Celebrations all round this evening as Hayley reached 50 good deeds.

We also applauded all those who ran the Great East Run in very warm conditions on Sunday, with extra kudos to those who made it to Goodgym tonight as well - Nicola, Robin, Kerry, Keith. Appreciation was also expressed to Hayley, Eleanor and Paul who had supported out on the course with the Goodgym flag.

We were straight off on the run aiming to get to St. Marks with as much of the fading daylight left as possible. The 1.5 mile run out made a little more challenging by the prospect of Belstead Road hill, which splintered the group. The loop back by the front runners was perfectly timed to completely miss the rest of the group taking a direct route along a narrow lane - however all was well as the group arrived almost simultaneously at St. Marks school.

We were met by Vanessa and Clare who were already hard at work in the planned forest school area. Vanessa explained the task, focussed on two areas within the "forest". Clear one area of overgrown vegetation and level off to prepare for a possible fire pit. Clear a second area and install a circle of tree trunk seats then lay a wood chip base and path between the areas.

With the light pretty much gone particularly under the trees our head torches and bat lights proved essential - this was our first "dark" task for several months.

As usual great team work and effort saw two groups getting stuck in with one group lopping, digging and clearing at the far end, deeper into the forest area, while a second group levelled off some ground and shifted logs to make the sitting circle, which was then layered with a soft, spongy wood chip floor.

It was amazing to once again see a big task gradually take shape and see a very clear end result. Hopefully the children will get great enjoyment from learning and playing in the forest school area.

The slight drizzle didn't dampen spirits on the run back to the Waterfront with an optional "hard effort" on the last half mile making just over 5k total run for the evening.