For tonight's run we headed out on mass covering an impressive 1km to get to Scarcroft Allotments. The really fit ones then carried on an extra 300 metres to Wild Things Forest School!

At Scarcroft we were given two tasks. Team 1 were asked to move some sleepers (I'm sure we moved these very same sleepers not long ago...). In goodgym style this took about 5 minutes so we were asked to move some brash and woodchip to keep us busy. It wasn't long before team 2 arrived back having been given the job of carrying sheds down the hill. We then moved onto smashing these up (I think Nikki had had a bad day as given the gusto with which she yeilded a hammer!) The last job (which Rob said would be too difficult - has he ever met us?) was to prise apart the ruins of a burnt out shed. No problem for us!

Meanwhile at the forest school...

The group of 9 that headed over to wild things forest school had a range of physical tasks to get stuck in to. The first was to chop up some old Christmas trees to lay a bed for the wood chip that was to be spread on top. Nicola was shown which areas needed doing and everyone else got to work chopping trees or shifting the bark chip around. Meanwhile Ed got to work with some pallet splitting using a fancy pallet splitting tool. Fortunately, despite a few near misses, no nails ended up in anyone's feet even after Rich joined in with the destruction.

It was then time for a creative team photo, seeing how many people we could fit on a giant tree trunk, before heading over to Scarcroft Green for a beasting from Vicky!

After the beasting we jogged or walked back to base then a few stayed on to quench their thirst.

With better than expected weather and a change to the planned task, six hardy Goodgymmers enjoyed a morning of barrowing wood chip, digging out saplings and a little bit of heavy lifting and dog petting thrown in for good measure.

Splitting into two groups, Leanne, Jane and Claire took charge of barrowing the wood chip, whilst I joined Jenna and Elle uprooting the unwanted saplings (the type of tree unfortunately forgotten) to be used to bulk out the dead hedges. There was a little bit of heavy lifting as well as we moved some of the large logs into position in the communal areas.

After an hour of hard work and carefully avoiding the dogs who were trying to help, the barrowing team finally cleared the wood chip pile (after two previous tasks) and the dead hedges were looking good by the time we stopped for hot drinks and cakes.

Spirits were high tonight as we continued our excellent start to 2026 with another great turnout. Ed, clearly struggling from over-indulging at weekend, just about remembered what to do for the group run intro as we celebrated all those that had helped out at another hugely successful York Community Woodland parkrun, especially run director Michael 💪

I'm not being held responsible for a load of wet trainers - Ruth

After numbering off and much debate about whether the river path was open, Rich led out a small walking group, whilst Ed led the main group backmarked by Vicky and Babs. There was a little bit of confusion when we arrived as Ed and task owner Nicola hadn't agreed exactly where we would be meeting at Millennium Fields, so we gambled on a light in the distance belonging to Nicola and not a dog walker.

I was never sure whether I was supposed to be the bird or the bee - Rich

Fortunately the gamble paid off and we were soon being led down to an area that we had worked on previously where apparently the bird and bee seeds had been hugely successful. Cue some interesting conversations about the birds and bees and even bears!

Meanwhile a small splinter group featuring Jane, Daniel, Kit and Jamie got to work turning over the compost bays that have been a bit of a staple of good gym millennium fields tasks over the years. This time with the added challenge of just having 2 spades between them.

Another group armed with trowels got to work on the bee bank although I'm not entirely sure exactly what it was they were doing, but i was informed by Abi that it was very good for a particular type of butterfly 🦋

Once enough seeds were sown it was then time for a quick fitness session involving running around and getting into different sized groups depending on the number that Ed shouted out. There's still some confusion over exactly how many people were at the session tonight with every number seemingly dividing well enough to not leave anyone without a group 🤔