Sam and Ben met up for another foodbank run to donate much needed items for MCR South-Central foodbank.

After a weekend of high winds and heavy rain, we were thankful for a relatively peaceful, albeit cold, Monday evening jog down to Hulme Asda, leaving behind a giant Santa in St Peter's Square.

Sam made the smart choice to run unladen and buy a basket load of tea/coffee and other goods for the donation point. Ben was less smart, lugging a heavy bag of tins and UHT milk from home to the drop-off...

In all, we filled the bottom of the trolley donation point, before heading back via Man Met University buildings and getting a picture with the Christmas Bee 🐝

Following Storm Claudia, a group of us joined the Friends of Peel Park for their monthly Sunday tidy.

Ben joined David plus 2 other local volunteers to clear leaves 🍃 from a drainage ditch near a mural in the park, clear any paths of storm and river Irwell debris, and tidy up the beds to remove any dead or dying plants.

In about 75 minutes, we filled up 5 or 6 sacks of rubbish 🗑, cleared most of a tree from a path, and filled up 6 or 7 wheelbarrows-full of dead plants, leaving the park more accessible for users and just generally much tidier.

Hope to be back in the new year, for Peel Park's 180th birthday year.

Managed to get a full roster of volunteers for the Saturday morning. Storm Claudia on Friday night and Saturday morning brought lots of wind and rain with it. Early course check at 7am and met with the Environmental agency who had closed the park due to partial flooding, so cancelled the parkrun. Storm debris on the course but park reopened at about 10am.

I'll be back next week.

Well done for getting out on a soggy Wednesday evening to run or jog their way around the 5 km city centre route, all to try and add to the charity total. The MCR 24 hr run events starts at midday on Wednesday to midday on Thursday with relay 5 km segments in between.

We signed up as a GoodGym group for the 19:20 wave, getting a good shout out and making sure not to slip on the trodden grass during the briefing and group photo.

Hazel and Laura went with the 40 minute group, and kudos to Hazel running their first 5 km continously! Fanette, Hannah, and Ben joined the 35 minute group.

With the rain, there were lots of puddles, slippery leaves, and hazards from passing vehicles, with a few of us getting a shower during the run. With so many running for a great cause, there were many smiles and a great atmosphere amongst all those taking part.

A few of us ran an additional lap at 8.20pm as the rain seemed to calm going into the evening

At time of writing, they had raised £50,345.54 so comfortably passing their target and last year's total.

More info and to donate

Weekend in Oxford parkrun volunteering 🦺

Saturday at University Parks helping some of the set up, clear down, and helping hand out finish tokens for 762 runners and walkers at event number 193. Brand new hi vis vests!

Sunday at Florence Park junior parkrun event number 242. 158 kids completed the 2km course on a nice autumn 🍂 morning. I did the 1st timers welcome and was one of the timekeepers on Remembrance Sunday.

Restocked CIC have recently moved into the ground floor of the Kingston House site of GRIT Studios. With lots to move in, sort, and set up, Laura and Ben went along to help out with painting of the roof tiles.

As a CIC that upcycle furniture and upholstery, it seemed fitting to reuse the scratchy or damaged roof tiles to add a bit of colour to the room.

With rollers and paintbrushes, we covered 11 tiles with a splash of yellow and a grand 27 tiles a vibrant orange! With the radio on, it was a very therapeutic evening of painting and glad for an indoor task with the rain outside.

It was great to see how much the space has come along since we were last there, and look forward to seeing all the exciting workshops and projects that come out of it.