After delaying this summer rounders social by two weeks due to the Euros, Sam finally got the gang together to play some rounders.

Sam and Maria hauled over the rounders kit and gazebo from their home and set up shop on the rugby pitch in Peckham Rye park. Thankfully, it was a cooler and cloudier day than the previous day, but it was still quite muggy and humid.

Dylan, Leanne and Isaac all came on time as we waited for the rest to come. By 16:45, we had everyone, but we realised only one person came from the North side of the river to represent... Lobo cycled 40 minutes from Wapping to be here. So, naturally, we had to change tactic and we divided the teams per originally from "North of London upwards" against the South:

Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one consisted of Lobo, Daryl, Isaac, Jess, Leanne, Adrian and Tarik (Adrian and Andrada's friend). They were against Southern Softies: Dylan, James, Eileen, Rebecca, Andrada, Natalia (Adrian and Andrada's other friend) and Maria.

It was no contest as even over 2 innings each, Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one scored 12 and a half rounders against 1 and a half rounders. The game was over within 30 minutes, which prompted a new layout to rounders field as the final base was too close to the backstop. Still, Ninety Nine Problems, but a Northerner ain't one thoroughly deserved the win and leads 2-1 in the yearly series.

Yet, the best was still to come... Sam felt left out and wanted to get a game in. Sam thought the numbers would be uneven, but Leanne left early, which meant we had the numbers per each team.

Splitting the teams was hard, but it ended up being GG Southwark members without Sam against Sam and the rest. "Southwark sacrificing Sam" vs. "Sam outside Southwark" - SSS vs. SOS...

The game was such a close contest with SSS putting up a big score of 10 and a half rounders to beat after two innings when SOS had only scored 4 rounders in the first innings. Yet, with a big team effort and massive runs from Lobo and Dylan, SOS managed to force a super inning as they came back to draw.

However, it was in the super innings that SSS was too strong and in one innings only, they scored 11 and a half rounders after five rounders from Isaac alone and Daryl had a couple too. Even with SOS trying their luck, they only managed 7 rounders before SSS managed to get the whole team out with a great catch from Maria to get big-scoring Lobo out!

All in all, it was such a fun afternoon with loads of us learning rounders for the first time or for the first time in many many years! Looking forward to putting on another social rounders session next summer, so look out for the listing come early 2025!

On the eve of Election Day, we were all getting Election fever. Momentum, a shift in dynamics, something was in the air... nope, it was just Sam opening Old Spike Peckham to the seven other runners that decided to come and help out.

We had two tasks tonight, so Sam was glad Paulin came along as she could lead the second group. The two tasks on offer were woodchip moving and...woodchip moving, but in two different spots. Sam welcomed not only Paulin, but Steve, Rosalind, Daryl, Cecilia, Isaac and Benjamin. Everyone arrived before 18:45, so Sam got going with his usual speech and his ice-breaker question. Tonight's ice-breaker was about the Elections, so he asked: "Who do you think will be the top 5 parties (in order)?" and he also did a ice-breaker poll: "Yes or No, will Nigel get the Clacton seat?"

Most of the predictions went Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dems, SNP and Greens whereas unfortunately, most of us predicted Nigel would get a seat in Parliament...

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A chip on our shoulders

We headed out to a different part of the Green to warm-up and after getting everyone's heart rate elevated, Sam led the whole group out with Paulin splitting with Steve, Rosalind and Cecilia off down Barry Road to head to meet Earth Tenders at Roseberry Lodge in Dulwich Park. Where they moved 30 wheelbarrows of woodchip to lay it down in the community garden at the back.

The rest of us ran along Peckham Rye Park and up Dunstan's Road, Underhill Road and Overhill Road to meet Ellie and two other Dawson's Heights residents. Our task? Similar to the other group, but we had to clear an area by the compost as it was overgrown by nettles and weeds. Benjamin and Sam concentrated on this clearance minding the itchy and stinging nettles whilst Daryl and Isaac used the one wheelbarrow to take it in turns and bring woodchip to cover the space to prevent the weeds from growing back.

The election playlist from Spotify kept us going, but time catches up with us. Before we knew it, it was almost 20:00, so we had to pack away our tools back to the storage unit and run back to Old Spike to meet the other group.

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Thank You to all the GG-ers

A personal thanks from me to all those who came out last night. Two tasks done in quick sessions and both task owners were very pleased with the results. Great to have a little impromptu social afterwards too. Kudos to all and if I don't see you next week, see you soon!

Yesterday, Lobo Isaac and Paulin went to Surrey Docks Farm to help out. Pat from the farm met us at the gates and quickly got us pulling us grass to make one of the paths wider and more accessible. As usual, wise Pat shared her encyclopedic knowledge of plants and bugs. Meanwhile, Isaac shared his repertoire of (very accurate!) farm animal impressions and got licked by a cow many times. The task took a surprising amount of time, and before we knew it, our time was almost up.

As a treat at the end, Pat gave us some willow and bags of oats to feed the goats and the cows.