🏆 A mega (post-COVID record-breaking) 40 people attended tonight’s group run. We kicked off December with a bang and donned our Christmassy cheer for some present-wrapping fun.

💪 But first, it was time to celebrate some excellent Goodgymmers. James T was named GoodGymmer of the month for his sterling work leading clothes swap and book sale tasks very regularly. Then we had not one but two PBs to celebrate from the weekend - Charlotte with a 5k and Matt with a 10k at the Abbey Dash. Amazing stuff everyone!

🎄 Next up, we had a Christmassy warm-up in the shape of (an abbreviated version of) the 12 squats of Christmas (a different exercise for each day of Christmas). Pete led the walking crew while Ed led and Laura backmarked the runners to Park Grove School.

🦁 Vicky met us there with our instructions - to wrap whatever was in front of us. For some people, that was incredibly cute teddy lions, for others it was keyrings.

🍭 And for others (not for the faint-hearted), it was pass the parcel. Wrapping up to 30 layers of paper and making sure there was a lollipop in each layer (cue lots of double-checking for lollies) was quite the challenge, but one that was impressively tackled by Team Parcel.

🍫 And if that pass the parcel wasn’t enough, once we’d finished wrapping, it was time for Vicky’s special fitness pass the parcel. With a different fitness challenge for each layer and the ultimate reward of a Crunchie for the winner, it was the perfect way to finish our task (especially for Alex who won the golden Crunchie).

☔️ Although the rain had held off on our run out, it wasn’t so kind for the return journey. The walkers therefore made the sensible decision to head straight to the pub where lots of the runners joined afterwards for a meeting to discuss the January Challenge. And with some exciting plans being made, there’s lots to be looking forward to (and some more fun group runs in the meantime).

👏 Thanks to Vicky for a really fun task, and to everyone for coming along.

On a miserably wet evening our hardy Goodgymers’ spirit couldn’t be dampened.

We met and welcomed newcomer Katy and celebrated soooo many running achievements from the weekend. We also adorned Charlotte with the cape of good deeds for completing an amazing 100 deeds! You legend!

After naming and numbering off, whilst saying what our favourite item of clothing was, Claire set off with a walk/run group, Ed led the runners, and Vicky shot off ahead on her bike to make sure everything was ready.

We arrived in the Groves to be met by Tracy, who had sorted the newsletters into piles with laminated maps! Jen and Lucy were quick to volunteer for a digging task and everyone else got into threes to go and deliver the Groves newsletter in their allocated zones.

In what seemed like no time at all the groups started to trickle back to base and the diggers had successfully dug up a big stump. No time for fitness tonight - straight back to base. Tracy was very grateful for our help - she said it would have taken her a week!

Great work team GG!

With the nights drawing in a whopping 29 GG Yorkies turned out to volunteer in their local community! We started off by welcoming newcomer Erin who was attending her first ever GoodGym session. We also gave a huge round of applause to one of our run leaders, Laura who tonight was completing her 500th(!) Good Deed. What an amazing achievement. Give them both a big cheer!

Tonight we were heading to Abbeyfield Care Home for the first ever time. Vicky set off a steady pace group whilst Ed led out the rest of the gang with Cara backmarking. We arrived at the task at the same time, but alas there was no one there to greet us. After a few laps of the grounds by Ed and Vicky we eventually encountered a member of staff who despite knowing we were coming, didn't seem quite prepared for us. Nevertheless we shared the one broom between us and after a fair bit of a delay got to work picking up weeds and leaves by hand, filling up a load of black sacks as we go.

The darker night had caught a few of us by surprise so the lack of head torches meant that we weren't always entirely sure if we were picking up the right things. But we did as much as we could in the brief amount of time we had and certainly managed to pull out a few weeds and sweep up a lot of leaves in the process.

Before too long it was time for the evening's fitness so we headed around to Little Hob Moor where Ed laid out a ring of cones for a game of tag with a twist. This time you would only be allowed to move using animal-inspired movements, including the taggers, so to start with we hopped around like Kangaroos whilst being chased by Nick, Vicky and Charlotte. After a few minutes of hopping we moved onto our finest crab impressions, with Charlotte once again proving she is the queen of niche exercises! The taggers then 'tagged out' to make way for Max, David and Laura who started as reluctant bear crawlers, before finally hopping around on one leg à la Flamingos. Every time someone was caught by a tagger they would step out of the circle and complete an exercise before being allowed back in, although as time progressed more people seemed happy to complete the exercise then spend anny more time hopping around on one leg!

We then headed back to the Priory Street Centre for some stretches and a wrap of what's happening in the coming weeks. We're still on the lookout for hands at the Yorkshire Marathon water station, so get yourselves signed up if you can!

Apologies for the slow start to tonight's session. We more than made up for it with the enthusiasm during the task and fitness!