We were 3 of 743 finishers at University Parks Christmas Day parkrun! A chilly but lovely start to the day ❤

This morning we helped with the next stage of the NaturEscape project at Meadow Lane playground.

Armed with shovels and wheelbarrows and ably assisted by some kids who were using the playground we peeled away lots of turf to create some flowerbeds. The turf was then used to make more planting areas. Waste not want not!

We all came away feeling like we'd had a very effective upper-body work out!

We'll be back in October to spread topsoil, mulch and sand and get some plants in the ground!

This evening we headed back to Aston's Eyot for what will be our last session of 2026 until the spring. Completely understandable as it was getying very gloomy by the time we finished, the evenings are drawing in!

This session was a follow up to our thistle removal a couple of weeks ago and involved tackling more of the pesky prickly things.

The name of the game today was improving access so armed with a variety of tools including hoes (insert school-boy snigger), we lopped branches, scythed nettles, hoiked out thistle roots and created a HUGE pile for compost/minibeasts/creepy crawlies. The pile had to be compacted a bit and it was VERY satisfying to WACK it with a big stick!

Well done team! I think it's time to dig out the head torches and charge up my mini flood lights.

Autumn is coming.