On the first warm and sunny evening of 2018, a crazy large group of 51 GG Yorkies ran to a fabulous new project in York

We gave a big round of applause to our new runners and screamed wildly for Tim, who ran outstandingly well at Brighton Marathon yesterday. Not only did he run a marathon but it was also his 50th good deed so make sure you go and give him a massive cheer. Now, I was Bad Egg this week and had completely forgotten the Cape of Good Deeds (Leanne said it must be to do with being a new mum, having 'puppy brain') so I sent an emergency message to have the cape delivered to the pub for afterwards - more on that later.

We had three groups running to Spark: York this evening. A long run group lead by Paul and back-marked by Leanne, a short group run led by me and back-marked by Tim, and a power walking group led by Ellie and back-marked by Christine.

The Spark: York project is a fabulous enterprise using containers to enable small business, charities and community groups to have a space they can use (and afford). One of these brilliant projects is York Nurturing Community, whose café will provide allergy-aware, hot meals prepared with intercepted surplus and donated food on a Pay-As-You-Feel basis. Emily from YNC was the person who asked us along to help out and she had a big old job list for us!

It's my first GoodGym run and I'm the first at the task! - Rosie

The short run and walk group arrived almost together, and once we were hi-vised up we set about the following:

• Clearing a ditch of rubble into a skip
• Painting the ceiling of the YNC container
• Wire brushing pipes ready for painting
• Clearing wood from one container to another
• Sanding down some upcycled furniture
• Clearing out all the rubbish from another container
• Varnishing a mosaic which had been lovingly made by children with disabilities

Phew. Whilst everyone was getting on with those jobs, the second run group turned up and were tasked with cleaning every window and glass door, as well as sweeping everywhere. We also had to move lots of various items to different locations. If you took a moment and just watched the action from above, it was quite a sight. Hi-vis scurrying all over the place like little ants.

Leanne and Tim managed to baggsy the job of fireproofing one of the containers. It involved wearing one rubber glove each, donning a mask and hand-spraying clear liquid all over the wooden surface. Unfortunately, Tim's mask broke so he had to keep going to the door, taking a deep breath and running back in.

It's basically like diving - Tim

The final massive job was to shift two tonne sacks of sand across the site where it would form the foundations of another area. With only one wheelbarrow, people were grabbing buckets, cardboard boxes, pots and pretty much any recepticle they could find to fill with sand and take across. Once the bags were half empty, big teams of super strong GoodGymers were dragging them over and tipping them in. It was a spectacle.

We finished up with a thank you from the team, and I was delighted that they joined in with our workout - a GoodGym version of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.. which - you guessed it - included squats and lunges.

Mel, Ellie and Rob did an amazing job of repacking the hi-vis vests into size order and the heroic Ellie carried them back to base with the walkers.

I'm like hi-vis Santa! - Ellie B

After a team stretch out, some of us headed to the pub and Tim finally got to wear his cape with pride. There was some excellent posing with a pint and he shall run victoriously next week, with the cape blowing in the breeze. Don't miss out on that.. you can sign up here.

I leave you with a terrifying (but real) quote from our own GG Danger Man, Tim.

So, I think I'm probably fireproof too now, after all the spraying. Who's got a lighter?

A swarm of GG Yorkies ran to Monk Stray to 'harvest' some tree covers!

With Paul in the lead and Nick as our back marker (and very excited for the 'back marker badge' too), we ran to the north end of Monk Stray where we were greeted by Iain, Kristina AND Beki; triple whammy.

This crack squad of officers love playing a game with us at Monk Stray. The game involves picking a different entrance every time, even though the task pretty much always takes place at the same corner of the stray. What is particularly fun about this game is that most of the Stray is a mud pit, a total quagmire. The only bit that is dry-ish is the corner where the task takes place.

After our obligatory lap in the mud, we had a demonstration of how to safely remove the tree guards. The demo involved Nick being armed with a crowbar and receiving a big cheer at each stage of tree guard removal. We were asked to preserve them as much as possible so they could be transported over to West Bank Park where they were going to be used to house some new saplings.

Don't crowbar the humans - Ellie is always good for safety advice

Small teams each ran to a tree and started their tasks:

• crow bar the outside plank off
• pull out a lot of metal staples and keep them safe
• remove the metal housing, keeping it in it's circular shape
• saw off the wooden stakes
• carry everything back across the mud to the van

Barbara, Lizzie and Vanessa had picked the only tree which was entirely surrounded by spiky brambles, but they didn't let that get in their way as they hacked back a space to work in.

Nick hadn't let go of the crow bar yet and Bec had been quick to grab the second one. It was a race between them each time someone called out needing some crow bar action.

Meanwhile, the toughest part of the job was prizing the metal staples out. Stef and Max were on fire with this task and were working their way around the trees trying to extract as many as possible.

I've got so many nails we could open a GoodGym nail bar! - Stef

As the task was drawing to a close, we carried all the metal, planks and tools back over to the van. We were waiting for one team to finish and that team had the box for the tools too. In an effort to stay warm, we danced around a saw and a hammer in the same way you might dance around a handbag at a wedding. This soon sneakily escalated into a full workout involving squat jumps and high knee sprints (very well known for increasing core body temperature).

With the van loaded, we ran back to base and finished up with a few run conditioning exercises including single leg sits and the reverse plank. Don't forget to practise everybody!!

28 GG Yorkies and the first ever GG Newcastler ran 6km to plant 100 hawthorn whips!

We gave a warm welcome to Anji - the new GoodGym Trainer from Newcastle, who came to lead our session to Monk Stray. She kicked us off with a massive warm up and got us sharing our very own hidden skills. Who knew we could basically make up a GG York band and a GG York circus with all the mad skills in the room! We also welcomed along two brand new runners, so let's have some hearty Yorkshire cheers for:

• Vanessa
• Saul

We also celebrated run leader and all round good'un, Paul, doing his 50th good deed. He was awarded the Cape of Good Deeds to wear with pride for the evening.

On arrival at the task, we trudged all the way across the really mucky field before realising there was a gate right at the far side that comes in from the pavement. Nevermind, we were destined to get muddy anyway. Beki explained how we plant the whips, with a support cane and plastic casing too. We had to dig little trenches and stagger the plants.

Don't worry, they'll definitely be staggered! - Paul, those 50 good deeds giving him all the experience to know that we are not good at straight lines

We had 30 minutes to get 100 whips in the ground around the perimeter of the stray. Before you could blink, trenches were being dug, plastic casings were being extracted and canes were flying everywhere.

I'm on whip distribution - Mel, important job

Fortunately the ground was really soft so the trenches were being dug very quickly and the progress was amazing, in under five minutes, 19 whips were already planted and the team were gathering steam. There were a few moments where people were armed with canes and waiting, so we boshed some star jumps and hammer blow squats to stay warm.

With our challenged completed, we ran down to the cycle path where Anji led the group in some running drills which almost certainly had made-up names:

• High knee walk
• Penguin run
• Horse run

We were loving the animal theme and some members were more coordinated than others. New runner, Vanessa, was absolutely amazing and nailed every single drill!

All that was left was the run back up Micklegate and a good team stretch out with some of Anji's top stretching tips. We can't wait to see the launch of GoodGym Newcastle, thanks Anji for a brilliant session!