7 of GG Luton's finest braved the elements this week to help the Friends of Leagrave Park volunteers with their monthly litterpick. The weather was grim but you can't dampen our spirits. Great effort everyone 👏 👍🏻 👌

This week's Group Run took us on a 4km journey out of town to the Stony Hill nature reserve.

But first we welcomed Zainab and Daneal to their first session warmed up and made sure everyone had lights before we headed out into the dark night.

On arrival at Stony Hill we split up into three groups and spread out around the small nature reserve, just big enough to lose sight of eachother between the trees. We collected up nine bags full of litter from the field, the hedgerow and among the trees. Just as we finished we all assembled accidentally under an apple tree, with its red fruits still hanging on leafless branches and shining out in the darkness 🍎 so we took a moment to enjoy a fresh, cold and sweet apple each to restore our energy for the return run back into town.

This week's group run took us up to Stockwood Park to collect acorns, continuing the tree seed collection for Bob the Tree Officer's new planting scheme. Theres loads of grand old oak trees here and they have given us many acorns this year so we filled a bag full in no time at all.

With those collected, next on the list of seeds to collect was holly berries, so we went down the road a bit to Kidney Wood where we'd been told we'd find some holly berries. However, completing a fruitless circuit of the dark dark woods left us empty handed. Giving up, we headed back into town but soon spotted an enormous holly bush overhanging the road with a bumper crop of shiny red berries. Moving on again we took a slight detour to Memorial Park, where a few more holly trees waited for us to finish filling our bag.

Seed swag safely stashed, we swiftly strode back into town to round off another good deed, and mark another good run, done!

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