A prompt departure tonight

19 runners gathered tonight on the hotel steps for a handful of very brief warm up exercises, before we enjoyed a short run to our task, a busy location on Grove Road, where a total of 23 volunteers now congregated to join the Borough's first Big Clean Up of 2019.

Brilliantly prepared

With usual efficiency, our task owners Carmen and Charley from Tower Hamlets Council, and Mark from Veolia, were brilliantly prepared: Carmen and Charley met and greeted us, and Mark swiftly ran through our health and safety briefing, before handing out hi-vis jackets, litter pickers, gloves and bin bags to each and every runner. We were lucky enough to be joined by volunteers Stacey, Henry, and Val, which further boosted our numbers and made our evening feel even more sociable!

A lot of ground covered

The runners headed out in five groups, in five different directions, covering the whole of the area from Wennington Green; Roman Road in both directions; ditto Grove Road. Bulging bin bags were the order of the day come 8pm. And tonight's Trash Stash of the Night goes to David, who was tickled by his find of a pair of hipster glasses.

...And then we hit that ground

And so we moved swiftly onto the fitness session of the evening, a relativey short, and somewhat sharp, fitness booster. The runners made light work of jack squats, spiderman push ups and skipping lunges, wincing only at the Backstreet Boys track that had snuck into tonight's playlist.

And then it was all over. We said our cheerios and headed back to base for a little stretch and a biscuit for the road.

This week’s shout-outs

Welcome to Michelle, whose first run it was. Thanks for your huge first effort Michelle! We loved you joining us and we hope to see you very soon.

Thanks to Leanne for usual great backmarking and ensuring we all stay together, Tom for leading an impromptu speed-lap again, to Bryonfor this week’s pun (I have to say I think this is my favourite pun yet).

…And to our task force member Becky J, who hit 100 good deeds tonight. Becky joins us most Mondays, greeting new runners, helping behind the scenes, leading Community Missions…Then goes on a coach run later in the week. Becky participates in around 2-3 good deeds a week.

What’s coming up…

Moving on to future activity: On Sunday, we kick our trainers off and head to The Coborn in Bow for a night of pub quiz-ing. Whether you fancy joining us for a pint, or to share your extensive trivia trove, we’d love you to join us. Details of timings and venue are here.

And next Monday we’re heading back to Victoria Park to help Tom move mulch and dig space for a fountain. DO come and join us if you can.

Until then, have a wonderful week – enjoy the sun, go for a run, and have fun.