Pulling weeds that is! This week's group run was a trip out to finish weeding the young trees that we made a start on last week. unfortunately we found a couple more that hadn't survived the long hot summer but the rest all got their weeds pulled and mulch spread out to help them recover and prepare for winter.

We also welcomed Patrick to his first run session and once the trees were sorted out we had a little running game that involved running around to steal cones from the other players to be the first to collect three cones! It was a fun little warm-up to prepare for the return journey back into town.

We had a couple of tree related tasks this week for our group run. Part one was a run out to the hillside meadow on Stockingstone Road where there are some Hop Hornbeam trees, a more unusual variety of tree. We collected a bagful of seed from four trees and then deposited them in a secure location at Wardown Park for the council's tree officer Bob to use to increase the number and diversity of trees around town.

Moving on, we went a little further out to the Riddy Lane park where there are about 25 young trees recently planted. Our task here was to remove the weeds, check on the tree's health and report back to the council if any had not survived the exceptionally long hot summer. Fortunately most of the ones we inspected had survived but we only got half way through them before time was up and we had to head back into town. We'll be back to finish off next time!

All together we clocked up 8.5km!

It had been a while since we visited the Welcome to Luton gravel sign, it had got a bit patchy with weeds and looking sad so we spent our evening running up the hill to get to it. Pulled out the weeds, tidied the stones back into their right places and then enjoyed a quick run back down the hill.

Another successful litter pick in People's Park, teaming up with the Friends group to make a total of 11 people helping to pick 10 general bags of rubbish, 8 bags of recycling, discarded scooters 🛴🛴, fencing and pillows out of the park.

It was also the first session for Patrick so well done and welcome to the team!

This week's group run welcomed Austin and Jackie back for their second sessions and first group run we even had Kazeem join in for his first session. It's been a good few weeks of introducing Goodgym to new people!

We ran out to the Stockingstone meadow and Bide-a-while orchards where newly planted apple trees are getting established beside some older specimens, reviving the previously neglected orchards with Konni from the Luton Orchards project.

We secured protective wire mesh to guard the trees from damage and did some weeding and clearing mulch from the base of the tree to stop the trunks getting damp and rotting.

With the task all done and trees safe and secure, we headed off to the bandstand at Wardown Park for a randomised workout from the fitness dice which gave us a selection of jumping jacks, core toning and squat jumps to finish off our evening as darkness set in.