We started the evening with what was supposed to be a quick and fun beanbag name, but turns out it works better with well behaved children than goodgym!

We celebrated Matt's Great North run and other achievements before splitting into two groups- a faster group with Ed to Clarence Street Gardens and a steady pace plus walking group with Vicky to the Groves.

At the Groves- we were met by Tracy plus a lady from York TV. The group split and headed off to do various tasks- hanging lights in trees, shifting slabs, weeding a courtyard, moving soil and raking piles of earth. Whilst all this was going on John kindly did the interview for tv.

In Ed's group

The Clarence Garden crew arrived and quickly continued the work that we'd started a few weeks ago. Mostly filling sacks full of the wildflower cuttings, shifting them over to the skips and then tipping them out.

The skips quickly filled up so Michael and Ed, in the absence of our usual bin dwellers, got stuck in and trampled down the cuttings so we could continue to pile the loads on top.

With time running out and the skips being fit to burst, we finished off by filling up the remaining tonne sacks and making a quick dash back across the gardens before leaving them next to the skips with just enough time to get creative for our team photo

We then all reconvened at the art gallery for a bean bag race with the new teeny tiny beanbags and hoops, posed as statues, then headed back to base.

Another successful night!

Its was quality not quantity this Monday with a reduced turnout due to a group of regulars being away sampling the delights of Marathon du Médoc.

Making a welcome return after a long time was Christine and her energy was put to great use leading us through an unconventional but fun warm up. Then eighteen of us made the longish run out to Greenfields.

When we got there, we split into two teams - team one was asked to cut back overgrown grass to make the paths around the raised beds visible, whilst team two emptied the compost bins and prepared some of the raised beds for winter.

Team one did a great job with the paths and were joined by a new prospective recruit Meya. We tasked George with welcoming her and explaining what we do and he must have done a good job because Meya is now going to sign up and join us again.

Team two had a shaky start with Tristan acting like he'd never used a wheelbarrow before despite his 161 previous tasks. Luckily the rest of the team performed admirably covering the raised beds with cardboard to suppress the weeds, and clearing the existing compost bins in preparation for the new ones arriving.

With the tasks complete, we headed to Clarence Gardens so we had space for a Médoc themed fitness exercise. Two (different) teams fought it out to transport the most wine (ok summer fruits cordial) on trays without spilling it. Everyone took it very seriously so there more precision than raw aggression but Leanne's team were convincing winners.

Myself and Christine were asked for a slight change in the setup this week. Long tables were required with short tables put next to them to make even longer tables. The heavy chairs were arranged around the tables and we were done in no time. Things may change again next week!

Tonight we started by welcoming back Christine and George to goodgym, by celebrating Barbara 800th good deed and by awarding Becca the goodgymer of the month! 🤩

We warmed up by saying who our 80s icon was then headed off to York Cemetery, with a quick pause for a photoshoot on blue bridge.

We were met by Clive upon arrival and also welcomed Leonie to her firsf task. We then headed up to the back of the cemetery 🪦💀 to remove poplar suckers. If these are left there would be a poplar forest before we know it and that won't do! Between us we sawed, hacked, snipped and dragged until there were considerably less of the little tikes. 🌳

We then enjoyed a fitness session of circuits which included some skipping lessons!

Then back to base for some of Barbara's brownies and a liquid refreshment in the pub. 🍻

🙌 25 gregarious GoodGymmers met for our group run this evening, amid discussion that the weather might finally be getting warmer 🌞

👋 We were thrilled to welcome Penny for her first group run and also to welcome Christine back 😁

🥞 After discussing our preferred pancake toppings (much classic lemon and sugar, some citrussy variation with orange and also much love for chocolate and banana or bacon and maple syrup), Mitch led the run to Get Cycling 🍋🍌🥓

🎨 We were heading back to complete the painting that we’ve started previously, finishing off in the shop, doing a second coat in the kitchen and a first coat in the loo! With three (rather than 50) shades of grey, the first hurdle was working out which went where ☑️

📋 Martin B arrived first so was given all the info and tasked with taking a lead role. We split into groups and set to work. All went smoothly, the greatest controversy being around the door colour (the middle of the three greys was chosen). Some people finished swiftly and either joined one of the other teams (if they had a suitable brush) or had a chat/helped choreograph the group photo 🖌️

📸 Leanne helpfully decided that the photo should be taken from the top of the steps rather than the bottom (ie up people’s noses!) so once all the brushes were washed, we gathered for that.

💪 We decided to do fitness in the car park outside so that as many people as possible could join us. We combined Cones of Joy with On the Minute and also included the dance cone, as requested by Lyndsey 💃🕺

👍 Much fun was had and it was soon time to head back to base for stretching and home/pub 🏡🍻

👏 Thank you everyone, and hopefully see you next week. Don’t forget to check what we’ve got coming up 👌