It was the night of the 5th November, and a gang of plotters assembled in the moonlight. Tonight's plot was simple: celebrate Gill’s 600th mission and seed the town with future green rebellions.

Their meeting ritual began with a secret rations exchange, cupcakes handed round in honour of Gill's 600th deed. Energised by frosting and plotting spirit, the crew mounted their steeds and took to the lanes, powder-keg enthusiasm in their legs.

They moved like a midnight patrol, scenting hedgerows for spoils. After a brisk run and a quick cycle, two kilometres claimed from the night, the scouts found a hedgerow heavy with red treasure. Swift hands became harvesters; berries poured into the sack like captured rubies. The haul was declared mission success with triumphant whispers.

The two-wheeled detachment peeled away to tackle the second front: clearing the aftermath of Marsh Farm’s pyrotechnics. They swept embers of fiery celebration and litter from the fields, leaving no trace of the night's noisy revels.

The runners bore the berry trove to the Parks team’s volunteer compound in Wardown Park. There the fruits would be rendered into seed mixture, a quiet alchemy that would turn tonight’s small rebellions into sapling uprisings. Plans were made in hushed, excited tones for the future forest the town would not know had been born by moonlight.

Final sortie: People’s Park, oak-hunting under streetlamp halos. The search was thorough and hopeful. At last one noble oak stood sentinel, but the acorn coffers were bare. The conspirators catalogued the defeat with good humour; a future rendezvous was already plotted.

They dispersed back into town. Gill’s 600th deed celebrated, hedgerow bounty secured, fireworks aftermath cleared, another night where small acts in the darkness combined into a larger plot for the common good. The acorn cache would be sought another night, until then the conspirators smiled and vanished into the dark.

We arrived at People’s Park in Luton and began our work by collecting the litter scattered around the park. We focused especially on picking up plastic bottles and other discarded items found along the paths and under the trees.

Working together, we cleaned the area thoroughly, removing anything that could cause mess or harm the green spaces. Thanks to the team’s cooperation, the park became cleaner and more organized, and we felt proud of our positive contribution to the community.

8 Goodgymers joined ABCD-IN-LUTON and the Friends of Leagrave Park on their monthly litterpick. As ever there were some weird and wonderful finds amongst the 17 bags of rubbish that we all collected. Well done to everyone that took part

In conjunction with a long term restoration plan by the Council's Parks team, the Luton and Dunstable Conservation volunteer team, and the Friends of Dallow Downs, the mission in the middle of our run this week was targeting litter in a neglected area of the Dallow Downs.

Previous conservation activity to clear the scrub in the wooded areas revealed a lot of litter in the undergrowth, we got in there supported by Kevin from ABCD-in-Luton with the equipment and foraged 16 bags of litter from amongst the trees. Also dragged out was some laminate flooring, several wooden pallets, a drawer and a traffic cone.

On our return journey we stopped by Brantwood park for a quick blast of sprint intervals to really stretch the legs before calling it a night.

It was our monthly date at Leagrave Park and two Goodgymers joined the Friends of Leagrave Park for the litter pick. What we lacked in numbers we made up for with enthusiasm and we were soon wombling in the woodlands and playing fields clearing up cans, bottles and all sorts of litter, and getting a lovely walk into the bargain. Fortunately there was less litter than we usually find so maybe people are starting to take their rubbish home with them.

We welcomed some new faces to Goodgym this week, with Aiman, Abdulrahman and Abdullah joining the team.

Our task for the evening involved running all the way up the hill through Capability Green to the big "Welcome to Luton" gravel sign that welcomes drivers from the motorway. We were there to pull out the weeds and tidy up the lettering to make sure it all looks neat and tidy.

With light fading fast under the thick clouds we worked rapidly to make our improvements and when done, moved on to a quick breathing exercise in Stockwood Park, ran a lap of the rugby pitch, and then descended down the hill back into town to call it a night 🌙