GoodGymmers, volunteers and local residents all braved the storm for the final clothes swap before Christmas.

A busy session and a man down due to Christmas party hangover, Penny, Amy and Mikael worked hard to ensure the swap went well

Tonight we met and started by celebrating all the amazing running that went on over the weekend. We then welcomed new runner Ana to her first group session. To name and number off we all said something we were proud of- lots of interesting facts emerged including singing with S Club 7, sand sculptures and being good at chess!

We then split into two groups for the two tasks:

Amy led one group to the Groves where we were met by Tracy and set to work clearing a raised bed and moving a tree. Both jobs were successfully executed in time to return to base for fitness.

Ed's group report-

We split off into 5 pairs to distribute the call out for events leaflets for York International Women's Week. Amy H and Jenna set off on their bikes to Fulford Road. Max and Mitch opted for the longest route out to Bootham and Burton Stone Lane. Ana and Carl headed to Bishy Road. Abigail and Nikki did the Town Centre, whilst David and Ed headed to Monkgate and Layerthorpe.

Max and Mitch did manage to make it back on time despite taking a detour to the pub, although they did have the most leaflets left over so may have had their priorities a bit skewed despite their protests!

Once we were all back, Ed led a session of every minute on the minute fitness including squats, burpees, lunges, stars and sprints. Despite some stiff legs everyone got stuck in and before we knew it, time was up. Some folk headed to the pub, others home.

Remember, remember! The 4th of November, it's the Monday night Group Run slot!

Tonight we headed off to the Groves to help shift a load of bricks, as well as dig out some weeds and re-plant a few bushes. It was a smaller gathering than usual at the Priory Street Centre as a fair few GGers were getting a pre-task good deed in already, but we still had a decent crowd and welcomed back Anne who was returning for her 2nd group run. Give her a big cheer 🎉

Before setting off to the task we warmed up by celebrating the 24th anniversary of the premier of the film 'Dances with Wolves' and naming which animal we would like to dance with and why. There were some very interesting choices including a zebra, a platypus and Siegfried and Roy's white tiger (rather you than me, Graham!). Then it was off to the task ably backmarked by Abigail and Laura.

The other group had already made a good start and helped get the test of us up to speed on what needed doing. So we split off into those shifting bricks and those clearing weeds. Taskowner Tracy also got Ed on hand with a spade to dig out a few bushes that needed to either be shifted elsewhere or just removed entirely. This meant that I'm bot entirely sure what all the various groups were getting up to but excellent progress was obviously made as we managed to complete the task early, meaning we had more time for fitness (aren't we lucky!)

Vicky had created tonight's fireworks-ish themed sesh with people getting into pairs and completing exercises written on a down on a ticket (fit-tix?). The team with the most tickets at the end of the sesh would be declared the winner and tonight's prize went to Mitch and Charlotte who had completed a remarkable 32 tickets! Although anyone who has previously witnessed the speed of Charlotte's burpees won't be surprised in the slightest.

We then made our way back to base and said our goodbyes

Tonight we started the session by talking about the This Girl Can campaign to Lift The Curfew which highlights how exercising in the dark makes women feel and what they can do to make this better. Throughout the evening we added words to our flag which described different negative feelings which have been experienced.

For the task tonight we split into two group including our first group cycle and headed off to Heworth Stray. We were met there by Roger and split into two teams - one group raking up grass and the other planting trees.

We made quick work of both including Helen rescuing a frog and team trees losing a spade. We attempted TWICE to find it but failed both times! Hopefully Roger will have better luck in daylight.

We then posed for the photo and headed back to base, with the cyclists only marginally beating the runners!

On possibly one of the wettest group runs we've had at GG York, a dedicated and hardy bunch of GG Yorkies showed up for a rapid tree guard and hedge trimming session at Ashton Park. Tonight we welcomed Vicfrom GG Lewisham who was doing a spot of tourism and also welcomed back Emma who was making her return to GoodGym after a lengthy spell out. Give them both a big cheer 🎉

Vicky led out the party pace group whilst the rest of us were numbering off by naming the things that we find unforgivable, including leaving beer in the bottom of a glass, pineapple on pizza and being late to GoodGym!

The two groups arrived at Ashton Park within a minute of each other and were greeted by Kristina from City of York Council who gave us the lowdown on tonight's task and had also very kindly agreed to continue with the session despite the horrendous weather (you're a star, Kristina!)

Two thirds of the group picked up where we left off last time we were at Ashton Park by using a variety of tools to remove the remaining tree guards, whilst the other third armed themselves with sheers and got to work on an overgrown bush.

We'd agreed to shorten tonight's task to 30mins so it was a race against the clock to make sure we finished on time. Each section of the guard that was removed was greeted with a loud cheer and as the stumps also came out we were able to add to our collection of 'GGers with logs' photographs.

Meanwhile the bush trimmers made excellent progress and soon came over to help remove the final bits of tree guard and gather in all of the tools. But by this time we were all very much looking like drowned rats and the prospect of an early finish and some warm, dry clothes was too tempting. So after a quick dash back base we said our Goodbyes headed for home

As a side note, well done to Pete and all those who donated clothes for Ukraine👏