of all of the haikus and Stephen's poem, but they will no doubt be on display in the shop).

No visit to Crofton Park would be complete without a little run up and down Hilly Fields finest incline. Well done everyone on pushing hard and working on your form!

After our run, some of us headed to Mamma Dough in Ladywell, to tuck in to some delicious pizza and the gorgeous birthday cake they had made for us - a nutella-stuffed doughy number four, with four candles (or fork handles...?). Thank you!

Next week will be business as usual, heading out to continue our good work. Our task is yet to be confirmed, but sign up anyway and take a lucky dip!

See you soon x

A smaller than usual group gathered in Glassmill foyer, debating whether to go for layers with it being an indoor task and then I felt slightly bad breaking up all the chatting but it was time to go out and brave the cold and wind!

This evenings task was to Crofton Books, one of my favourite tasks and one that I ALWAYS come away from with more books and recommendations.

We arrived at Crofton Books, to find Vic, Jacqueline and Sarah ready to get stuck in with whatever tasks Jason had lined up for us.

First task was to split into 2 groups and 1 group began to hang sheets in the entrance hall to protect the books on the shelves behind and then helped bring in the Christmas Trees (some of which were huge!!) and line them up in the hallway. The other group armed with gloves and bin bags, did a quick sweep of the side garden for any rubbish and moved some bags.

The remaining few (especially those dressed for dealing with books), stayed in the library and began organising the books as the BBC are visiting on Tuesday and I could hear the regular questioning of the alphabet and the reorganising and shuffling of books to make space for those that had been found in the wrong place.

The group began to regather in the library to warm up after the outdoor tasks had been completed.

There was more sorting, a Christmas tree made out of books and picking and wrapping of books with added quotes for presents. I began gathering people up and announcing we were on minus time (is that even a thing?!) but I didn’t want to cut anyones quote writing short.

We eventually gathered for a group pic, saying goodbye to Jason, after avoiding getting locked in the front garden, we began to make our way back towards our start point.

We (and the vinyl record with no cover) made it back to Glassmill, we had a quick stretch and discussion about what carols we could sing next week and how my dinner just kept sounding better and better (it was good!).

See you all next week, singing voices at the ready, for our final task of the year!

It was another rainy Monday evening in Lewisham and a smaller than normal group of Lewisham’s finest arrived in the foyer of Glassmill ready for an evening of doing good!

It was a quiet weekend for news apart from a birthday parkrun and a community mission at Crofton Books, putting up the bunting reading for Croft Fest.

We headed outside into the rain and played a game of “everybody’s it” (after some interesting explaining of how the game worked - I promise these make sense in my head) involving squats and starjumps. Then it was off to Crofton Books, following virtually the same route as last week’s group run to Beecroft. Thanks for backmarking Chloe!

Once we arrived at Crofton Books, Jason began explaining the tasks that needing completing and wheeled out a suitcase and boxes full of books (full of classics) to be sorted and priced.

The tasks for the evening:

• cleaning the shelves of the bookshop
• organising various sections in the bookshop
• clearing/raking outside
• sorting and pricing the boxes of books
• saving/sorting/separating some books that had been water damaged from a leak in the ceiling
• organising Jason’s secret area of books/office area

It’s always a lovely task that everyone can get stuck into and there’s always lots of chatter.

As always some classic books were found including the Good Housekeeping Guide to Easy Entertaining in which everything looking slightly undercooked in the pictures and a bargain to cook. And a book on dogs which was given to me to find the animal section which I’m afraid I never did find!

It was time for a tough decision - extra time getting the tasks done or hill repeats in the rain....hill repeats was the clear winner!! I joke, everyone suddenly had lots of jobs to complete!

It was time to round everyone up and get in place for a group photo, after multiple group photos with multiple phones, we headed out of Crofton Books into some misty rain!

With nearly everyone except 5 of us peeling off to go home on our way back to Glassmill and me hitting my elbow on a bin and Martin falling over a bench (just as we were saying how these benches are so hidden), we finally made it back to Glassmill to stretch and near enough of one piece even if down on numbers.

Big thanks to Sarah for bringing the lovely cookies, they were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!

This evening there is a community mission at GRACE, sorting clothes as they have a large shipment that needs sorting to be sent out. I can’t wait to hear what delightful (or undelightful) things you find in the donated bags!

Arriving for duties at CroftFest at Beecroft School, I was put straight to work fetching sandbags for the tents. Then more good work for the arms helping the flower stall get buckets and buckets and buckets of water. Marta arrived and our main job began - put up as much bunting as we could along the main road! Health and safety rules out the window we jumped upon the wall and decorated the school fence, albeit not helped by brambles and spiders...... ! Then more and more and more along the main road. There was a brief stop to untie the huge mess the bunting was in - we had 3 ends and felt more like a giant game of cat's cradle at times. But we got there in the end and even the road works got decorated. Quick visit around the stalls then Marta was off to her second mission of the day :-)