In the aftermath of storm Bert, 16 GoodGym Yorkies breezed in to clear up the leaves in Glen Gardens. We started tonight's session with a round of applause for all those running at the weekend, particularly the brave souls (fools?) that made it to parkrun in the sideways rain on Saturday morning. You're all mad/legends.

We numbered off by saying the one thing that could tempt you to part with your money on Buy Nothing Day, and no surprises to learn that we are almost entirely motivated by food. Mostly chocolate and pizza! We then set off to Glen Gardens with Ed leading the way and Abigail and Laura backmarking.

At the task we were greeted by Ian from the Council's environment team who set us straight off to work on clearing leaves from the paths. There was only leaf blower though, so that job went to a very eager Abigail who was got her hands on the tool for the first time!

The rest of the gang made use of shovels, forks, rakes and leaf grabbers, collecting them up in ton sacks and shifting them to the composting area. Unfortunately it was only towards the end of the task that Amy finally discovered how to hold the leaf grabbers properly. Every day is a school day!

Before long it was time to wrap up the task and line up for Vicky's Mexican wave themed fitness session, pitting two teams against each other to see who could complete exercises the fastest. Ed and Rich's competitive spirit was on full show as the teams were neck and neck going into the final exercise. Unfortunately for Team Ed, Rich's team had a trump card up their sleeve in the fact that Martin is a ridiculously quick skipper (who knew?) and were awarded the victory by umpire Laura

Don't forget to get yourselves signed up for our upcoming sessions at the Groves this Thursday and the Santa Sleigh on Fri 6th

An impressive turnout tonight in very cold conditions!

We started by celebrating some phenomenal running at the weekend with Michal doing some Bob Graham training, then Ed and Rich escaping from Meridan and covering 75 and 121 km respectively!

Max then led the group out to Holgate allotments and Rich led a walking group.

Once we arrived Helen provided us with a barrow full of tools and we quickly got to work clearing a plot ready to be let. Despite the cold the ground was soft and we soon had the area clear.

After a quick photo we headed off to do some sprints to warm up. Everytime Ed shouted whistle, we ran faster. He decided this was better than blowing a whistle so rival whistles couldn't interfere with proceedings.

We then headed back to base where we sung happy birthday to Paul Kelly and were treated to some of Jenna's fruity flapjack.

I decided that the ideal way to spend the morning of my 43rd birthday would be to clean out some gutters, and Mr A delivered the goods with some that were packed full to the brim. So much so that they were turning into a full-on ecosystem of their own (the downside to having a lovely blossom tree in your garden).

Mr A had the right tools for the job, with us being the first to get to use his shiny new folding ladder, and an extra long trowel for getting all the muck out of the gutters. We took turns in scooping it out and dropping it down to the green bin below. A nice satisfying job seeing the gutters restored to proper working order by the time we were done.

Seeing as the sun was out and we were being sufficiently fuelled with tea and Tunnock's Caramel Wafers, we offered to rake up the leaves from the grass too. With that done and the garden looking nice and tidy, we had a bit more of a chat and we were on our way.