Monday 16th July 2018
Report written by York runner
A team of 30 GG Yorkies ran to give Gale Court Farm a makeover
We started out by welcoming our new runners and celebrating the very lovely Lizzie who was running her 100th good deed and got to run in the awesome Centurion Cape!
Our task was to give a makeover to the communal outdoor spaces at Gale Farm Court - a sheltered housing complex with care for older and disabled residents.
A few of the residents came out for a chat. Mel introduced herself to one who was poking his nose through the fence.
I'm Lee and this is 'Chip Fat Pat'
We never learned why she was Chip Fat Pat but she was a genius as Mel was trying to pick up spiky holly offcuts and Pat handed her a couple of bits of plywood to use as scoopers instead.
With different jobs all over the site, I needed helpers. Tim was first up and keen as always. He was sent on a mission to find a tonne sack and bring it around for all the cuttings to go in.
At the back, it was sweeping madness as everyone used the tiny brushes to clear all the moss and weeds around the pathways leading to the tool shed and the recycling area. Debs was chief sweeper as she has the big brush and swept the main area to absolute perfection.
Speaking of recycling, Mitch had heard that there was a job to tear up cardboard and was super keen. Resident Frank had pointed out an ENORMOUS box that needed deconstructing so it could fit in the recycling bin. Mitch diligently went to work tearing the box into millions of tiny pieces. Excellent.
I've made a mistake
Unfortunately he then accidentally fed 80% of it into the glass recycling bin which was locked with a chain. We know Mitch is nothing if not persistent so he then found a litter picker and set about extracting all the cardboard bits and depositing them into the right bin!
Over at the big clear, Aidan had arrived with a spade and set to work digging out some massive plants with Katie F and Huw. Frank had led us through the building to this spot and initially we had thought we'd set a building alarm off but it was just a really strong mobility scooter reversing bleep.
At the front courtyard, Tim was committed to his tonne sack duty and was ensuring we got the maximum amount in by seriously compressing it with jumping. Now another challenge..
THE 5 MINUTE BROOM CHALLENGE!
Tristan was up. He had five minutes to run around to the other side, nab a broom, bring it over and sweep up everything as fast as possible. He sprinted off and honestly I've never seen anyone sweep with such power. Amazing.
With just a few minutes to go it was mega sweepy time at the recycling courtyard which had been utterly transformed and looked fantastic! One of the residents had demanded we have some biscuits and had gifted us a whole box of them via Stef, who was totally chuffed about it.
It was supposed to be a steady run back and Tim had promised to lead a nice one but we all know what he's like, so some people went for it whilst the rest of us had a nice social.
We celebrated our good deed in the best possible way... hill reps! Quite a few tonight had their first ever experience of Windmill Rise and there was some excellent sprinting going on as we practised good arm drive and bringing those knees up!
After stretching out we discovered the biscuits we had been given we the actual best biscuits EVER and everyone was very happy ever after.
'Til next week, be a good one.