Occasionally a GoodGym task comes along that really appeals to those of us who harbour that deep desire to smash something up and engage in a little legitimised vandalism. And last night GoodGym Huddersfield was presented with just such an opportunity.

The wonderful Margaret Wood from Lepton Croquet Club had commissioned us to remove some rotten wooden edging boards from around the green. The boards, measuring about 10 feet long and 6 inches high were firmly nailed on to short, sturdy stakes and would require a bit of brute force to remove having been in situ for more years than anyone can remember. This job was going to require a bit of muscle, in addition to the sledge hammers, saws, cold chisels and other heavy duty implements Margaret had brought along. GoodGym is good at muscle, and loves jobs using tools, so this task promised to be a real treat.

However before the edge slamming started there was a small matter of a run to deal with, and it was wonderful to welcome two brand new runners along to join us. Richard Byrne and Meg Deacon heard about GoodGym via our recent Parkrun promotion and had picked a fantastic first evening to run with us, clear and a little chilly, but most importantly light. This was in fact the first time we had commenced a run in proper daylight since the early days of GoodGym Huddersfield last autumn.

The light is very welcome, not only does it mean we can actually see what we are doing on our jobs, but also opens up the opportunity for including some more off-road running in our routes to and from tasks. So we wasted no time in the latter heading away from the Stadium on the Riverside Way, which we noted was horribly litter strewn in places and would warrant a GoodGym litter pick sometime in the next few weeks.

The 2K run to Ravensknowle was swiftly dispatched and we arrived at the park to find Margaret and fellow croquetist Martin ready and waiting with a big bag of tools and direction as to which edging boards were rotten and would need removing. Dividing quickly into two teams of four, we were straight on with the job. A sledgehammer wielding Ben Godfrey making light work of the first rotten section whilst Kati Law and Louise Galvin carried the broken boards away for disposal, although they too were keen to make sure they had their share of “hammer time” later on.

Also having a smashing time were Fiona Armitage and Meg Deacon, quickly clearing a rotten board, and being particularly diligent at ensuring every tiny splinter of wood was removed from the green area. Chris Green and Richard Byrne were enjoying this one, finding that the rotten edging boards were presenting little resistance to a eager, determined and tooled-up GoodGymmer.

Thirty minutes later it was job done, GoodGym had completed this task and tidied up in record time! That left plenty of opportunity for a bumper fitness session, or a cup of tea and a biscuit with Margaret and Martin in the club hut. Amazingly the GoodGym crew opted for the latter, and we celebrated our success with refreshments and chat about the finer points of croquet.

In return for our efforts last night Margaret has generously offered GoodGym a free croquet lesson one Saturday in the future, details to be circulated to you all when arranged. It would be great to get a group of us to run up there again and learn the art of knocking a ball though a hoop with a big mallet, apparently it’s all very strategic and not nearly as simple (or easy) as it sounds!

I wasn’t about to let the opportunity for a bit of fitness work go entirely however, so after tea, biscuits and chat we had another Ravensknowle Park Wall Sit Challenge. With a total of 8 competitors (even Margaret had a go!) the competition was going to be tough. In the end it was new boy Richard who lasted the longest, looking very cool, calm and collected even at the end of his 2 minute 20 second effort which smashed our previously record by over 40 seconds!

Wobbly legs aside, we had to run back to the Stadium and enjoyed the route along Kilner Bank road and the impressive views overlooking Huddersfield at dusk. As ever well done to all the GoodGym crew last night, it’s great to have some new members out with us and I hope we’ll see you again for future tasks. I also really hope you all GoodGymmers enjoyed last night’s bit of “edge slamming” I know Margaret, Martin and their croquet colleagues are very appreciative of our efforts.

This weeks title pun was a bit of a team effort, inspired by Peter Gabriel of course!