Dave, Ian, John, Kim and Olivia met up to take on November's Parkrun on Tour: South London edition in Catford during the Catford parkrun.

It takes commitment to venture out on a cold, dark, and windy evening. It takes something on top of that to come out for your FIRST group run; well done and welcome to Grace who joined us for a visit to Crofton Park Railway Garden.

After a much-needed warmup outside Glass Mills, there were plenty of gritted teeth as we headed uphill into a headwind to meet our hosts outside Crofton Park station. On arrival, our instructions were clear; leaves are the enemy and MUST be composted!

With a combination of rakes, brooms, dustpans, and one wheelbarrow, the group spread ourselves out along the length of the garden, running adjacent to the railway tracks, and set about tidying this lovely space.

Once the paths were clear, we set about the plant beds with equal gusto – honourable mentions for Paul and Adam who ventured down the mini-embankment to tackle the deepest leafy deposits against the railway fencing.

45 mins of hard (and chilly!) graft saw the garden’s compost bins bursting with leaves as we carefully gathered up all our tools and did our best not to shiver during the group photo – “Say ‘freeze’” as someone put it!

The return leg was just what the doctor ordered, as we ran downhill with the wind at our backs and arrived back at basecamp nicely re-warmed.

It’s one of the group’s all-time favourite tasks next Monday as we run to Seniors to put up their Christmas decorations!