OK, there might have been a little bit of literary freedom there... we didn't actually go down any driveways, but went past loads of them which is almost the same!

Unfortunately a few others could not make it in the end, so it was just the lovely Ambra and me setting off on a run, armed with litter pickers & bags, 'just in case'. Ofcourse we came across litter, sadly, so 2 bags were dropped at one of our usual points at the Green Man roundabout.

Making use of the improved weather we set off to dip into Wanstead Park to check up on the bluebells, but sadly we were too late - April seems to be the best time.

We did have a nice surprise just a little further up in the park though.... just as Ambra was explaining her surprise of coming across a cow in the park, we turned a corner and saw cows! They seem to be a rugged breed used to manage vegetation.

Currently next session is in 3 weeks, skipping Bank Holiday Monday to pop down to the babybank on 3/6.

The evening started out nice, but there was a hint of something in the air as we gathered at base. Ambra confirmed the suspicion, her weather app predicted a chance of rain at 8ish...

So we got going with the aim to be back by 8.

With the light lasting longer, Leyton Flats was now an option for a plogging session. Pleasantly surprised we didnt fill more than a bag between the 5 of us. Sadly the bags did end up filling up once we crossed through the Green Man roundabout, right on schedule to drop the collected litter at the council bins we use more often as drop-off point.

James, Elegia & Linda took the short route back, while i kept Ambra company on a longer scenic route, arriving at base not long after the others.

Job done, right on time, because on the way home it started raining, just as Ambra predicted!

It's fair to say that a lot of screwdrivers (and screws, hammer, nails, saws, shovels, brooms, string, tape, sections of wood...) were required for today's production at School21, where our friendly host Maggy had quite a bit planned for us to get done.

Fortunately we came with lots of pairs of willing hands, as Sooz, Hilary and Nick arrived from volunteering at Junior parkrun, Ambra from Redbridge, a first time GG task for Paul, and it was great to see Kevin again (once he'd worked out how to get into the school itself...).

First up was reducing the size of a woodchip area in the playground (the "easier task" per our host) - this involved shifting a row of car tyres that formed the boundary, and then shovelling/brushing the woodchip that was now outside of the tyre line back inside the play area - once done, Maggy asked us to glue some of the tyres (that weren't already cable tied together) to stop the children moving them around. Getting the "hard as nails" glue out of the tube was a workout in itself, but Kev then worked out a neat way to then ensure sufficient pressure was applied to both surfaces to get the bonding to happen...

We then moved on to the main event - "teepee building", where we discovered that certain team members seemed to have particular skills learned from times past that were extremely useful today (call Ambra if you ever find yourself needing a raft tied together in a hurry...) - as what we had was a series of broom handles, random offcuts of wood, some string, a variety of tools (of varying usefulness), some elastic bungee cords and the piece of material that would be the cover...it was up to us to come up with the construction masterplan, including deciding on the actual shape of the shelter...Scrapheap Challenge GoodGym style.

After an hour of deliberating, planning, measuring and sawing (specialist subject of Paul), tying (Ambra), frantic hammering and some quite challenging use of a screwdriver or two (there's never enough torque when you really need it), we had the frame built and it was time to put the cover over the top and tuck the edges under the pallet. We nominated Ambra to try it on for size, and it was a thumbs up all round - especially from Maggy's son who was keen to get inside and start reading...