Twas a green, grassy and glorious Richmond Group Run, with runners, walkers and cyclists gracing our sponsored plots in Buccleuch Gardens, Richmond for a spot of evening weeding.

It was a task of two grassy halves. Starting at the Arcade everyone dropped to ground level and used cutlery knives to lever out plantains from the Arcade lawn. Hunter was definitely not the only one assuming a downwood dog position.

At the Three Pigeons Plot , the weeding was reversed with the main aim removing unwanted grass. Thankfully, this was somewhat easier and more dignified.

Welcome newcomers Georgie and Naomi who proved to be naturals at plantain pulling and grass busting . A shout out for Teresa who achieved a perfect 10 for her work clearing around the bollard at The Three pigeons. And we were all in awe and wish the very best of luck to our run leader and area activator Liz who revealed she has qualified for the Hyrox World Championships in Nice in June.

Gorgeous flowers spotted but not identified during the task included Veronica (spike speedwell), a compact perennial with a spike of pink flowers and purple Centaurea, a perennial cornflower with vivid, heliotrope purple, thistle-like petals.

Muchas Gracias to The Tap Tavern for allowing us to stow bags and for hosting our monthly social after the Group Run.

Sammy P and JP got together on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to post leaflets for the Volunteer Fair organised by Richmond CVS.

It was wonderful to walk the streets of St Margarets, basking in the warmth of the sunshine and the glow of doing our bit for the local community.

Having said that, it was a relief to finish by 4:30 and to watch a good football team beat a bad football team… relief all round!

A glorious morning of sunshine greeted the 7 GGers who headed out to the Ham Lands for a morning of doing good. As usual, Sharon was there to meet us and led the group to an area we had tackled around the same time last year, where we had cut down the suckers growing up near the cherry trees.

So it was a morning of sticks (and saplings and brambles). We cut them down from the main tree in the middle, from the surrounding areas and from the undergrowth, and gathered them up to deposit in the ever-increasing pile tucked away amongst the trees.

While most of us were having a stick-y time with the choppers and loppers, Rosie tackled an even stickier challenge left behind by a passing canine to help prevent sticky shoes for walkers using the pathway 💩

We worked hard and made a lot of progress, and at the end of our allotted time we had made a real difference, as well as soaking up some vitamin D from the warming sunshine.

All that was left was a group picture before we headed off to the Swiss bakery for delicious coffees and snacks.

Next time up is the 8th June - you can sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/helping-the-happy-ham-landers-3ae1f524-d6fd-44ec-a291-890a4ec45133