It was a return to the foot of Winsdon Hill on Dallow Downs this morning. Where Brambles had been cut away there was tons of litter on the ground, plus dumped furniture that we dragged down for collection from the roadside. Alongside the Friends of Dallow Downs And Winsdon Hill, we filled bag after bag of litter until we ran out of bags! A huge pile was made by the time our hour was up, but there was plenty more there so we'll be back soon to do some more.

In conjunction with a long term restoration plan by the Council's Parks team, the Luton and Dunstable Conservation volunteer team, and the Friends of Dallow Downs, the mission in the middle of our run this week was targeting litter in a neglected area of the Dallow Downs.

Previous conservation activity to clear the scrub in the wooded areas revealed a lot of litter in the undergrowth, we got in there supported by Kevin from ABCD-in-Luton with the equipment and foraged 16 bags of litter from amongst the trees. Also dragged out was some laminate flooring, several wooden pallets, a drawer and a traffic cone.

On our return journey we stopped by Brantwood park for a quick blast of sprint intervals to really stretch the legs before calling it a night.

This week's group run took us to the Dallow Downs to meet a new partner organision for GoodGym, the recently formed Friends of Dallow Downs and Winsdon Hill!

It was unseasonably warm on the way up the Dallow Road but before too long we found Kevin from ABCD Luton who supports litter picking groups all over town. We set ourselves up with bags and pickers and headed between the houses into the woods at the bottom of the hill to meet Sophie, Vanessa and John, the friends group.

We didn't have to take more than a couple of steps into the woods before we found plenty of mess. Domestic waste had been dumped here many times by the look of it and the area hadn't been cleaned for years and years.

We filled bag after bag of all the rubbish, there was layer upon layer. It's the first time we've made good use of a rake on a litter pick! Perseverance meant we made some progress and forged on deeper into the woods.

After an hour we called it a day and counted up our collection of bags to a huge 129! Not to mention all the other random large items we pulled out like beds, tables, TVs and a gazebo!

It was a pleasure to meet this new group and help them out with their passion to restore the downs to something resembling a natural state! We will be back!