A Handful of Grass Helps the Woodchip Go Down

13 GG Yorkies (and a GG Bristolian) ran 6 kilometres to help out at Greenfields Garden.

9 of these lovely folk had already been on our Bank Holiday bonus mission for a double good deed but we welcomed the lovely Paul again because he had joined us all the way from GoodGym Bristol, and deserves lots of cheers!

With Mrs Kermeron as our back marker, we set off in the evening sun towards Greenfields Garden, where we were met by Sarah. Sarah's first challenge for us was to unlock the container which housed all the tools for our task. New member Darren, was first on the scene and went with pure strength before realising a whole locked padlock was still in situ.

After the container was unlocked, our challenge was to: * pull up all the grass which had grown over lining sheets around a section of raised beds * cover the cleared area with woodchip * move a pile of compost bags to the opposite corner of the garden * shift the remaining woodchip to a new location

All in 25 minutes!

We had an energetic crew tonight and the bags were hauled across the gardens in double quick time. We had some hardcore double-carries and even some of our more competitive members racing each other in bag carrying battles!

Meanwhile, the grass pulling team were working their way across the area. Some patches of grass came up easier than others..

This grass is like velcro! - Al, GG Yorkie

I granted the team a FIVE MINUTE TIME EXTENSION instead of a set of lunges as the grass pulling was a challenge. As patches of the liner were cleared of grass, the woodchip digging began. It started gently at first but with the time ticking away it gradually became a bit more frantic.

Dig FAST.. but safe.. - Egg, GG York Trainer

Amidst fears of spade-related injury in the melee, we switched to the handful method, which was surprisingly quicker and more effective. Nick was loving it so much that he was enthusiastically chucking handfuls of woodchip all over the place even when there wasn't a wheelbarrow around to fill.

With ten minutes left, we had three 'barrow pushers running back and forth at a startling pace and woodchip flying everywhere. It was in people's shoes, hair and in one case, cleavage!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief with the job finished, and we just had a little bit of time to spare before the run back to base so we fitted it some wide jumping squats, lunge kicks and the amazing partner wall-sit challenge.

We ran 3km run back along the Orbital route with a teeny balance challenge for the lead pack (where I nearly fell in a bush but Rachel saved me) en route.

I'll leave you with Paul's three-word summary of his time at GoodGym York!

Sunny, smiley and BRILLIANT!

Don't forget it's a short one next week so suitable for ALL levels, sign up HERE

p.s. thanks Leanne for being puntastic!