We were back at the soon-to-be Fratton Pantry HQ this evening to continue our scrubbing up efforts of a few weeks ago.

Nia got the kitchen sink sparkling, whilst Sammy's toilet scrubbing skills were back in action. Harry remembered their mum's advice to never forget to clean the skirting boards and Dave's mopping resulted in quite a few photo-bombs!

Lucy and Katie started off with what seemed like a simple task - getting the rubbish from the front window display into bin bags - but soon became some form of torture when they uncovered a ludicrous amount of teeny tiny plastic beads which refused to be swept up and then insisted on breaking holes in the bin bags they were in.

We ended the evening with trying out some new TikTok videos - keep an eye on our social media to see our silliness in action!

This evening we were at the new location for the Fratton Community Pantry, helping dismantle some of the old office furniture and give the area a healthy dose of bleach and cleaning.

The team made light work of dismantling desks and removing old computer screens, with Dave hitting the highest step count carrying various flat pack parts down the stairs ready for removal.

Samantha channeled her inner Kim and Aggie and got the long forgotten loo sparkling clean, whilst Sinéad managed to scrub an incredibly stubborn tea stain off the white walls.

Hopefully we'll be back at the Pantry soon to help with decorating and assembling shop fittings - it looks like a great community project in the making.

After seven days of the sun being displayed at St Mary's church tonight bought the spectacle to an end. I was one of the people helping people to light candles and to ensure that no one was singed in the process. People left the church with smiles and hopefully nice memories.

About 650 people braved the cold to marvel at the sun and listen to some beautiful live music. The sun changed from white, yellow, green and orange over 12 minutes showing two and a half months of solar activity.

I chatted with some lovely visitors and handed out information booklets. It was a pleasant way to spend an evening.

We joined Fratton Big Local for their annual lantern parade.

Our first job was getting all the lanterns lit up, which was an incredibly fiddly process. The lantern makers then started to arrive so it was all hands on deck to reunite lantern with maker, or hand out spare donated lanterns.

Teeny GoodGymer Felix had lots of fun giving the lanterns cuddles!

Aoife was given the giant FBL wearable lantern for the parade, and was supervised by Ellie in her now famous light up cape.

The rest of the team carried lanterns whilst trying to keep parade goers and excited members of the public on the allocated half of the road. Having the rolling road closure this year made the whole event feel bigger and safer for everyone involved, which was super.

Val and Judy watched the sun's changing colours.

It was good to see plenty of families, school students and a group of runners stopping by to watch, to enjoy, to find peace.