☀ 23 excellent GoodGymmers met on a beautifully sunny (if a tad warm) Monday evening. Our warm up question was going to be the best way to cool down on a hot day, so some of us discussed this en route (anything involving cold water was popular, or sorbet if you’re Mitchell, though we never did discover exactly what is done with said sorbet…)

✌ We had two tasks this evening, with half the group led by Vicky and Nick to Hull Road Park for an “emergency” soil-shifting session with Kristina from the council. Here’s what Nick had to say about what they did:

💪 Ten of us ran together at party pace to Hull Road Park to meet lovely Kristina who was waiting with a wheelbarrow for each of us. Leanne, Paul and Steve were fresh from yesterday’s Coniston Marathon so we’re looking forward to a nice light task. Instead we were digging top soil form a big pile and barrowing it over the footbridge and up the slope to fill two newly cleared heart shaped flower beds.

🏃‍♀ Vicky and Kathryn helped raking out the soil too and despite the heat there was some barrow running too.

🧩 We only stopped when the topsoil pile was exhausted and the beds full before a game of wheelbarrow tetris to fit all the equipment back in Kristina’s van.

🚸 Ed and Amy led the other part of the group, to St Aelred’s School where we were continuing to help them with their forest school area.

🌱 The first job was watering the thirsty young trees we’ve been looking after there, and checking they still had their protective guards. The watering job was somewhat extended (with great enthusiasm), to watering the raised beds (regardless of the state of them) and Mitchell 🚿

✂ Meanwhile, another group were cracking on with cutting things back in the fenced area, mostly brambles and nettles so not a job for the faint-hearted. Not to be disheartened by the amount of growth since we were last here, this team did an incredible job and made a huge difference.

🌳 The plan had been to spread woodchip on the freshly cut back paths, however events overtook and changed this plan. One of the teachers (Shelley) noticed that some of the wooden path edging was being kicked out by small (children’s) feet. As some of the wood had nails sticking out of it, this was a clear risk requiring mitigation.) Martin and Lyndsey relished the opportunity for a bit of destruction and quickly got to work removing the wood from the path and old raised beds.

🔨 Team Water then became Team Plank, setting up an efficient system. Plans with nails in were identified and separated, for the nails to be “bashed in” with a spade. Longer planks were broken up in a manner that resembled the caber toss of Highland Game fame (albeit whilst keeping hold of one end). This method was identified as superior over the alternative tightrope walking approach, which sadly didn’t work on the sturdier planks. Freya then asked for “saveable” planks to be separated for reuse, whilst David did a sterling job of transporting those not required to “the big pile”.

📸 It was soon time to down tools (which took some persuasion for some), gather everything and head to the playground for a group photo.

👏 Thank you everyone, it’s lovely to be able to help this project and we’ll be back soon, don’t worry!

👟 And then a run back to base and/or onto the pub.

🦸‍♂ Back at base, we had lots to celebrate. Ed (slightly belatedly, sorry) got to wear the cape of good deeds for his 300th good deeds recently. Understandably, he turned down the opportunity to run in it in the heat but did pose for it in the car park.

🥳 We also celebrated Jenna's birthday yesterday, with some delicious (and homemade) lemon and almond biscuits. So tasty 😋

🚜 Seventeen smashing GoodGymmers met for our weekly group run, to help the council at Hull Road Park. After naming and numbering with our favourite modes of transport (many, many cyclists at GoodGym York, who knew 🚲), we did a warm up and headed off.

🌹 It was a fairly warm evening and we may have taken a slightly scenic route on the way there (definitely my fault, sorry). On arrival, Kristina swiftly set us to work doing various tasks around the rose garden. Rich was quick to volunteer for strimming, whilst others divided into edgers, rakers, sycamore-cutters and bindweed-removers. Debs found an equivalent to bindweed that had taken over one of the rose beds, with 20-foot roots, and set to work removing as much as possible in the time available 🌱

🌳 A lot of green waste was created that then needed barrowing a fair distance across the park. This led to the dilemma of when to stop generating said waste 💪

🥳 We eventually decided to do a quick fitness game while we waited, before waving goodbye to our party-pace group. Meanwhile, we (mostly Debs, Nick and Michael) helped Kristina stack the van, in just the right way for the council-approved tool-Tetris 🧩

