It may have been wet and dark but that never stops the warmth of a Goodgym Monday night. With the prerogative of report writer I am writing this from my perspective as someone who has been unable to get to a Monday night for a month. This was my first week back and if I'm honest I had been a little sad as the day was going on and the rain was not stopping - little did I realise that I would be so heart warmed and happy by the end of the session.

December can be busy with everyone having lots of demands on their time, however five Goodgymmers arrived at Lark Lane to do a litter pick. What is the collective noun for litter pickers? The Lark Lane Neighbourhood Association (Wombles) are an active group that work hard to keep the Lark Lane area litter free despite the large amount of people at this popular street full of cafes and bars. We met with Helen who provided our litter pickers and who asked that we tackle the main street that runs at the bottom of Lark Lane - this is a busy road which proved to have a lot of litter on it.

As we litter picked we found various items depicting the time of the year - some packets of halloween sweets unopened possibly dropped out of someones trick and treat pot and parts of an artificial Christmas tree which mustn't have made the grade for this years decoration later weer treated to the smell of real Christmas trees as we passed the florist. Further along the street and unrelated Jo had found a rose which she dutifully posed with and Jake found a light saber and needed little encouragement to pose for some action shots.

The great thing about litter picking is the interactions you have with people , we had many thanks from people as we made our way down the road - its always heartwarming to hear and it makes you realise that people appreciate their environment being clean. The great thing about litter picking in our wonderful city is that you never are far from some great banter. We had a lovely greeting from one man booming out to us that we were doing this for the 'looove of litter' he encouraged us to repeat the term several times with such emphasis it was almost like he would burst into song. The great thing about litter picking with Goodgym is you get a chance to chat as you go..... so of course there was chatting too. Im sure it wasnt just me.... or was it?

Before we knew it we had collected five big bags of litter and although we were wet and it was dark the darkness was lit up by the warmth and joy of Five Goodgymers (and a light saber)