There's a big push going to clear the invasive Himalayan Balsam plants from the banks of the River Lea. I went to join the volunteers helping out with TCV leader Jen and found the familiar faces of Kevin, John and Barbara who are regulars at the conservation tasks around Luton.

Together we climbed down into the brook at Lewsey Park, fortunately not very wet at the moment with no rainfall and a firm gravelly bottom meant walking along it was easy. It was nice a cool in the water under the shade of the trees while the midday heatwave sun shone up above. Working along the brook we tackled clumps of balsam, gently pulling out the roots and snapping them off to ensure nothing is left behind to grow again.

We managed to clear a decent stretch of the plants before they start flowering and popping out more seeds so hopefully there'll be less here next year!

Just a small crew of litterpickers this month on Dallow Downs, but a powerful bunch we were as the four of us tackled a new area for a change at the bottom of the hill.

First task was a clean-up around the playground at the bottom the of the hill, where half-term playtimes in the park had amassed a large amount of litter and the bins overflowed.

Second task was to head up the steepest hill and clear the litter from a small wooded area with the help of a handy extra-long litterpicker to get into the dense undergrowth.

It was a decently large turnout for the monthly people's park litterpick in spite of the light rain showers. Five from GoodGym joined another bunch of Friends of the Park and out we went across the park and over the hill searching for the litter dropped by local park users over the last few weeks.

Altogether we got about 15 bags of litter plus a DVLA car clamp and left the park spotless for the weekend visitors.

2 Goodgymers joined the FoLP on their monthly litterpick. Although the numbers were small for this task the team still managed to get a fair amount of rubbish from around the park. Well done team

This week's group run too us up to Dallow Downs and the Ferndale allotment. Thanks to previous efforts this allotment that had fallen out of use is now fully occupied with keen growers.

the final part of bringing the allotment back into good use was clearing up collected bits of rubbish in the overgrown parking area.

We got rummaging in the foliage to find the bits of old wood, metal buckets and general litter left lying around and now grown over by thick plants, building an impressive pile ready for quick removal. With all the rubbish pulled out the area is safe for a strimming and reclaiming the area for better use.

We made quick work of it so we took the scenic route down the beautifully sunny downs and picked litter on the way. Filling a couple of bags with our findings before we got back onto the streets.

This weeks group run took the team on a fairly long distance run 4km out to Stony Hill nature reserve. A popular park space for after school playtime it was due for a tidy up of the usual forgotten litter.

Our team of seven got into every corner and copse of the park seeking bits to fill our bags. after thirty minutes or so we'd filled an impressive eight bags, set them by the road for collection and began the return 4km journey back into town.