🙌 32 incredible GoodGymmers met for our group run this evening. We were absolutely thrilled to welcome Jenny, Anna, Sherilyn and Michael for their first task with us this. It was great to meet you and we hope you had fun.

🏆 We celebrated the impressive achievements of everyone who ran Round Sheffield Run yesterday, especially considering the mud!

🎁 We named and numbered off by discussing our best/weirdest Christmas presents. Devices for keeping warm were rated highly whilst other people got food (a box of crisps, anyone) or very practical items (a windscreen wiper, brilliant!)

🐝 Barbara led the walking crew and Ed led a longer route to Rowntree Park while the rest of us ran the direct route. We were greeted by Christine with a list of tasks and we quickly set about dividing into groups. The nettle-picking task was left to the end (sorry, Ed et al long runners, especially as it turned out that the special “nettle-proof” gloves didn’t actually block the stings…)

📍 We had a wide variety of tasks on offer that meant that groups were spread all over the park.

🐸 One crew were moving waste from the upper cafe garden area, creating space for any flood-prone things to be moved to for safety, given the anticipated flooding in the near future. Vicky and Dom were tasked with dismembering a wicker man that they named Alan Wicker (Christine called him Tommy, which caused great confusion/some concern when she was looking for the remains of Tommy as we were leaving the park...) Abi also found a frog that they named Alan 2. And a big toad crawled out of the compost in one of the wheelbarrows, which was named Terry (or possibly Terrence, or maybe even Tony, there was some disagreement). Abi may have been heard remarking to the toad "Haven't you got big muscles?" Halfway through the task, this team were confronted by the mystery of the missing Claire (and possibly Dom). Read on to see how this mystery was solved…

🐈 Another dream team were sent to extract a log from the Story Circle and replace it with 4 smaller, upright logs (named Loretta, Sharon, Gary and Stumpy, the latter coincidentally(?) the same name as the Govers’ lovely cat. Sadly, the tools required to remove said log were not available but that’s never stopped GoodGymmers yet and there ensued an incredible effort from each of these four heroes. There was digging, shovelling, sawing and tugging aplenty until the original log was out of the ground. The named logs then needed securing in, courtesy of Christine’s electric drill and some valiant efforts with a screwdriver by Michael.

🌳 Yet another epic team were on bark chip distribution. Despite being assured that there “wasn’t much”, it turned out that there actually was quite a lot. So this team set to work spreading as much of it as they possibly could in the time available. Christine was very impressed with the wheelbarrow-running on display, which enabled maximum distribution efficiency (apart from when Mitch lost the rest of his team temporarily, but we won’t mention that).

😁 Here’s what Barbara had to say about the green waste crew:

🍂 “Myself, Jenna, Anna, Jackie, Louise and Maddy had to move a pile of green waste from the Friends Garden to the top of the long borders. The pile was a mixture of spiky brambles, old leaves, small trees and shrubs, which got progressively muckier and slimier as we got further down the pile. Some bits were carried and others wheelbarrowed to the new location. We moved about a third of the pile in the time (with 2 good wheelbarrows and 1 with a puncture which had to be dragged backwards) and made sure to pick up and sweep up any bits we’d dropped on the way. No problem. Oh and we were joined by Claire and Dom towards the end. Dom was limited by the fact he had no gloves but Claire was useful!*”

*Here endeth the mystery of the missing Claire (and Dom) 🕵️‍♂️

🦎 Last but not least, we had the “Nettle Ninjas” and “Soil Sovereigns”. These guys were in the wildlife area that we’re rapidly helping to develop. They also faced an additional initial (and literal) hurdle of getting their wheelbarrows over the wall. That was no match for this team though, and they were soon shifting soil (to our ever-developing reptile habitat) and nabbing nettles with aplomb. Well done guys, the local wildlife will thank you, even if you did get cold and stung in uncovered places by roaming nettles (and didn’t even get to spot any frogs), sorry...

📸 And with all that productivity, it was time to gather our tools and head back to base (after a group photo, obviously).

💪 Back at Priory Street, we did a standing abs workout. There was confusion and jollity in equal measure but our core strength will be eternally grateful.

👏 Thank you everyone, it was brilliant to have such a great big crowd of us tonight. Hopefully see you all soon, click here to find out when you can join us again!