There was a last minute task cancellation which meant we had to find some alternative good deeding for the evening. Armed with the trusty litter pickers we decided to skip our usual litter picking haunts of our start point / Ladywell Fields and head to the pocket gardens in front of Lewisham Hospital.

The pocket gardens (as I've named them) are tiny areas of green space with benches and the odd rose bush but they also feature a bit of litter and a lot of cigarette ends!

We spent just over 30min tackling the little and after we had cleared a lot of small items of litter, not quite reaching the big item of litter - the christmas tree.

Well done team! You can wear your painting GG attire again in March as we return to Young Lewisham Project.

A huge well done for everyone braving the rain last night and it had luckily stopped by the time we were due to set off! We had a quick round up of Lewisham news (Cross Country, 10k races and January Challenge) but mainly every seems to be off out on long runs in preparation for the Big Half in March.

An uphill run over to the task and we arrived at Chelwood Nursery to be treated to bananas, kit kats and hot drinks (and Amber, Nykolette, Stephen and Jacqueline keeping warm in one of the classrooms).

There were a selection of tasks to be completed:

• untangling a beaded curtain which Amber turned out to be very very good at, there was a little bit to do when it was time to leave but they could still be there now as they were determined to finish it!
• removing cable ties from the fence
• sweeping the sand away from the drain
• carrying 30 bags of (Irish) compost from car to school
• stapling the membrane to the newly built planters
• filling the planters with compost
• planting the herbs that had been donated

After refueling and dividing all the tasks depending on preference and who was feeling strong to go back and forth with the huge bags of compost, everyone got stuck in.

From what I could hear the stapling was rather a fun task and possibly more stapling went on than necessary because it was so fun. Better to be more stapled than less stapled!

Before I knew it, I was giving 10 min warning and it was lovely to see the difference in all the tasks that were going on. The planters were looking amazing and the stray soil was being sweeped up so it was ready for the teachers and children arriving Tuesday morning to began planting more herbs and plants in the remaining planters.

After checking no tools had been left in the planters by accident, especially the sharp tools and all counted back in, it was time for a group photo which I'm not going to lie, took a bit of coordinating (read: me eventually moving people into place)!

We had a downhill run back to Glassmill as a reward for the uphill run there, we arrived back at Glassmill ready for a stretch and chat about next weeks task.

We had a couple of tourists this evening from various areas, I hope you enjoyed yourselves in Lewisham and we look forward to seeing you again if you're ever in the area on a Monday evening!

On a chilly January evening, 25 runners and walkers covered 5km to help out at Crofton Books

It’s our birthday! We are four! That’s four years of making a big difference in Lewisham. We have helped numerous community groups, rain or shine, our runners have visited older people in their homes to help change a light bulb, tidy up a garden or move some heavy furniture and we have visited isolated people for a weekly chat.

Just take a look at the stats:

Good deeds: 6,816

Coach visits: 1,478

Missions: 352

The amazing thing that happens over time, is that we not only help others deal with isolation, we help ourselves feel less isolated, building up this incredible community and making what will probably be lifelong friends. Our runners have joined us sometimes as beginners and have gone on to build up their distance, strength and confidence, some smashing goals they didn’t think they could reach. Well done to everyone who has come along over those four years, you’re amazing.

Talking of amazing, two of our runners have completed 200 of those good deeds between them! Congratulations to Clare and Rebecca, who have both earned their wings this week.

On Saturday we had a starter session after parkrun in Hilly Fields, picking litter and keeping the park looking lovely. You can read all about this here. This coming Saturday there is another opportunity to join in during the day, with a community mission in Luxmore Gardens - if you have never visited this space, it’s well worth joining in, it’s pretty special.

Tonight saw our annual birthday visit to Crofton Books, with Emma kindly leading the runners after a little warm-up (and my, did we need it, it’s certainly turned a bit colder!). Thank you also to Caireen (who has been with us since day one, as has Jacqueline!) for back-marking and keeping us all together.

On arrival at Crofton Books, Jason talked us through the various jobs, with some more physically challenging than others. We had:

• shelf shifting
• book lifting
• poetry writing
• shelf shining
• book sorting
• love seeking (searching out books for the Valentine's shelf)

As always, time slipped by at pace and we found ourselves gathering to hear the beautiful words of John and Stephen (sadly, I didn't get a copy of all of the haikus and Stephen's poem, but they will no doubt be on display in the shop).

No visit to Crofton Park would be complete without a little run up and down Hilly Fields finest incline. Well done everyone on pushing hard and working on your form!

After our run, some of us headed to Mamma Dough in Ladywell, to tuck in to some delicious pizza and the gorgeous birthday cake they had made for us - a nutella-stuffed doughy number four, with four candles (or fork handles...?). Thank you!

Next week will be business as usual, heading out to continue our good work. Our task is yet to be confirmed, but sign up anyway and take a lucky dip!

See you soon x