After having a wander around the Festival of Spring, we headed off to help Neptune's Pirates clean Eastney beach.

At only 6 months old, Wilma was full of enthusiasm and bounded across the sand looking for litter with us.

It was a lovely afternoon, in a beautiful location, in good company and we filled 2 bags with litter.

The last day of January. The last January challenge task for Portsmouth. And hopefully the start of lighter evenings!!

Fortunately the cage floodlights illuminated the rubbish lying around the rec for me.

And I made a good start to the litter pick bingo card in one foul swoop!

Not Dave & I - we're not Nobodies, we're Somebodies!

But there was nobody watching our work this time. No occupants of the bench, and in fact only 3 drinks cans & 2 beer bottles!

We litter-picked every bottle top and cigarette end and did some pruning and tidying up. The shrubs and small trees are looking grand, and there are lots of Spring bulbs poking through the soil, and the vinca in flower.

Today Dave, Judy and Mel were helping plant roses. The last of several beds ready for early spring to Autumn flowering. To aid them in growing, we first dipped the roots into a thick fungal and water solution and then into a deep hole to cover the roots. There was a pattern to the planting, leaving room for a couple of larger rose bushes in the centre of the beds. The area will look lovely once they are all in bloom, revealing all the different colours. After sweeping and tidying up the pathway, we went for a hot drink in Cafe in the Park.

It was a chilly one today, but the large group of Victoria Park volunteers put their energies into raking leaves, cutting back brambles and giving the ivy a trim. We had very soon warmed up.

The team made fast progress on clearing and tidying up the pathway from Commercial Road into the park. And there were plenty of sacks of compostable material to show for our efforts at the end.

When parkrun sends out a call for extra volunteers, Team GG are never far behind answering.

This morning John, Judy and I had the pleasure of being out on the course cheering on and guiding the 75 runners around. Whilst Jane and Yvonne scanned them all in to match up to their finishing spot!