It was a bitterly cold evening, with frost clinging to the ground, but that didn’t dissuade 13 Tower Hamlets diehards, wrapped in many layers, gathering for our first group task of 2026. Breath hung in the air as we pulled on gloves and got to work, determined not to let the temperature dampen our spirits. The Cranbrook garden was still carpeted with wet, fallen leaves, somehow unhardened by the icy conditions

Despite numb fingers and stiff muscles, the group worked steadily, gathering leaves into large piles, bagging them, and Chris even repeating his Cranbrook party trick of jumping into the wheelie bin, to stamp the debris down and create more space for the seemingly never-ending flow of leaf piles. Periodic bursts of laughter and much conversation helped to break through the chill, and the physical effort brought a degree of warmth

By 19:45, the thick carpet of leaves had disappeared, just a few clinging on between blades of grass, and the lucky 13 felt proud, rosy-cheeked, and energised. There only remained the logistically difficult problem of getting everyone in a selfie, and the difficult negotiation of the frozen pavements outside

It must have been something about today's arctic conditions mixed with a hint of sunlight that drew our biggest congregation of Sunday morning volunteers for which we, and all of today's hardy runners (and their coaches), were all extremely grateful - if the phrase "start the year as you mean to go on" has any truth to it, we're in for a bumper year at the Fields!

In all we had fifteen generous souls don the high viz and position themselves neatly around the course, including as Marshals (Sarah, Hilary, Sooz, Lucinda, Anna, Lobo, Kareem), Timekeeper (Rue), and Tailwalker (Louise), with Nick as today's RD conducting the merry band - we were also grateful for visiting volunteers from Cheltenham, Highbury Fields, Burgess and our helpful DoE participant on finish token duty.

21 enthusiastic runners took to the frosty course, including two complete first timers to parkrun (their (or their parents') Sunday mornings will never be the same...), and, in spite of the near freezing conditions, 3 PBs were recorded, which really was some effort. Hopefully everyone has recovered full use of their fingers and toes and gathered their chilly breath, and we're already looking forward to next week, where the forecast is for it to be a few degrees warmer (but definitely not tropical).

Join us if you can under the big tree next Sunday at 0845 for more fun at the Fields.