The first group run of April also brought first really nice evening of the year weather-wise as the majority of GG Yorkies ditched the long sleeves and leggings for shorts and baseball caps. Tonight we celebrated a couple of epic recent PBs; one for Matt at the Berlin half last weekend and another for James at yesterday's tricky Helmsley 10k. Epic running chaps 💪

Tonight we also celebrated Hannah completing her 50th good deed! Although there was to be no cape tonight as she signed up too late for Ed to realise he needed to pack one. We'll get you next time!

Tonight we headed off to the Groves for some leafleting and a few odd tasks around the communal gardens. Laura set off promptly with a walking group, which was a good job as they decided to take the long way round, whilst Rich led a walk/run crew. The rest of the group set off with Ed at the front and Pete backmarking, but not before they'd had a stab at guessing the world's most popular chocolate bar (a question that proved to be a bit too much for Mitch as he struggled to muster an answer). Leanne was the only one who guessed correctly which got her out of 10 seconds of fast feet!

Over at the task 16 leafleters (not sure that's a word) paired up and set off delivering flyers for the Groves Association. The remaining team got to grips with various tasks including shifting bricks (careful), putting up some fairy lights, and a spot of composting

We all then met back up at 7:15 sharp for a quick team photo before a very appropriate fitness session from James who organised an epic sack race and even brought along some chocolate for the winning team. Cue lots of talk about James' sack for the remainder of the evening!

Today saw a great turnout for our first non headtorch run of the year!

Today was international Victoria day but rather than base our welcome on that we shared what we would do with our bank holiday weekend.

It should really have been Leanne day as she wasn't just crowned goodgymer of the month, but also got to wear the good deed cape for doing an incredible 1300 good deeds!

We also welcomed Ellie and congratulated Nick snd Babs for being married for 35 years!

We then set off to two tasks-

At Rowntree Park we were greeted by Stu who split us into 3 teams. The first team got to grips with a load of soil that we had previously shifted from from the gardens to the back of the lodge. This time we moved it to its final location into the raised beds.

The second group tackled a load of green waste and moved it from across the park over to the table tennis area. With Max particularly enjoying taking a ride in the giant wheelbarrow

Team 3 were instructed to remove the sedge from the garden, and after a quick Google to find out what sedge is, felt competent enough to know what they were doing. However the sedge in Rowntree park was about 50 times bigger than the ones in the photos on Google! Eventually the sedges, Sedgeric and Right Sedge Fred, were moved to their new homes closer to the lake.

All 3 teams finished their jobs with enough time spare to fill a couple of barrows worth of wood chip from the wildlife area and move it to the gardens. We were briefly joined by Jackie who earned her place in the team photo by grabbing a couple of handfuls of wood chip!

The second team stopped off at Southlands church to clear a bed of everything except the Magnolia tree! We pretty much completed the task just in time for team Rowntree to collect us and head to the park for some fun fitness.

Tonight we played heads, shoulders, knees and coins and the team with the most won a creme egg. After much tackling and slightly too much violence for goodgym, it all came down to a deciding game of rock paper scissors.

We then headed back to base and a decent crew stayed on for a drink, possibly to get one of Babs brownies!

A change of tasks saw us head the shorter distance to one of our regular haunts, at New Walk, rather than making the more epic journey to Fulford Green, but we more than made it up for it with our fitness exploits (more on that later).

Tonight we welcomed newcomer Anne Mair who was joining us for the first time as part of a volunteering challenge that she'd set herself. Great to have you with us in 🥳

We also gave a round of applause to the absent Stef and James who had completed the Malta half and the Drop Harrogate respectively. What a fab effort and from them both 💪.

We then numbered off by stating our favourite birds in honour of the anniversary of the US military retiring their last working pigeon on this in 1952. We had everything from Seagulls to Robins, but only when they're perched on top of snow!

It was then off to the New Walk with Babs leading a large walking group, Ed leading run and Pete backmarking. We also had Rich join us on his bike along the way.

At the task we were greeted by Maeve who was armed with scythes, rakes, forks and spades and set us off removing the docks so that other species could prosper. Although, not before Kit had spotted the perfect opportunity to recreate a famous scene from Titanic, with a little help from David (aka Leonardo DiCaprio).

The crew made light work of the task and needed little instruction as the docks were flying left right and centre. This gave Ed a chance to go and check out the course for the fitness session, leaving Leanne briefly in charge, who ensured that everyone was having a much better time without him!

With the bags of docks and weeds filling up, a team of runners were needed to shift them quite a distance further down the path. Unfortunately this meant a little bit of a wait for them to get back once the task had finished, but we duly filled the time with some birthday squats for Claire, who had celebrated her birthday over the weekend 🎉

And then, after a quick group photo, it was time for the fitness session which featured varying lengths of a hill rep depending on which card you drew from Ed's pack. Hearts for the 1st lamp post, diamonds for the 2nd and so on. No surprises that Matt's team ending up winning by completing the most reps, although there may have been a little bit of manipulation of the cards!

It was then back to base with a quick stretch and a pint for those in need of liquid refreshment