Another evening of being suspiciously thin on the ground but a small and perfectly formed group gathered tonight, which included our fab run leader Richard for his first Strawberry Lane session. It was great having him back!

The task tonight had actually been changed twice behind the scenes (an area activator’s work is never done) but on hearing that our Urban Green Newcastle friends are struggling at times to keep on top of the litter and jobs in Leazes Park we took advantage of an otherwise free night to head there armed with litter pickers and lights, to lend a hand.

I’d been warned about the Northern Lights festival set up so we decided to walk the perimeter of the park and look for an open entrance. As it happened, there was so much litter to collect on the way there and around the paths to the Town Moor, that it didn't matter too much when we discovered we weren’t able to get in at all! There were so many cans and bottles, a few of which were accidentally opened on their way into the bags that by the end of the session my gloves were soaked with (I hope) beer! The hot topic tonight was parkrun and we shared many tales of volunteer memories and favourite courses. It was really nice tonight to do the whole session as a group!

Before long we had collected two very full bags of rubbish and clocked up lots of steps to start our weeks off right.

Damu is looking after the session next Monday and as always lots of jobs will be waiting at Stepney Bank Stables so come and get involved in that if you can.