Tonight's Monday Night Group run saw 22 GG Yorkies tackle an overgrown patch of land in Clifton. But before setting off we welcomed the return of Amy practically fresh off the plane from New Zealand. We also celebrated Pete's 200th Good Deed and gave a big cheer to those who had completed the Yorkshire 3 peaks at the weekend. Give them all a big cheer 💪

The run out tonight was just over 5km out and back so we kept the warm up short and headed straight out with Ed leading the group and Abigail and Laura backmarking. Jenna was our sole cyclist whilst Jane, Michal and Martin met us at the task.

Kristina from the council's eco team gave us the lowdown on tonight's task. The area used to be a play park but had since been left to grow over, to the point that it had started to cover the paths that run through it. Our job was to cut back anything that was growing over the paths and generally make it feel a bit tidier and safe for those that use it as a cut through to the hospital.

Emma armed herself with a pretty mean looking strimmer whilst the rest of the group picked up wire brushes, loppers and shears and soon got to work tackling the overgrown foliage. Although it wasn't always easy going, with Amy struggling to get to grips with her wire brush and later not being able to open a pair of secateurs!

But it wasn't just Amy who was struggling. Emma was keen to get going with the strimmer, but wasn't too sure about where to put the rather large battery pack that came with it. Fortunately help was on hand in the form of Abigail who was looking for a mote gentle job to keep her busy, and was more than happy to act as the battery pack carrier, sort of like the GG version of a flower girl at a wedding carrying the brides dress

Before too long the task was completed and we had a quick thank you from local resident Rebecca who was delighted with the progress that we'd made. It was then off to Clarence Gardens, scene of many previous GG tasks, for tonight's fitness session

Since Amy T had been away for 2 and a half years the fitness was all about getting to know each other a bit better. The group ran around in a circle and then came into the middle if they had done the thing that Ed shouted out. We then chose someone to tell us a bit more about that thing. In true GG York fashion, we had more people who had a piece of work published than those that had tattoos but we still heard about the meaning behind a couple of Issy's tattoos as well as learning a bit of Urdu from Pete and being suitably impressed by the various celebrities that our crew had met. Although it's possible Jane's UFO sighting during a Radiohead concert may have been more to do with the light show than flying saucers!

It was then back to base but not before wishing Pete, Laura and Cara a happy birthday with some traditional birthday squats.

We've also had a special thank you from the council for our help across the city. GoodGym has been a huge contributor across multiple projects, so it was fab to do our fitness sesh right in front of a flourishing wildflower garden that wouldn't be the there without us.

See you all next week when we'll be back to West Bank Park

6 GG Yorkies met at West Bank Park to continue clearing the contents of compost bins into a skip.

With wheelbarrows at the ready, we clad ourselves in high vis and set a goal of emptying one of the three banks of bins within the hour (leaving plenty left for Monday's community mission group!)

We made short work of the barrowing, covering about 2.5km each in distance back and forth across the park with wheelbarrows full of grass (to warm up) and then heavier compost.

Job done, some of us headed to a cafe to celebrate Amy's 300th good deed 🥳

It was back to West Bank Park tonight to carry on with last week's task of emptying the compost bins into wheelbarrows and running them over to the skip in the car park.

Before setting off we gave a round of applause to Vicky and Helen who had completed the Wensleydale Wander at the weekend and also welcomed Becca along for the first time. Give her some cheers 🎉

After a quick titanic themed warm up, it was the off to the task with Ed leading the run out and Nick leading a walk/run group which, by all accounts, was mire run than walk!

At the task we were greeted by Kristina from the council's eco team who got us to focus on one area rather than the 2 we were spread across last week. Mitch and Vicky were our designated skip people to help with coordinating the inbound wheelbarrows.

I want to join the Red Barrows - Leanne

The tactic of sticking to one area seemed to work and the crew got into a good rhythm with their shovelling and barrowing. So much so that they started to get creative whilst running with the wheelbarrows, with Nick being very keen to show off the first ever outing of the GG 'Red Barrows'.

As the task drew to a close there was just enough time for Michael to completely empty his compost bin. He was so proud of this achievement that he demanded we got a photo of it. Well done Michael 👏

For fitness, the group split into two teams and picked cones with either a set of exercises or an "egg" underneath them. The team with the most eggs would be declared the winner. Although thanks to a lot of luck and a little bit of cheating from Lyndsey, it really wasn't much of a contest at all!

This week's group run marked the start of GoodGym's new Workout for Nature campaign in association with the WWF. Surprisingly, the campaign does not involve wearing lyrca underwear and pretending fight so we had to give that a miss this week. Instead it aims to get people to take part in physical activity to benefit local green spaces. With that in mind we made the short journey to West Bank Park to help turn their compost bins back into a usable resource.

When we arrived, a fleet of wheelbarrows was waiting, along with a selection of tools. We all initially paired off (not like that) and then split into two groups to attack the different compost bins around the park. A pleasing selection of tools was available enabling us to free-form various methods to break up the compost and get it into the barrows.

The waste compost was barrowed to a giant skip where Pete adopted the role of site foreman and marshaled tipping the waste so it would fill the skip safelt and evenly. Initial skip runs were literally runs but the weight of the compost was such that these soon slowed down to a more sensible pace. Team one kept things interesting and local chiropractors in business by pulling their loaded barrows up some steps. Team two played with a dog. Badly.

The task seemed to fly by, especially for me as for once I was leading and not doing it. We made a good dint in both the compost bins but there is plenty left to go at for next week.

After the task, we did an animal themed group exercise in the park which was honestly much simpler than everyone made it look. Wildlife box ticked we headed back to Priory Street to enjoy the novelty of a cool down in daylight.

On a sunny morning, Jenna, James and I met for a litter pick at Glen Gardens, joining in one of the Council sessions for the Great British Spring Clean. The park itself was relatively tidy, thanks to the efforts of the friends group, but we spread out to cover some of the surrounding streets and left everything a bit brighter and cleaner than before.

On a beautiful sunny day, Amy and Vicky were met by Mel from CYC for a wander around King's meadow for a litter pick.

There wasn't too much around do in 45 mins we'd cleaned the area. Amy was rewarded with her very own litter picker as she'd done such a good job!