A huge 22 GG Yorkies made light work of topping up the bark path at Dick Turpin's Grave!

The atmosphere was buzzing at the Premier Inn tonight as we welcomed a massive five new runners to the GG York family. Welcome to Paul, Esther, Kathryn, Ellie and Sasha - give 'em all a big hearty cheer.

With Chloe back-marking, we made our way to George Street Park, arriving so early that we beat the task owner, Iain. Not wanting to waste a single moment, we went through some drills:

• Skipping
• Side steps
• Heel kicks
• Lunges (obvs)

Iain then came to the rescue with his van of tools and everyone was relieved. Our task was to top up the bark around the park and clear the pile that had been left outside the park. With such a large crew we had barrowers, diggers, litter pickers AND rakers all working hard.

We had half an hour to finish the task but we were all done in a speedy 22 minutes. Path topped up, spare bark swept away, all the litter picked and bagged, bish bash bosh.

Lightning workforce tonight, thanks GoodGym York! - Iain, CoYC

It would be rude not to go and say hello to Clifford's Tower since we were only round the corner. So despite the biggest group groan I've ever heard, we plodded over to the 55 steps for a couple of rounds before our group fitness session in Tower Park.

We started with some leg exercises, revising the good technique that comes with squats and lunges. Then we did some hopping and the very complex hopscotch coordination drill which blew everyone's minds (except Barbara, who was all over it).

Then it got serious.. mountain climbers two ways, squat thrusts and a mini HIIT session with the fastest jumping jacks you've ever seen!

We treated ourselves with a run back along the beautiful city walls, taking in a few extra steps along the way. After a stretch out we awarded Becky with her red laces for bringing a friend, nice one.

Lots of exciting chat at the pub ensued with so many races and events on the horizon and a huge amount of travel logistics to sort for a weekend of GoodGym activity. We even convinced Darren to get up at awful-o-clock to join us for Sheffield parkrun on Saturday, hurrah! Anyone else?

Remember next week is another beginner-friendly one and we'll be doing a brilliant painting task, get yourself signed up and bring a friend!

8 trusty GoodGymers including first timer Duncan and a committed Camden commuter, Beth, trotted a short distance down to Splash Point where we embarked on a trophy gathering beach clean to just beyond the pier It didn't take long before Gill presented the group with a small bouquet of flowers closely followed by an abandoned walking boot and a red hat ! Not to be outdone Roisin found all sorts of bounty including a croc followed by Martin most usefully finding a water container ( You could have done with that on yor 17 miler yesterday ! ) Duncan enjoyed comparing crab sizes whilst Elisa came out with some unrepeatable one liners that made us all have a Good Gym giggle. Emerging from under the pier we created an impressive garbage scarecrow mascot which was a fine piece of modern GG art which we were very proud of. With the task successfully completed we set off on our steady 6k run inland followed by a fitness session back at Splashpoint followed by stunning GG light and fluffy cakes courtesy of Martins mum and friend. I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's experience and hope you all did too ! Lovely people and fun stuff too. Enjoy the photos ! I'm looking forward to next Monday already

Two GoodGymmers brightened up B's day and helped her sleep well at night by changing her lightbulbs, testing her smoke alarm and turning her mattress

Mark and I met at dusk and met our lovely host for the evening, B. She needed some lightbulbs replaced in her kitchen and had been incredibly active (especially for an 87-year old!) but isn't able to use the step ladder as she has had not one, but two, hip operations.

Thankfully, B's physio put her in touch with two GoodGym runners in search of a light workout.

Making light work of it

B had two rows of halogen spotlights in her kitchen but three of the eight bulbs no longer did their job. This left some parts of the kitchen in the dark.

We took out the step ladder and new light bulbs then up Mark got and replaced the first. I managed to remove the second and had trouble getting the replacement in but then Mark stepped up and took mere seconds to do the job. Great work, Mark, I could have been there a while! It then made sense for Mark to fit the third bulb (again in seconds).

The kitchen was much brighter afterwards.

Beep test

While Mark was fitting light bulbs we heard a low beep which B thought was her smoke alarm (but we knew we hadn't started a fire!!!).

We established it wasn't the washing machine or the door entry system. I followed B to the hallway and identified it was the phone, but while on the subject of beeping, B thought we could also change her smoke alarm battery. She said it had been beeping lately and someone told her this meant the battery needed replacing.

On closer inspection the model said the battery couldn't be replaced but I suggested Mark climb up and test the alarm to reassure B that it was working.

Got to turn around

B liked our style and the concept of a GoodGym mission so found a couple more tasks.

I'd remarked that I'd recently flipped my mattress for the first time in months after my shoulder surgery and this gave B the idea to ask us to turn her mattress so she could get a good night's sleep.

This is the beauty and simplicity of a GoodGym mission; a straightforward household task with a big impact to everyday lives.

It's time to take out the trash

B was delighted with our speedy and helpful work and just asked us to take out two bags of recycling as we left to go on our separate runs home.