Michelle Clarke

A big welcome to Katie and Sam who came along to their first GG run tonight!

It was looking grim out today, but true to form the GG SHF crew would not have their spirits dampened, we had leaves to sweep!

After intros and photos we headed up up up (yes three) to meet SUSTRANS Simon who is the Sheffield Lead Ranger and volunteer coordinator for SUSTRANS and does a fantastic job with other volunteers in keeping the National Cycle Network (NCN) in good order for all types of users to enjoy.

We wanted to help so with good stiff bristled brushes in hand we got to work on the Manor Way section of the NCN where a huge amount of leaves have fallen onto the path, creating a slipping hazard for anyone using the path. We swept a huge portion of the path clear for future users to enjoy safely alongside some litter picking, branch moving and stone rolling.

Once we had loaded the brushes back into Simon's van and said our goodbyes it was time to go down down (in an earlier round) whilst taking in the heat from a rather dangerous looking front garden fire. Once at Ponds Forge steps we got a couple of rounds of stair based activities in before heading home via the Zebra crossings where we lunged and channeled our inner Beatles. Once back to base we stretched off and headed inside to the warm for some drinks and chats.

Five Goodgymers made their way bright and early to support the Park Run at Millhouses.

With Sam running the show we took our allocated positions and supported the runners who braved the rain. When trying to show their bar codes they evidently had problems with losing feeling in their hands but came through smiling mainly.

We experienced the weather blowing through and had to keep our feet warm and our spirits up.

A challenge for me was the joy of bar code scanning with a wet phone which had variable success but we were well resourced with 6 super scanners. Phones are now being scanned at park run but it was pretty old school today still.

Brave family members (son and dog) were supporting the GG team helped by chocolate and throwing a ball.

We all left to get warm and I'm now writing this from bed with a hot water bottle to thaw the feet.

Thanks everyone!!! :)

Brrrrrrrrrrilliant to see a new face coming along to tonights run.

Please welcome, cheer and support James who has moved up to the Steel city from Brent.

On a rather chilly eve we headed up to help our good friend Rob the parky from Heeley People's Park to help him with the final layers of wood chip spreading and turning on the children's playground. This task does need doing regularly to keep the playground at it's best and safe for the users of the equipment. It's a huge job for Rob to do on his tod so we chipped and helped with the efforts.

Rob brilliantly laid out the GG red buckets for us and got us straight onto task with some filling barrows and buckets whilst others carried the chip up the hill to the playground where others were spreading and turning. It was a well oiled machine by the end of the task with all components working well together with regular changes to keep people warm and occupied.

After a good session we made a huge dent in the wood chip pile and Rob was very appreciative, as were we of his fantastic Movember mustache (keep it Rob, keep it!).

Once we had left tools tidy for Rob we said ta-ra and headed over to the U-Mix center for some fun fitness. This week we had x4 30s rounds of:

Hanging knee or leg lifts Step up'd or box jumps

Once back we stretched off to relieve our achy muscles whilst others nearby relieved themselves in other ways. Once cooled downed we headed into the Showroom for chats, drinks, food and discovered each others nicknames. Always a dangerous but interesting one...

Until next time, happy running! :)