Ignoring the Weatherman....GoodGym Huddersfield have a Whale of a Time at Berry Brow School

Weather is seldom as bad as forecast these days. After 24 hours expecting a run and task in heavy snow or at least sleet, (and one or two messages between task owner Katrina Whale and myself contemplating alternatives) Tuesday evening actually turned out remarkably pleasant. The general consensus amongst the Huddersfield GoodGymmers was that it wasn’t even that cold as we gathered at our alternative meeting spot of Huddersfield Leisure Centre. We were there because Huddersfield Town were playing at the Stadium with all the resulting crowds and traffic chaos.

Anyway a Leisure Centre start meant one less hill to run up, so after the usual swift briefing we set forth to Berry Brow Infant School for our task. Being well wrapped up against the expected inclement weather it wasn’t long before GoodGymmers were removing hats and gloves to prevent overheating, especially on the climb up Taylor Hill Road. In contrast to the slightly shorter runs of previous weeks this one stretched our legs a little more, as 3.5K later we arrived at Berry Brow Infant School to meet Katrina our task master for the evening.

Katrina is a member of staff at the school who’s role includes getting people from the community to volunteer time to help the school out. So when she heard of GoodGym she thought all her birthdays had come at once! There are a whole list of things for GoodGym to do at the school on future visits, but for starters we were tasked with digging over some raised beds. We had also been due to paint some school sheds, but the winter weather put pay to that job for the time being.

Katrina had assembled plenty of tools, and after quick introductions we were soon on with digging, forking and troweling in an attempt to get the neglected beds looking pretty again. The school’s outside lights provided plenty of illumination for our playground labours, so we had no oroblems seeing what we were doing. GoodGym Huddersfield always dig and bit of digging, and whilst Chris Green and Ben Godfrey got stuck into one of the big beds, Kati Law and Heather Wilshaw Jones tackled some of the pots and smaller beds. It was also good to see Katrina lending a hand, tasks are always much better when the task owner helps out too.

Many hands make light work, and after about 45 minutes we had achieved a surprising amount with 3 beds and a couple of pots looking considerably better for our efforts. As we cleared up and said goodbye to Katrina we became aware that the temperature was now dropping a little bit, and were glad of the 3.5K return run to the Leisure Centre to get rewarmed.

Thanks to all last night’s GoodGymmers who braved last night’s (not so) testing conditions. It just goes to prove that you shouldn’t let the weatherman deter you from running, as 9 times out of 10 conditions are not nearly as bad as forecast. Another GoodGym Huddersfield job done....thanks guys!