The Painting's on the Wall (and our shoes)

An amazing crew of 26 GG Yorkies ran to the YHA to help paint three rooms as part of their volunteering week.

We welcomed along two newbies to the gang, let's give a big cheer to Elder Palmer and Elder Leavitt.

After a nice peaceful run along the Ouse, we arrived at the YHA to be met by Hannah - who led me through the corridors and explained where we all had to go. She also said that everything had to be white. Easy. Our task was to paint three rooms; ceilings, walls and all. I successfully navigated through the maze of the hostel to rooms 6, 7 and 8.

Some people took 'everything had to be white' a bit too literally. I turned my back for less than 30 seconds and Nick already had it on his shoes, Jack and Ellie had war paint and Shelley...

I'm absolutely covered - Shelley

I can't describe room 7 as anything other than pandemonium.

Nick's end fell off!

Nick had managed to pick up the only dodgy roller, it had fallen off whilst covered in paint and made a right mess. Fortunately there was already a dust sheet down but everyone was banned from leaving the room until they'd had a thorough foot inspection.

Meanwhile, room 6 was very calm and organised and in room 8, Aidan had come up with an ingenious method of painting the ceiling which involved having a nice lay down on the (dust sheet covered) top bunk. Very effective.

I had already discovered some white footprints but Christine and John were all over it with the amazing heavy duty wipes that take paint off any surface. Christine did an amazing job of cleaning up the carpet and John was on doorway duty of room 7, which resulted in him becoming the official shoe cleaner.

Do Lizzie's foot, she's been standing on one leg for 5 minutes!

After a very efficient clean up operation of wrapping all the brushes and rollers in polythene, we headed back towards the river for an attempt of a massive group Indian file.

It's going to be as organised as a clown fight - Stef

To my utter surprise and amazement, it worked! 25 runners stayed steady and together all the way to Scarborough Bridge with the back runner sprinting to the front in turn. The only thing that caught people out was the occasional massive puddle.

Some people - having had a taste of the sprint - couldn't resist and went for the sprint finish past the station and back to the Premier Inn, whilst the rest of us carried on having a nice chat.

Til next week!