🦵 The rest of us headed back at a swift-ish trot, with the intention of doing some single-leg squats at each set of red traffic lights (which were surprisingly few this time) 🚦

😎 We stretched and cooled down before parting ways, to the pub and/or home 🍻 ☕

☔ 9 brilliant GoodGymmers braved the rain for our group run tonight. After a (very) quick intro, we ran/walked to Hull Road Park where we met Kristina from the council. We split into two groups, Team Turf and Team Foliage 🌺

🌱 Team Turf were removing a (very) large amount of turf that had been "dumped" on the compost bins and doing wheelbarrow relays to "disperse" it in the woodland area 🌲

🌳Meanwhile, Team Foliage were busy clearing said foliage (mostly bits of Christmas tree but also other generic "greenery and woody bits") from another compost area and again, dispersing it into the woodland 🎄

We could make some lovely Christmas decorations out of this foliage - Barbara.

💪 It turns out that both jobs involved heavy lifting so we got quite the upper body workout 🏋️

👍 After making good inroads into both jobs, we gathered our tools (and soggy selves) together for a walk/run back to base 🥳

🔥Some cool-down stretches and catch ups about other happenings this week followed, and then we parted ways to warm up and dry off 😁

⏰ The clocks may have changed but the dedication of GoodGym York certainly hasn't. 29 enthusiastic GoodGymmers met for our first fully dark group run this year, undeterred by the chilly temperature and continuing to #RunBrightatNight 🌠

Oisin joined us for his first GoodGym good deed - welcome Oisin 🙌

We also congratulated Vicky on her 200th good deed and gave her the spectacular good deed cloak to wear (handy for keeping warm on chilly nights too!) 💪

🌱 After a warm up, we split into two groups with Michal leading a group to Fulford Cross Allotments to help out St Nicks there. The rest of us headed to Hull Road Park to meet Kristina from the Council.

Here's what Michal had to say about the Fulford Cross gang: 14 of us went on a 2k journey towards Fulford Cross Allotments to discover the mysterious St Nicks composting bins. We’ve been to this allotments site before, however today was the first time volunteering there for a project run by St Nicks Fields. Fortunately our host Nicola was easy to find as she had her portable lights switched on and the task location was just by the path 💡

Nicola explained that the parcel of land by the brick wall, which included some birch trees, brambles undergrowth and two massive composting bays, has been handed by the allotments association to the St Nicks green corridors project 🌳

Our task was to separate the good compost from the rest of stuff that included assortment of sticks, stones, roots and weeds, making space for the wildflower cuttings from the nearby meadow. We didn’t have to be told twice, picked up the spades and forks and started digging and pulling 🌱

Soon a first object of interest was found:

“I found a dog collar” - Katie

It was partly rotten and located quite shallow in the compost heap. Some of us got worried that that a “zombie dog” will materialise if we keep digging. Fortunately that hasn’t been a case 🐕

While all this was happening a team of four, so Dom, Abi, Martin and Pete were tasked with the wildflower cuttings from the nearby meadow 🌺

Tone bags have been used for transportation of cuttings and the sound of them being dragged on the floor and bright head torch light made Carl think that a vehicle is approaching 🚙

Vicky celebrated her 200+ good deed by forking at the weeds and sticks in the compost, some spade work and a little bit of stand and watch if others work as they should. The cape she was wearing wasn’t making the work easier, as it was pulling at her throat making it difficult to breathe. This prototype requires some adjustments to make it wearable🦸🏼‍♀️🦸‍♂️

After just over 35 minutes of honest work the composting compartments were in a lot better shape than before our arrival and the task owner was very grateful for our efforts 👏

We then ran back to meet the other group, however they got carried away trying to make genuinely good dead hedge better and were running late 🍂

We were at the meeting location for few minutes when someone spotted some torch lights at the end of the road. It was a quick decision to hide behind the trees and then jump out and scare the other group when they were running past. When they came closer we saw that the torch lights were Pete, our back marker and his companions. We were totally surprised by that , as they approached from the direction where the other group was expected. It turned out that Pete cleverly headed towards the initial meeting point location and not seeing anyone there was moving back towards the base.

