Versatile crew

Kristina asked us to help with a number of tasks today, but first were the announcements.

• We congratulated the #RunWithPride team for participation in the running and walking event over the month of June celebrating the fact that no matter who we are, or who we love we are all equal.
• Secondly last weekend’s Endure24 was a big highlight that could not go unnoticed. Special cheers went to our solo runners David, Angela and Hayden who have covered remarkable distances, respectively 12 laps (97km), 17 laps (135km) and the 14th place and 10 laps (80km).

We did not want to keep Kristina waiting for too long, so I reminded everyone to gather back at 7:30pm for the yoga session and to hear the last item of news from me and we quickly allocated people to task leaders Ellie, Barbara, Pete and Laura and went to work.

Pete’s team report

Pete, Cara and Stuart headed over to the compost bin for the time honoured task of move the compost pit upside down again. We were quickly at it despite all the bins being quite full and fairly loose. Shortly after we started Michal pointed out that they had been done recently and showed us where we should have been! Joined by Leanne who knew what she was doing we made quick work churning the more compact compost even if it did result in slightly bent pitchforks. With time to spare we headed over to soil mountain...

Ellie’s team report

Mud Mountain were excited to get on with a classic GoodGym task: dig up a pile of dirt (or two in this case!) and move it so it can be spread on the path, ready to be topped off with bark chippings in a few weeks’ time. Ellie, Ben, Nikki, Carl and James were the original diggers and they swiftly realised what a gargantuan task was ahead of them. Armed with mattocks and spades, they split themselves into two groups to tackle the two piles.

One of the piles (“Mud Mountain Priority 1”) needed to be cleared ASAP so other GGers could dump grass clippings in its space, but space was tight and was made even tighter when the pile of clippings started blocking the way to the mud! Mud mountain 2 was a little more tricky to dig through - Nikki, Ben and James had to deal with a range of rubble and rubbish mixed into the earth.

Soon enough, though, extra help arrived, and Pete helped dig whilst Jenna helped Kristina down the new path. However, this is definitely a job to be continued another day!’’

Barbara’s team report

After Leanne and Jenna left Barbara’s group to help elsewhere, it was up to Stef, Barbara, Paul and Helen to take on the compost bins near the bowling green (where a vey lively bowls match was taking place). Our task was to remove all the grass cuttings and wheelbarrow them across the park to where the mud heaps and other compost bins were. With a variety of tools - several forks, a shovel and a pitchfork, we moved all the grass within the hour to where Kristina wanted it.

Laura’s team report

The geranium team got busy hacking back the geraniums from the paths leading through the rose gardens. Liz, Jackie and Laura lopped geraniums while David swept and bagged them. By the end of the hour we'd filled two dumpy bags and cleared most of the path.

So you can see that we have completed 3 out of 4 tasks. Not bad I say! Especially under the circumstances that Ellie’s team was understaffed and the space was too tight.

Gathered back at 7:30ish (and that is a BIG ‘ish’) we went through some yoga movements helping those of us who ran long distances this weekend to recover. The exercises were aimed to help improve our balance, flexibility and build up muscle strength. Few core exercises were thrown into the mix to benefit our running form.

And yes, the last item of news was announced by me at the start of the yoga session. The news is that I will be passing the baton of leading GoodGym York to a new person. More about that in the email which I will be sending out to everyone tomorrow, that is on Tuesday 6th July.