Our last head torch group run for a while saw a bumper 26 GG Yorkies turn out for the choice of either soil inversion at Rowntree Park or prepping a flower bed at Southlands Church.

Knowing full well how difficult it can be organising a group of GGers (what is our collective noun?) at the end of a task, tonight started with a warm up which saw Ed introduce some of the exercises the gang would be doing later on as part of the fitness session. We then set off a steady group led by Nick to Southlands church, whilst Laura backmarked the bigger group which headed to Rowntree Park

After the brief run across we met Vicky at the task who had been left instructions by task owner Christine, who unfortunately couldn't be there tonight. Whilst Vicky is confident she got the details about the task correct, we're bot entirely sure that the tools were quite right as there surely must have been better options for shifting wood chip than a small bucket and two children's wheelbarrows! To her credit, Charlotte did make the most of the only full-size barrow, even if it was pretty broken

Whilst one group tackled the wood chipz the rest of the Rowntree Park crew cracked on with soil inversion at two designated areas. One proved significantly easier to get the spades in than the other so there were a few grumblings from Nikki when she was moved over to the tougher area, although her suffering didn't last long as she was handed a tiny wheelbarrow and joined in with the wood chip spreading

Over at Southlands Church....

The two groups came together at the end of the night for a fitness session (with some of the moves we'd rehearsed earlier). The workout featured 10 exercises, with 20 seconds rest between each one, and with each exercise being done for 30 seconds. Vicky was so disappointed that there was no can-can as one of the exercises that Ed caved-in and added a bonus exercise at the end. And this time we were determined to get it right. So after a quick tutorial from Leanne, everyone lined up, linked arms, and performed what felt like a perfect can-can. Although the video tells a much different story!

At dusk they wake, no time yet for cake. Laces tight, keep up with Jake (aka Rich). Through mist and chill, no backache shows. Their steady rhythm swiftly flows.

Each footstep sends a gentle quake. As they quickly start to rake the lake. Leaves and twigs the currents take. Drawn from depths they can't forsake.

Vicky laughs aloud 'we'll take a break'. But not just yet, no breath to take. The lake now clear, their work complete. A runner's task, both tough and sweet .

But before they're done, a photo to take. Do good, get fit, have a shake. Finally finished, trot back to base. They have done good and shall now eat cake.

p.s well done to all the Tibthorpe runner, to Paul Kelly for doing his 400th deed and to Rich for being February's awesome goodgymer of the month

4 Goodgymers made their way over to Rowntree Park after park run (via a stop at Dark Horse Espresso of course) on a sunny Saturday morning. We met Abigail from Friends of Rowntree Park and immediately got to work inverting soil to prepare the ground for a wild flower meadow. After initial uncertainty, Steve Rice became the envy of all, getting deep with his narrow spade whilst Vicky quickly realised she was better off forking about. Much laughter was had and we made a big difference to the area, whilst leaving enough work still to be done on a group run in the near future. A perfect start to the weekend!

After agreeing to be the Taskowner for the Friends of Rowntree Park due to his role as a Trustee of the Charity, Ed managed to get the time completely wrong and arrived with Amy and Arthur almost 30mins late. Fortunately Jan, one of the garden volunteers, was on hand to get the rest of the GG crew started on the task which involved removing a hedge that hadn't survived the 10 weeks it had spent underwater due to the regular flooding in the park

We were also joined by Jacqui from the Friends of Rowntree Park who was getting stuck in along with her husband and David at one end, whilst Leanne, Cara, Amy, Debs and the 3 latecomers tackled the other.

Leanne soon turned her attention to lopping back a bush that also needed removing, and whilst she tackled the trimming just fine, the removal part proved a lot harder. Ed and David were called in as reinforcements but soon realised it was too big a challenge to tackle today

But the failing hedge was successfully removed and we managed to turnover a fair chunk of the area that was covered with invasive species. Not for an hours worth of work for most of the group, and 45mins for those who can't keep track of the time

We arrived at Rowntree Park on a dark Wednesday night to learn we'd been mis-sold and there was no bark chip in sight! As we dried our tears of disapointment, we made our way over to the wooded area and set to work securing logs into the ground to protect them from future floods and the lesser known log thiefs. After 45 minutes we'd banged and screwed to our hearts content and successfully secured 10 logs, creating additional space for story telling, craft making and all other forms of forest school fun!

We were tasked with moving 4 heavy trees from a garden to Rowntree Park. The trees were kindly donated by the residents but we needed to help move them as they were heavy.

We arrived and to our surprise there were 6 trees, and they were big, very big! We weren't put off however and got to work removing the trees from the very heavy pots and borrowing them down to the park. We may have made a mess, but we managed to make headway.

After the heavy graft, and some creative "root pruning" (his words, not ours), we managed to move 5. Unfortunately one was too big and heavy to move. It didn't matter however as the resident was very happy and Rowntree Park now has new trees for decoration.