Where on a grey Tuesday evening can you have debate and discussion around Greek philosophy, gay history, the stock exchange, the Euro’s, Derwent Reservoir and the 1977 Silver Jubilee?

Goodgym Derby that's where!!!!!!

Ashley and Pete met up with David to prune a large Yew tree, and the topics for discussion during the task were varied and generally totally unrelated!

Great company on a night I think we all learnt something 🧐. Feel free to join our debating group on the next task 😄.

Naomi and Pete turned up for the task far too early and had to sit around and make small talk before Ashley arrived and the task was able to start. David, as ever, was most gracious and plied us with hot drinks before the task. We set about probing the ground with a screwdriver, trying to find hidden grave slates. Once 4 were found we set about digging down through the years of accumulated dirt to uncover the slates, some of which might not have been seen for over a hundred years. Pete managed to uncover 2, but that was only because his were more shallow, compared to Ashley's Herculean effort for his that were so deep, a complex pulley and ladder system had to be set up. Another great task at the Church on a beautiful summer's evening.

Ashley and Pete joined David once again at the church. This time for a spot of tree felling and boarder clearing. Pete set about clearing the boarder while Ashley tackled sawing down a dead part of a tree. After Ashley got tired of sawing (about 5 minutes), Pete stepped in to finish the Job, nice one. The boarder was cleared and everyone enjoyed some homemade blueberry muffins - thanks David!

Ashley and Mandy met the regular volunteer group to do some pruning and tidying up of the trees. A new term was learned, "Crown Lifting" whereby the low handing branches are removed to raise the crowns base. It's a fancy way of saying we hacked at everything we could reach and stuffed it in a bag. Much fun was had while we worked, talking about running, training, falling off cliffs etc.

Mandy, Grant, Lewis and Pete returned for another session at St Matthew’s church. The mission was to bring a little TLC to the Garden of Rest. We cleaned the commemorative slates around the boarder - these being local people who had passed away in the 1800’s. We also cleaned the more recent stones in the central area. We also checked on the boarders we had created on a previous mission - the local schoolchildren have started to plant flowers and bushes, and the area is starting to come a live. Great to catch up on a lovely evening, and as ever thanks to David for the tea and biscuits.

Ashley met Mandy, David and Pete a little way into the task and was able to supervise for 10 minutes while the task was done. Good job everyone. A small task this night but another opportunity for the local school children to sow wild flowers and make the boarders look fantastic. Sometimes it's not about the task, it's that we can get together and chat, social interaction is so important for mental health.