I was the only runner on this community mission so I pitched in alongside Beecroft Garden Primary School families on their volunteer gardening day. Despite the heatwave, impressive progress was made towards creating the school’s new sensory garden and outdoor chill-out and reading areas.

After doing some rubbish-clearing and weeding, Gemma asked me to prepare containers for the older pupils to pot up the flowering bedding plants they’ve been growing for sale at their summer fair – a great way of re-using empty olive oil and passata tins donated by a local pizza restaurant! The money raised from the plant sale will be used to help finish work on the garden project.

I resisted the temptation to join the children playing with buckets of water in the shade and instead stuck with watering the garden and the potted plants as a welcome way to get a bit wet and cool off from the sun.

By the time I left the other volunteers – still working hard – it was 28 degrees so I opted to walk home rather than attempt another red-faced run!