On our very last group run of 2019, 27 GG Yorkies came along for an absolute beasting at St Nicks.

With Maria leading the task, we were privileged to have Jonathan join us for a run tonight for the second time in GG history.

On arrival, we learned that there was really quite a lot to do, so we split into two groups with the 'easier' group sawing conifer trunks into bitesize pieces whilst the 'hardcore' group prepared a new nursery bed by digging it out, lining it with weed-guard and creating a border with extremely heavy sleepers.

For the first time ever, we had the use of a saw horse, which was very exciting, but only for two people at a time. Ed and Nick bagged it whilst everyone else was sawing over benches and other logs.

This is what chainsaws are for! John

Leanne had picked a particularly girthy y-shaped log and was determined to saw it vertically. She'd even lined it up very carefully with the slats of a picnic table.

Carl, John and Katie were in charge of bringing wheelbarrows full of long conifer logs to the sawing team and retreving the newly-sawed pieces to go back to storage. Apparently the cut pieces with be "seasoned" for firewood, hoping its a hearty blend of cayenne pepper and smoked paprika but we shall wait and see.

Jonathan thought two people could lift a sleeper, but Aiden nearly lost his arms, so they tried four instead. The other team dropped their sleeper after 200 yards. After some serious recovery time they very sensibly decided to get all seven on one sleeper, apart from Jonathan who bravely held the light.

Even with 8 of us, that's the heaviest thing I've ever lifted! Paul Kelly

Next up, the team took 2 wheelbarrows and 4 spades into the deep depths of the woods to the site Jonathan had earmarked for soil excavation. This may or may not be the burial site of the previous team, who were this elusive team?

Where we're going you don't need roads.

At this point it became clear Jonathan is clearly a robot. Realising time was against us, he decided to run with the wheelbarrow full of soil to the site of the sleepers. Debs and Craig walked, hoping they may one day regain feeling in their arms.

Whilst the nursery bed team were very busy completing their task and over-running a little bit (not even Legendary Leanne and her mighty headtorch could find them) so the rest of us packed the saws away and warmed up our cold hands with an outdoor-adapted version of the 12 Days of Christmas workout!!

The adapted version involved slightly slippery lunges, a very simple and easy version of a burpee which everyone definitely enjoyed, lots of high fives, a variety of press-up techniques and the strangest sit-ups you've ever seen.

The nursery team all made it back to finish the workout with us and then Craig got to finally wear the Centurion Cape for the run back, after he completed his 100th good deed weeks ago!

We must also give a huge salute to Craig's (very heavily pregnant) wife, who was slaving away at home making delicious biscoff brownies whilst we were out doing good, they did not last long in the pub...

So, officially, notwithstanding a couple of community missions, that's a wrap for 2019. What an outstanding year it has been and a huge thanks to every single one of you who's been a part of it. You've made a massive impact in the community in York and I can't wait to celebrste with you all at our end of year party on Friday!

A hardy group of 15 GG Yorkies met Jonathan at St Nicks on a damp and cold Tuesday evening.

We loaded up 2 wheelbarrows with plenty of spades and some rakes and transported them down the dark paths to where we would be dumping the bags of clay that we dug up on our previous night's group run - all 40 of them. Once we knew where to bring the clay to, a crack team set off to collect the very heavy bags of clay using the wheelbarrows. Tim and Craig just about managed to not slip down the muddy bank with the heavy wheelbarrows and within a short time all the clay had been dumped. With the help of Huw's large feet and thumping-it-with-the-back-of-a-spade technique the clay was all well stomped and flattened.

Jonathan explained that the clay will retain the moisture to help create a wetland area but to help with this he asked if we could dig a trench down from the path which was higher up. The path gets very wet and the idea is to divert the water from the path somehow (exact method to be decided) into our clay 'bowl'. We were very grateful to be digging which kept us warm and soon we had filled all the blue bags with sandy soil which was no good for retaining moisture. We wheelbarrowed some of the blue bags down more dark paths and dumped the sandy soil in what will become a wildflower area. We didn't have time to get them all moved but that will be a task for another day!

There was much talk about take-aways and which were our preferred establishments so some of us were feeling quite hungry and in need of hot food. After a couple of group photos we all headed off in our different directions - until the next mission!

17 GG Yorkies and 1 Digby ran to St Nick's to join them for their Eco-Active day. We were met by the St Nicks crew who told us a bit about the importance of woodland management and coppicing with standards.

Standards, we don't have standards - Bad Jim Max

We split into two groups, collected our helmets, gloves and lots of sharp saws and headed into the woods. This was Maddy's first time sawing and she did a fantastic job, making quick work of a large fallen tree. Everyone was keen to get felling, and since York is short on any mountains, we made do with saws and loppers to clear a path of organised destruction.

TIMBER! - Christine

Mitch had found his groove, clearly his natural habitat is the woods, and after coming out of his den he donned a helmet and got stuck in bringing down the largest tree he could find. This one was going to take two of us and, always up for sawing something, Craig stepped in to help. After a Chuckle Brothers style "to me, to you" we were through but it turns out we had cut the tree too neatly. We'll take that as a win.

I really enjoy this sawing - Mitch

Everyone was working hard clearing the trees and moving them to form what had now been deemed the Semicircle of Doom. Meanwhile Digby decided that Max's running bag was a fun toy and pinched it. What followed was an entertaining episode of catch the pigeon (dog) as we chased after him.

After a few hours of lopping, sawing and raking we could finally see the wood for the trees and retired successful. How we got so much done?... I'm stumped.