Last night nine Good Gym runners ran 2km to join the ECCO team in cleaning up the boulevard.

After a week of transport strikes, a little partial closure on the trams didn't stop us and seven of us met up at Solutions to begin our run. As the task is close to our start point, we took a circuitous route over Windmill Bridge to stretch our legs and were met by two more at the task. As we arrived, Nicola was already helping to carry the equipment. Jerry and a couple of volunteers from the East Croydon Community Organisation set us up with the task of clearing litter and overgrown ivy. Ingrid and Samantha dived into the undergrowth with their litter pickers outstretched and soon had bagfulls of crisp bags and bottles, cans and chocolate wrapers, and all sorts of odds and ends which do not belong in bushes! The others took up the garden shears and began hacking back the overgrown ivy to clear the foot paths for pedestrians. Before we knew it, the council was here to collect the tools and we swept the pavement leaving the boulevard looking fresh. When it was all together, we had a large pile of bright lilac bags filled with rubbish we had cleared away. A great job done by everyone, and a big well done to Paul for his 10th good deed!

Next week, we will be doing a litter pick in Park Hill, followed by our social...picnic in the park!