Enjoying a cool breeze and some gorgeous evening sunshine, a fabulous 24 superstars ran through Ladywell to help out at the Wildcat Wilderness, covering 7km of running along the way.

Another heartwarming week of goodness, with many runners heading off over the weekend to help older people in their homes, with tasks that they couldn't manage by themselves and others running to visit their coaches for a friendly chat and a catch up. Really great work everyone, this makes all the difference.

Just recently we seem to have had a general air of celebration, with many of our regular runners reaching milestones (how wonderful?!). This week it was the turn of Vic, who has been with us since April 2017. It didn't take long for Vic to fit right in and become part of the GG Lewisham family and to become a regular at our local Hilly Fields parkrun, where she can usually be seen, either volunteering or driving hard up the hill to finish strong (sometimes as first woman). This is quite often fitted in before a mission, or a run over to our friends at Wildcat Wilderness, where Vic has become known for her incredible ability to create new paths, so much so that she was presented with her very own, personalised 'Wonder Woman' sparkly weed-basher! Well done on your 50th good deed Vic, it's been a joy to run (and chat) with you!

How appropriate that we should be visiting Vic's favourite place this evening so, after some fun warming up, we ran the rather pleasant route through Ladywell Fields towards Catford. As always at the Wilderness, we were met by Maria, who had an array of tasks for us to get on with. In the garden area (where vegetables are being grown), were a group shifting a cardboard structure which turned out to be a castle (Helen's Moving Castle - that's a film isn't it?), this will no doubt be used to insulate a raised bed or something, or maybe just allowed to compost down. As this went on, Maria told us about some of the plants here, inviting us to taste various things and pointing out some rather splendid squashes that are taking over at a triffid-like pace.

Over on the other side of the wilderness, another group worked hard (between handfuls of blackberries or a juicy plum) to clear an area that has been opened up by inquisitive children, who have created the perfect tunnel/den. Unfortunately they have chosen an area that was previously used as a dump for all sorts of rusted metal and broken glass. With great care and attention, this team very thoughtfully dug and lifted out the sharp items in an attempt to make it safer. In addition to the rubbish, we also uncovered some rather smashing treasure, with vintage drinks cans (some older than many of our runners!) and a perfectly intact milk bottle (well done Rosemary!). Expect a museum of curiosities to pop up soon. Before we left, Maria told us about a fruit-picking day happening this Thursday. If you want to find out about all the activities that are going on here, it's a good idea to sign up to the mailing list, to receive regular updates.

On our return to Glass Mill, we did a cheeky wall-squat and some nice tri-dips before stretching, ahead of our social at Mamma Dough (no doughy cores here!). Next week we are visiting our good friends at Seniors - sign up and come along! In the meantime though, don't forget to join us at 11am on Saturday at St Mary's Church, for a community mission, our chance to make some progress painting those railings.

Run happy!

23 runners ran 7.5km to weed, clear undergrowth and shift woodchip at Wildcat Wildnerness

Lewisham News

• Long time Lewisham runner Kim Parker is about to clock up her 100th good deed, give her a cheer! AND Veronice Norcross just hit her 50! Amazing - cheer her here.

• At the weekend more than 70 GoodGymers went to Stratford-upon-Avon to run, talk about GoodGym and generally have an awesome time. Here's the report from the parkrun we descended upon to inspire you to come and join the Shindig next year!

• A big old hello and welcome to Emma, Larissa and Charles who joined us for the first time last night.

• Next week the group will be off to St Mary's to paint the railings - sign up here.

That's enough of the business...

With Adele away, it was my annual trip to cover her at Lewisham and boy have things changed... and that's not just the colour of the grass outside the centre! After a briefing we headed outside to warm up - trying out some hopping drills to get us thinking about reducing our contact time with the ground as we run - this helps make us more efficient runners and reduces the risk of injury. Hooray!

Off we set for the 3.5km to Wild Cat Wilderness which you can find out more about here. Wild Cat Wilderness is a community green space in Catford coordinated by the Rushey Green Time Bank, a local charity. It is a natural wilderness off Catford Hill where you can explore nature and the wildlife, play or relax in its peacefulness or learn new skills. On our way there we paused for some primal squatting, wall-sitting and to power over the loop-di-loop (the technical term...). Caireen met us there and Caz took us into the wilderness to get started. We split into two groups:

• Clearing undergrowth with machete-like things around the outdoor kitchen.
• Shifting woodchip from a pile and spreading it around trees

In the 30 minutes we moved the majority of the woodchip pile and cleared a huge amount of undergrowth. The kitchen will be used to teach children about raw natural cooking. It's an amazing space! We got loads done and Caz was thrilled.

On our way back we took advantage of a nice clear bit of park to stretch our legs a bit and get some speed in - a great feat in this weather!

A super duper evening, thank you so much for having me.

Keep running happy, Lucy