Holgate Community Garden group are trying to tidy and sort the garden over the winter ready for bringing some new life to the garden with planting in the spring. 5 of us from Goodgym helped out with their gardening session. David, Ed and Paul completely emptied one of the three large compost bins and spread the compost onto the beds. There was lots of healthy compost and worms and a few other interesting items including an item of clothing! The bin was warped and at an angle so we flattened the ground when it was emptied and reset the bin for future use. A large rat poked its head out of the second bin to see what they were doing but decided not to stick around. Cara spread out the compost and sheared around the beds. Laura helped with a range of tasks including moving a tree and removing rubbish out of the compost. The gardening session was very successful and the group were really grateful for our help.

We all had a very early start at 8am to set up the water station for the marathon and ten mile run.

After our briefing we got the table set up with lots of opened bottles of water. The marathoners came through first and kept us very busy, before a lull when we restocked ready for the ten milers.

By the time the next group came the heavens had opened but our spirits were not dampened as we had many goodgymers, from York and beyond, to spot and cheer on.

Once the last few passed we helped to tidy up then headed our separate ways.

It was lovely to welcome some visiting goodgymers too, who csme along to help. Thank you SarahGeraldine

Six GoodGymers applied themselves admirably to the task of stripping all the cladding from a large hut so it could be safely demolished. The allotment association reckoned we'd need two hours; we were done in forty minutes.

GoodGym 1 : Hut 0

Four of us went along on a sunny Saturday to help Treemendous check on the saplings up at Kimberlow Hill.

This involved taking a peek inside each tree guard to see whether its occupant was still alive, then pulling out any weeds, replacing the guard and straightening the stake if necessary. It turns out that tree guards make ideal vertical ant nests - so quite a few of our trees were sharing their living quarters with these high-rise apartm-ants! However, the trees took priority, meaning we had to knock down the nests to make sure the growing tree trunks weren't smothered.

7 goodgymers came out in the sunshine to do a spot of litter picking.

We got armed with bags and pickers and split into team Holgate park and Acomb Road. After 45 minutes we collected quite a haul including a pair of pants and a trainer!

It was Vicky's 400th good deed so she celebrated with Barbara by doing some hill reps whilst the others enjoyed a bit of sun.

We then headed to a local cafe for lunch and said our goodbyes just before the rain.