And at that point a magical moment happened. As we emerged from our hiding places Mitch stayed hidden thinking that we are still hiding. While in his hiding place by the wall he turned into an insect 🧙‍♂️

“He turned into a night glow insect” - Pete and Leanne

Completely engulfed by the darkness and with the effect of his dim head torch light made him look like one 🐛

After few moments we decided to jog back towards the base and wait for the second group there. Few of us decided to head to the pub, or home whereas the rest of us did a workout with each person choosing an exercise for everyone to perform and then passing to another person to choose another move and so on. What started with front lunges and arm circles soon turned into dance moves including swish swish, Macarena and others like fixing a lightbulb - if this can be called a "dance move.”💃🕺

Meanwhile, at Hull Road Park...

🔦 Our headtorches and lights lit the way through an incredibly dark park (apparently street lamps will be added before our next run there) 💡

🌿 Once there, we split into a few groups, divided the tools and lights that Kristina had brought and got our heads around the different jobs to be done. We had groups shovelling compost and removing green waste (including the dreaded bindweed) and children's toys(!?) from it 🧩 There was a pile of woodCHIP next to one compost heap that may or may not need removing on a future task as it was in the wrong place.

Ben was shown where to take the decent compost and Kristina told us about her plans to add splashes of colour for spring by planting some lovely bulbs 🌷 We can't wait to see that 👌

🍂 Another group set to work on the infamous dead hedge, using an iron bar and some wooden STAKES. Oisin and Debs both had a go at banging some stakes in (after much discussion about the best place for them and how best to avoid tree roots and stones). Much progress was made in building said hedge between the stakes and also in the composting tasks 🌴

We left the task with plenty done as well as plenty more to do (which is just as well as we're heading back there in a few weeks time!)🥳

After a jog back to CVS and some cool down stretches , it was time for the pub 🍻

Don't forget that there are still spaces on the community mission at Mayfields Community Trust this Saturday morning, continuing the work we did last Saturday. (If you're really lucky, you might get to use a *scythe-like instrument 😎)

🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️Join us for next week's group run when we'll be heading to Holgate Community Orchard and Jubilee Wood.

45 GG Yorkies completed two huge multi-part tasks!

It was another night for celebration as Vicky ran her 50th good deed and got to run in the Cape of Good Deeds - go Vicky (make sure you give her a big cheer)!

We also welcomed along Chris for his first ever GoodGym run, extra exciting because Chris is one of the founding members of GoodGym in Harrogate and is working hard to bring another GG to North Yorkshire.

Our warm-up (and subsequent fitness session) was a test of coordination and concentration as we introduced new game, Slappy Slappy Point Point. Leanne and I demonstrated rather badly but some people picked up the concept straight away. See the video below!

I led a team out to St Paul's C of E School's allotment in Holgate, where we were met by Charlotte and three of the teachers from the school too, they were already busy digging up weeds. Our jobs list was hefty:

• Clear the whole bed on the right of the entrance
• Clear the weeds from the wood pile
• Sand and paint the yellow bench
• Sand the three picnic benches
• Completely weed and clear four large and four small raised beds
• Empty out the two plastic compost bins and put compost in (newly cleared) raised beds

Not only that but in the process we added two new tasks to the list:

• Relocate the waste from the compost piles into the emptied compost bins
• Get the bug hotel open for business

Esther, Maddy and Laura seemed to unearth a nest of frogs and so carefully went about popping them back into the beck, which Carl and Paul had now cleared the way for by weeding an area along the fence line.

Caped-Vicky and Nick were busy getting all the lovely compost out of the bins to top up the newly-weeded raised beds whilst Debs was on a mission to restore the bug hotel to it's former glory.

The three picnic benches were sanded down in no time at all and looked much better for it, whilst the yellow bench to a little more elbow grease. Zoe has a sure-fire way to check it was sanded effectively prior to painting.

If I rub it and it doesn't hurt me, it's fine.

We had one last dash to take many filled bags to the van just outside the allotment before we attempted some Slappy Slappy Point Point fitness variations with squats instead of slaps and lunges instead of points. Success was limited. Mel and Katie absolutely nailed the original version and were going so fast nobody could stop them, whilst Zoe and Helen created their own interpretive dance version.

After the run back, Vicky announced she'd made Creme Egg cookies and they were the best ever.

Tim's team ran to the lovely Hull Road Park. They trotted in on our lovely hand-crafted path which we'd constructed over winter and were quickly set to task in 4 separate areas by Rachael and Kristina. The areas were spread out all over the park so Tim covered a lot of extra mileage in his run leading duties.

