Michelle did a FANTASTIC job leading last nights task which also happened to be her 300th task over 8 years! Massive congratulations and thanks for becoming a Fitness Leader and we look forward to seeing you lead more sessions in the near future.

We also welcomed another new runner to the @GGSHF flock. Welcome Ewan! We hope you enjoyed your first run and will be back for more in the future!

We had a great intro, risk, injury and disclaimer talk from Michelle, followed by a RAMP warm up:

• Raise - heart rate, body temperature and blood flow
• Activation - The muscles (start with small muscle groups first and less intensive movements e.g. low skips) * Mobilise - Joints and tendons. NOTE: Activation and mobilisation can be done together e.g. hamstring scoops
• Potentiate - Essentially, we want to excite the neuromuscular system by performing explosive movements appropriate to the main activity.

We then headed up the hill to meet Jess and the fantastic group of Common Thread volunteers.

We had a great evening at Common Thread hosted by Jess and the other lovely volunteers. The clothes swap is coming up on Saturday 5th September so there was some preparation to do for this community event.

After the shortest run that we have on our books, we had various tasks to do. All very well organised and ready for us to get involved. With snacks and Regather apple juice for us. Thank you!

The changing room screen was mended and decorated to make it look more attractive. Katy was complimented on her skills relating to this although the whole team were on a race against the clock to get it done. It looked great by the end.

Cat gave herself a good hand workout cutting out cardboard labels for categorising clothes, whilst others worked on a novel box design with a bread knife to organise coat hangers.

Meanwhile, Tom had brought bicycle inner tubes for another imaginative use by the common thread team and Shahram was soon busy with this, cutting out the valves and prepping the tubes for use to tie hanging rails together.

We headed back for a stretch and then Amelia took some people for a free game of bowling for those who could make it. Thanks Amelia. A really nice gesture.

Thanks everyone for another good evening!

Report written by Michelle.

We brought a real CAN do attitude to our task last night.

It was an uphill journey with some real unique city sites along the way!

On a hot and humid Sheffield eve some sensible GG folk decided to meet us at the task due to the hills, heat, injury or other and the rest of us slogged it up the hill from The Showroom to Arbourthorne primary school to meet Angela at this fantastic garden space used at the school.

The order of the eve was all about watering the trees and plants on site as everything was sooooo dry!

It was a great task with a very definitive aim of getting as much water onto the plants as possible in the time we had. We used watering cans and water harvesting tanks as well as hoses to get as much water into the plants as possible as they were looking very dry.

We were rewarded in our efforts by Angela who provided biscuits and water at the end before we headed back to The Showroom for a stretch off. Celine even went blackberry picking on her way home!

Until next week, happy running :)

Today we had a fun task for a new charity. Support Dogs help supply for people with disabilities including autism and epilepsy, and they've recently moved their national centre to Hillsborough in Sheffield.

Today we helped them out with setting up a fundraising second hand sale. We helped unload the car, lay out clothes, shoes, toys and bric-a-brac, picking out highlights to display. After eyeing up a few items during set up, we browsed further as the crowds started to arrive and picked up some great bargains!

We hope the charity managed to get rid of most of the stuff and raise lots of money. We chatted to Tess about future potential tasks working on their garden and it's always great to foster new contacts!

Purchases in hand, we headed for lunch in Hillsborough park and logged the nearby lion sculptures that are part of the "Pride of Yorkshire".

Altogether 9 Goodgymmers turned up. Celine and Cat started walking from Decathlon. The remainder 7 started running up the streets, up , up hills through Norfolk Park and up, up and away. We stopped to look at some sculptures especially the 'Doe and Toad'. Then more uphills but somehow did not come into contact with the 2 walkers. They must know a shorter route because they were already at Arbourthorne School when we arrived. Still a mystery how they walk faster than the 7 runners. Anyway we met Angela and Rachel and they explained the tasks involved. We were then given tools, equipments and gloves. Then went to the areas identified and started pruning the willows whilst others weaved them. Fortunately Adrian , the gardener by profession knew how to use a battery operated strimmer and he managed all the paths and areas needed attention. Also fortunately we have 2 other strong men, Rob and Joseph managed to uplift a heavy, compost bin and emptied the contents onto a wheelbarrow. Hard work done by 9 Goodgymmers BB with the extra help from Angela and Rachel. The pruning and weaving of the willows kept us going and we forgot about time because it was such a joy. We finished at 8 pm. I cheekily asks for biscuits for all if us because Angela did mentioned it earlier in. I said we will work hard first then will enjoy the biscuits after. So true to Chocolate Hobnobs Biscuits. Such a Joy!

It was fantastic to welcome new runner Sherif to the gg family, a welcome and really helpful addition.

The weather was fantastic last night, so it was a bit of shame we were heading inside, but as soon as we arrived Jess and the team at Common Thread brought the sunshine inside!

This week we were packing up clothes parcel for people in need, from families to funerals. It was great to know who the parcels we were putting together were going to, really bringing the charities reach and impact to life.

Some people got to general sorting of donations, whilst others had a printed sheet of the peoples requirements.

Refreshments were on had and as ever, were really appreciated.

It was great to see everyone and help out again with our friends at Common Thread.

Until next time, happy running! :)