Busy morning as Run Director at Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 309. A couple of incidents and lots of people, including local mayor Bev Craig.

Great big THANK YOU to all 27 volunteers who enabled event number 309 to go ahead!! 🦺👏

This morning, 517 people completed the dusty 5 km route. Welcome to 119 who visited us for the first time, especially the 18 people completing their FIRST EVER parkrun 🌱👏 There were 72 PBs and 11 people both running and volunteering 💪

New task location tonight as we went to help out 422 Community Hub based in Longsight. The group carry out a range of community activities including a baby bank, cafe, pantry, meeting space, and local hub.

This evening we loaded our bags with a list of items the pantry was short of, including: tinned tuna, sweetcorn, baby wipes, tea, coffee, squash, and long-life milk. 4 or 5 carrier bags full of food to go towards the pantry over the school holidays.

After placing the items safely in the Keter box at the back of the centre, we used the Clean Up UK litterpicking supplies to clear up discarded litter from the surrounding streets. In just over an hour, we filled up 4 refuse sacks of rubbish, with lots having blown around in the wind. We placed them next to a public bin and reported them to Keep MCR Tidy for collection.

We'll likely be back at the community hub in the future to help with sorting baby bank items and for some painting, so keep an eye out for that.

With filming of the next Harlan Coben drama taking place in Heaton Park blocking the original location, we focused on some of the beds near the Stables Cafe to provide a bit of maintenance.

Ella from the park had the tools and gloves, while Ben & Juno brought some GoodGym muscle to target any weeds with a particular focus on the large amount of thistle that had taken over.

Ripping out the thistle proved fruitful given the dry soil, while the sticky willy (Galium aparine) came along with it. With each wheelbarrow load of weeds, we made steady progress in the late morning sunshine, making sure to top up the sun cream too.

2 hours of aggressive weeding produced a sizeable pile of weeds that will breakdown over time. By the end, we were covered in seeds and bits of plants but was certainly worth it given the progress made.