In the first team was by newbie Chris from the wannabe-future-Harrogate-GoodGym folk and parkrun-tourist-extraordinaire Tom, they got stuck in. Their job was clearing the remaining waste from a composting area and dragging it all the way over to where it could be picked up by a skip later this week.

"Love a good Drag" - Tim's louder than intended response to the task

The second team met their match with some surprisingly deep rooted plants that needed clearing so they can install a new bench. The plants lured Tom D into a false sense of security sending him tumbling as it snapped earlier than he expected.

The third team were there to pop the last remaining bits of self-binding path gravel down on our path. They might have laid it on a bit thick as it ran out just short of completion but some frantic scraping of sand just about got the job done!

The fourth and final team were tasked with speed-staking wooden stakes into the ground to protect some newly planted flowers from the lawnmowers. Their mission was to speed through it so they could run to the aid of the other teams. Craig and Max both for a boost of enthusiasm when Tim told them how much destruction was happening elsewhere.

After collecting up all the tools, there was just enough time for a quick fitness themed slappy slappy pointy pointy game/coordinated falling over if you watch Pete and Max's video (standby for link).

With so many tasks happening they overran slightly so were all super out of breath on arrival back at the Priory Street Centre after a fast run; husband and wife dream team John and Lauren Forecast even raced for a sprint finish. Unfortunately Lauren went the wrong way handing John the lead. But don't worry Lauren next time you'll have him!

Only a few of Vicky's amazing cookies were left so we incorporated a stretch and walk-out-plank challenge for those who wanted one (read: everyone).

We shortlisted these entries for the Slappy Slappy Point Point competition, vite for your favourite by commenting below!

GG Yorkies ran en masse to Hull Road Park to help TCV dismantle old raised beds!

We didn't have a single new runner join us on this occasion, just all the old stinky ones, but we did get to announce the GG Yorkie of the Month for February and it was...... MARVELLOUS MITCH!

Mitch has done loads including leading and attending community missions, helping out with leading groups as a run leader, getting a coveted first finisher spot at parkrun and generally being an awesome GoodGymer. He's the most helpful one there is and is always quick to step in and help - make sure you go give him some cheers for being so good.

With Pete as our back-marker, we headed off for Hull Road Park. We even got to run in on our lovely new footpath. We were met by Rachel and Kristina who had really pulled the boat out on tools and wheelbarrows, it felt like there was almost a wheelbarrow for every single runner.

We had three tasks to complete in 35 minutes:

• Dig all the soil out of the raised beds and make a big pile on the nearby tarp
• Clear all the green waste to the skip (approx 200m away)
• Dismantle the raised beds carefully enough to re-use the wood

Tim and Tom (from now on known collectively as TimTom) were on skip duty; basically the muscle lifting wheelbarrow loads of stuff into the skip. Top wheelbarrow runner of the night has to go to Charlotte who was absolutely powering along and probably ran an extra 2km in wheelbarrow relays.

Craig nearly had to go to the naughty step as he was getting so carried away with sledgehammering that he nearly took out several people with falling planks, but generally the dismantling was a much gentler affair than I had envisaged.

One group were being really careful as they'd discovered frogs hidden in the soil of their raised bed. Tristan was busy lifting them all to safety.

What are they doing in here? Do frogs hibernate?!

The planks were piling up and soon Rachel opened up the hut whilst several people started carried dismantled planks back to storage. Debs managed to get a piece that did look very much like a headboard, probably not one anyone would really want in their bedroom though.

Anyone got wood? - Debs

...

No-one's got any wood? It is cold though - Craig

At the five minute countdown, only the soil of one raised bed remained, as well as a couple of barrow's worth of green waste, so everyone got stuck in the get the tasks finished. It was a wheelbarrow frenzy!

We need reversing beeps for these!

With our task completed, we celebrated with a couple of long hill reps up Green Dykes Lane before running back to base.

It was a big crew for post-run-pub-social and on investigating our pics we realised that Mitch had his eyes closed for the GGYofM picture, but we'd managed to leave the frame back at Priory Centre so, like the true good'un he is, Mitch ran back to retrieve it for an eyes open picture. What did I say, give that man a cheer!