Breaking the ice
12 GoodGymers made their way to help the Friends of Rowntree Park in York.
- Saturday, 8th of January 2022
-
Led by
Nicky Woodall
she/her
☔ 12 fantastic folk arrived at Rowntree Park for a rainy session this morning. Some of us had run from an equally rainy York parkrun at the Knavesmire and some people met us at the park. After negotiating a rather icy patch just inside the entrance of the park and collecting the tools we needed from under the Reading Cafe, we set off for the wildlife area to meet Christine from the Friends of Rowntree Park.
👋We were thrilled to give a huge welcome to Iain, Harriet and Rachel for their very first GoodGym session. It was really great to meet you, thank you so much for coming along.
🐸We had two main tasks today - creating a bog and a new pond, which together should create a lovely new habitat for frogs and other amphibians.
💪We split into teams and got to work quickly:
🧊 Team Bog were shovelling and wheelbarrowing topsoil from two (very) large bags over to the "old" pond, which is becoming a bog garden (whilst negotiating various worms that we came across). Some great teamwork meant that the soil was shovelled and wheelbarrowed to the bog at impressive speed. There to meet the wheelbarrows were Leanne and David who had impressively pulled up some stubborn pond liner and broken the ice (literally, whilst we also did so metaphorically with our new friends). Leanne and David (aka the captains of the bog) then spread the topsoil over the area, demonstrating some great "shovel and flick action".
🦎 Meanwhile, Team Pond were filling sandbags and wheelbarrowing them to go around the outside of the "new" pond. After experimenting with the optimal fill-level of the bags, the sweet spot was hit and the sand container was emptied and the new pond lined with sandbags.
👏 After just over an hour, both the soil and sand bags had been fully transported and distributed, including some great team-dragging and lifting of the nearly empty (but still very heavy). Christine was thrilled and it was really satisfying to see the outcome of our work, and to think of all the lovely frogs who will hopefully benefit from it.
☕ After a team shot (which will appear just as soon as I've got it from Christine), a quick fitness session (everyone loves the classic Rock, Paper, Scissors game) in the ongoing rain meant that some of us definitely felt the need for a coffee/bite to eat, which we duly had at a nearby cafe.
🙌 Thank you so much everyone, the Friends of Rowntree Park are thrilled with our work today. We'll definitely be back there for our group run session on the evening of Monday 24th January and will be doing lots of other fun tasks in the meantime, which you can see here.
Report written by
Nicky Woodall
Discuss this report
Led by Nicky Woodall
Area Activator for GoodGym York. Loves everything running, from parkrun alphabet collecting to marathons. Will run for cake!
GoodGymers helping out
-
Photographer
Take photos for the session report
Share the love
Join us on the next run
Big allotment weed assault at Holgate Allotments
Monday 18:15 - 20:00
Led by
Ed Woollard
York CVS, Denham Room
Become a member
with an optional monthly donation
- Run, walk, or cycle to help older people
- Access sessions across the country
- Claim your GoodGym t-shirt
Need help with a community project?
If you're a community organisation and have a physical task then we'd like to help.
Request a task
sign in to add a comment