A lovely quick and rewarding (in more ways than one!) task for our second of four tasks today. Four intrepid GoodGymmers headed to Mayfields Open Space to find out what damage the recent wild weather had done. Various twigs and sticks were strewn over the path and neighbouring bits of grass (where the mower needs to be able to mow unimpeded).

We swiftly got to work, armed with rakes and a special clapper tool. We decided to tackle leaves that were also strewn across the path, to minimise any potential slip or trip hazard, gathering all at the side of the path to be collected into the big bag.

Once everything was gathered, it was time to drag the bag to the compost.

And that was that. Apart from the delicious drinks and biscuits that Malcolm and his wife (whose name we really need to learn) had provided. Leanne created an orange-Appletise cocktail that worked surprisingly well. And Malcolm's wife tried to convince us to eat as many biscuits as we possibly could, to lighten their load going home.

Oh, and having persuaded Mitch to join us for our final task of the day, we headed off towards York Cemtery.

Thanks everyone!

Reasons to be shearful, part three, 1, 2, 3

A gentle run, then emerging sun when we arrive at Mayfield Open Space for an hour of volunteering fun.

Melanie's first task, John taking snaps ('cos he's got a bad back), friendly walkers saying thanks as they amble past.

Trimming dogwood cuttings, ready for putting on the woodland paths.

Spending the last half hour, using manual power, shearing meadow wildflowers at the end of their lives.

Mitch did his 300th good deed, snipping back wildflowers and weeds - he's very good indeed. Three shears for Mitch!

We finished with chatting, while gratefully snacking on mince pies and chocolate given in thanks.

🦸🏼‍♀️🦸‍♂️10 GoodGym heroes met in some pretty heavy rain to help the Mayfields Community Trust with clearing their meadow area 🌱

🌿Each of us got an individual gardening set to work with, including a bucket, mat to kneel on and tool. Most of the group got secateurs to do the job, however Mitch and I drew the (short?) straw and got "grass hooks". (Basically scythes. But apparently not.) Our task was simple, to clear an area and watch out for frogs 🐸

☔ Again, most of the group were able to crack on in the downpour, however Mitch and I required private tuition in the art of using said "scythes". I'm not entirely convinced that we got the technique right but we tried hard at least, and hopefully developed our arm muscles on the way 💪

An hour passed quickly and with John B papping us, hopefully our progress has been recorded 📸

👑 Our efforts were rewarded with a feast fit for a king - apple juice, Diet Coke, shortbread biscuits and chocolate wafers. We'll definitely be coming back with the prospect of that sort of spread 😇 (We heard a rumour of mince pies at Christmas time, so maybe we'd better get on with getting booked in in December too 🎄)

⏰ And on that note, if you do fancy coming back, you can do just that. Same time, same place, next Saturday at 11am. So there'll even be time to sneak in another parkrun beforehand. And you never know, the weather might be a bit better next week too ☀️

Thank you again everyone for coming out in the rain and doing a cracking job 👏 So pleased to hear that Louise was able to warm up quickly once she made it home 🔥

We enjoyed the first evening of the good weather helping three members of Mayfields Community Trust cut back the thorny rose bushes, hawthorn, sycamore and other vegetation at the side of their path. This meant it would be clear for mowing and ensure the path was wide enough for easy social distancing. Michal brought a four legged supervisor to help chew up the sticks for the composting bag and check we weren't slacking. Despite a few "thorny" issues it was quite an enjoyable hour of trimming and chatting. We were rewarded with chocolate tea cakes and caramel wafers at the end.

5 of us spent a strangely satisfying hour removing ivy from the bottom 2m of trees in Mayfield Public Open Space to help the community group check tree health. Leanne, Tom, Ben Cara and I all got straight to work removing ivy with a combination of secateurs and plastering trowels. We managed to clear the ivy off of a number of trees, mostly working on our own trees with Tom stepping in to help out with any particular stubborn high bits. I was slightly disconcerted when I tugged one large piece of ivy and a large section of tree came with it. I think we could safely conclude that tree was not healthy! It was sunnier and warmer than expected during the task and to top it off we were treated to cakes at the end.

I love it when the task description is as simple as this: see sticks, make sticks smaller, move small sticks to compost heap.

Under the supervision of stick expert Feargal Sharkey dog we set to the piles of old pruning/cut back with secateurs and buckets, quickly ditching the secateurs in favour of snapping the extremely satisfying dry twigs by hand.

A 2% stick sample was requested by Mr Sharkey for quality control purposes, with Amy carefully enticing him away from the brambly spiky ones.

The buckets were emptied into a large stick graveyard in the corner of the gardens, with Amy taking at least 3 attempts before she remembered how to empty a bucket. Max took a good run up and achieved an excellent stick-spread.

Studiously ignoring the pile covered by large amounts of bird poo, we quickly finished the task and were rewarded by delicious homemade carrot cake buns (Max had two, obvs).

A lovely sunny, very warm, evening to return to com-missioning, and a delightful run back.