It was a Milestone Monday at GoodGym tonight as we celebrate some pretty impressive achievements. Earlier in the week Nicky W completed her 400th Good Deed and tonight Vicky completed her 500th!! Give her a huge cheer 🎉

We numbered off by naming some inspirational women in aid of International Women's Day before setting off to the Groves with Ed leading the run out and Abigail bringing up the rear.

At the Groves we were greeted by Tracy who split the group into 5 tasks. The first group (aka the moss bros) tackled an area of tarmac that had become overgrown with moss. Armed with hoes, spades and a broom, the guys scraped and brushed the moss and began filling up a tonne sack.

The second group were tasked with filling up the planters (which GoodGym had helped to build) with soil, making light work of a pretty impressive mound of earth. James B and Emma joined up with the earth movers after completing a mini task of their own which consisted of removing a couple of buddleia bushes

Martin and Jenna also made short work of their job which involved decorating a couple of trees with some fairy lights (and not Tracy's tobacco) before joining up with the final group who were tasked with trimming back some bushes in planters that had probably not had any attention for several years.

Once all the jobs were complete we then joined back up for a tabata style workout on the now moss-free area that group one had been working on. An injured Nick provided the most interesting exercise variations and at one point almost looked like he might take off whilst doing his version of a star jump!

It was then back to CVS for some delicious cookies baked by Vicky before saying our goodbyes

Not content with one sunny tree-related task this jolly Saturday, some of us headed on to our Tiny Forest for a second. We were joined by Lace and welcomed by Mickey who gave us an introduction and instructions. The patch was looking great but more maintenance was needed before the trees could become self-sustaining. We therefore set to work weeding and digging up grass that had sprung up in patches between the trees. James even got to plant a tree, which was pretty fitting for his 100th good deed. Good work James.

And to top it all off, Claire had brought an incredible picnic with sandwiches, flapjack and muffins and even a flask of coffee with cups to go round. What a treat, thank you!

A lovely bunch of GoodGymmers gathered after Heslington parkrun to join a Treemendous session, looking after some new trees. Our job was to check the trees and take whatever action needed to help them. This mostly consisted of securing loose tree guards and knocking down ant hill columns that had built up inside some of the guards and were in danger of stifling the young trees.

Good work everyone!

Tonight we returned to Park Grove to give the willow its annual haircut.

We welcomed newcomers Leticia, Matt and David to their first group sessions then headed through town to the school.

When we arrived we split into three teams - loppers, runners and weavers. Within no time the willow was cut down and transported to the dome, where the team added to the structure.

We then finished off with heart shaped strava art fitness for York Cares. The heart shapes were questionable but we spread lots of love and were rewarded with a chocolate heart.

We then headed back to base to round off another fun Monday evening.