Tonight we gathered to finish the job started on Tuesday at St Leonards. The task was to extract a massive holly tree stump from the churchyard so a wild flower meadow can be planted in its place.

After a quick chat with a local churchgoer about some of the site's history (did you know Jane Austin was a regular at this unassuming Streatham church?) we set about with tools, continuing with the previous roots manoeuvre of unearthing and then hacking with the pickaxe. Steve got quickly into the swing of things, and within 25 minutes he'd managed to sever the last remaining roots, allowing us to use our heaving might to wrench the whole stump out.

Then it was just a matter of filling the hole back in, minus the complement of wrappers and rocks. Ali was amazed and very grateful, as was a passer by (who had been involved early on in the project and admitted she had thought it couldn't be done). Hopefully the new meadow will bring just as much joy to the community.