On Tuesday we ran in the rain to St Augustine’s to assist Sue.

As customary prior to us arriving Sue would send me an email with all the tasks she have for us to complete. Today’s email;

Dear Conroy, looking forward to seeing you all again this evening. Usual mix of heavy and light options. Woodchip delivery in the car park needs moving including loading into some ton bags and sweeping up afterwards. Lighter options include moving some smaller bags to spots around the garden, more edging / trimming the grass edges and sweeping the car park at the end. There's also a small dead tree to cut down / remove and a couple of smaller bushes to dig out. Lots of options as usual. Sadly I'm on crutches so not able to do much. Grrrr. Sue.

Dear Conroy and all you wonderful people, thank you for your work last night. I can't thank you enough. Such a relief to have the car park as good as cleared and sustainably packed mulch for the future. On June 27th 10.45 the garden at St Augustine's will be assessed by RHS. Sue have requested to have one representative from GoodGym Croydon.

On Tuesday we ran/walk 3km to and from Park Hill, where Josi had an exciting task for us. Last October we did a few sessions working on our Peace Pole.

Tuesday was going to be the day we planted it along with there others done by other community organisations within Croydon. Armed with post hole diggers, a sledge hammer, a step ladder, bags of postcrete and a spade 5 of us set about preparing the spot that was identified for three of the peace poles.

While 5 of us worked on getting the Peace Poles into the ground, the other four members of the group under the watchful eyes of Ros set about weeding the GoodGym area of the garden. With Ros keeping a watchful eye on them I was able to assist the others in securing the poles into the ground.

It was quite satisfying that while we were busy working, weeding and securing the poles into ground members of the community were showing interest in what we were doing and asking questions. One lady even took some time out to sit on one of the benches to take in and appreciate the artwork on the peace poles.

Are you looking for something to do on Monday in Croydon, between 14:00 - 17:30? Faiths Together is having their annual Big Picnic in Park Hill, all are invited to join the fun, games and fellowship. Also take an opportunity to have a wonder in the walled garden to see our peace poles.

Come and join us next week as we head over to St Augustine to assist Sue in the Church Garden

On Tuesday we ran 1km to assist the staff in the Crisis Charity shop. Unfortunately it wasn’t a visit to help them sort their donations or restack the clothing rails for the new season. Sadly they were closing down the Croydon Branch and they had movers coming on Wednesday to take the stuff to a storage facility, and they would then be disseminated to other Crisis Charity Shops.

We welcomed back a familiar face, Audrey had been a regular runner with us in the past however after starting her family time wasn’t as freely available as it was before, but with the little one not so little anymore she is begging to claw back some time and decided to come out with us. Welcome back Audrey.

When we arrived we were greeted by Jill and Ryan, who had been there all day packing and moving boxes. They were about to hit the wall but they were happy to see 12 smiling faces eager to put in some work and get them over the finish line. Jill/Ryan explained that they had some boxes, shelves mannequins and odd bits and pieces in the basement to be taken up to the ground floor. There were still books on the shelves that needed to be taken off and boxed up. To them it seemed like an endless task as there were only two of them trying to get it done all day. We divide the group into movers and packers and within an hour we had emptied the basement packed all the books into boxes and move everything closer to the door for t the movers arrival on Wednesday. Jill and Ryan was really excited about the 12 hours we were able to cram into an hour.

We said our goodbyes and as it was the last Tuesday of the month we headed off to Box Park for a few burgers and drinks.

We later received the following message

Just want to say Thank you again to you and the team for all your support on Tuesday evening. Ryan and I really appreciated all the help.

Next Tuesday we’ll be heading to Park Hill to plant our peace pole are you coming along?

On Tuesday, we had some sun and a lot of rain, I spent a lot of my time looking out the window during the day hoping the forecast rain for the evening was not going to happen but the weather forecast was right. Despite the weather forecast it was good to have Emily back for her second outing with us glad to see she was not put off by us on her first visit and we were not too lairy when we went out for drinks.

We ran 3.46km in the rain and wind to assist Sue in the community garden at St Augustines Church. On the journey to the task I was tempted to burst out in a song "We are running in the rain" but I was able to contain myself as I remembered that singing was not one of my strong suits.

When we arrived Ingrid and Sue had already began working on the tasks, so we just all jumped in as it was pouring and there was no time for standing around.

Looking at the transformation of the church yard and the now blooming flowers, it does take me back to that hot day in July 2018 when we started to help out at St Augustine's.

Thank you and the fantastic team for working in the stormy rain last night. It was good to see so many new members too as well as familiar faces who noticed how well the new trees and garden have come along over the years due to their efforts . What a great job emptying the compost and bagging up ready to mulch. Guess there are some good snaps of drenched runners. Looking forward to seeing you all again May 9th. Sue.

Next week, Liz will be leading the group in my absence, please come and support her sign up you don't want to miss out on her surprise