Mitchell Scott

Today we welcomed out new Area Activator Nicky. Welcome to the Team Nicky!

The task location was about 3km away from the base and those of us who preferred to run at an easier pace left a bit earlier. The rest of us spent good few minutes warming up before going to the first dark task of the season. We caught up with the team who left a bit earlier about 1/3 of the distance away from the park and ran rest of the distance together.

Once we reached the park we found Kristina from the Council who already had all gardening tools laid out and ready for us.

We were assigned to two tasks, namely edging and weeding rose beds and building a dead hedge + compost bin tidy up.

The rose garden team had a nice time chatting about the next running challenge, cooking for friends and other things while working around the flowers. They were even thanked several times by a passer by who was very grateful for what we do.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the park Ed, Mitch and Craig utilized their construction skills to extend the dead hedge to fill the gap between the existing dead hedge and the living hedge. The rest of the team were tasked with materials supply and general trim and tidy up around the compost container duties. It was getting dark, however we came prepared and switched one of our portable lights on to illuminate the construction work area.

After just over 30 minutes of what today was a relatively light work we cleared the rose beds, built a dead hedge, tidied up the compost bin and were ready for the fitness session. The fitness bit started with star jumps, then burpees, then the Superman pose before moving to nearby steps for a run up and down the stairs. It was getting darker every minute and with no lights in the park and only about half of us wielding head torches it was time to finish off with few mountain climbers, basketballer squats, dive bomber pushups and quick feet before heading back to base.

Back at York CVS we had a nice stretch and chatted about forthcoming missions and other things before either going home, or Ackhorne for a cold drink.

I cycled to Mrs Q's house to help out with some of the gardening. Unfortunately due to arthritis and the COVID lockdowns she hasn't been able to keep on top of the weeds and needed some help with the heavier graft. However after 90 minutes work, I was able to clear much of the overgrown weeds. Now she is able to get back to doing some gardening.

What better way to celebrate than a delicious pizza from Bluebird Bakery* :D

*Ignore the terrible photo, it was delicious...

Today started with a massive round of applause for Leanne who has recently reached 800 good deeds. It means that Leanne was out 800 times volunteering in York! That is a huge achievement deserving a massive CHEER!

Following a Michal-Egg jointly run warm-up we split up into two teams and were ready to do more good in York.

A team of 11 ran over to Glen Gardens to clear the borders around the new accessible pathway.

Adi met them there and warned that the ground was hard and dry but that was a massive understatement. It was almost impenetrable.

There was one really cool spade with a point end and saw edges! Paul Kelly put it to good use and managed to make good progress on his patch.

Lucy and Max escaped with some loppers to cut back overgrowth further along the path and they missed out on an extraordinary range of conversation about ‘the longest fence in the world’ and the paint colour ‘forth bridge red’.

With a fairly decent area of border cleared, the team moved onto bark chipping, armed with only two wheelbarrows and a lot of leaf grabbers.

21 seconds to go!

They were being chucked out of the park because the gatekeeper needed to lock up, but not before Bec and Lucy completed an amazing jigsaw of getting all the tools and the two wheelbarrows back in the metal tool shed.

Er.. one of those is mine and I need it back - Adi

Let’s hope for some rain and softer ground next time!

Meanwhile a team of 13 ran to Danesgate School. Jackie and Carl joined us at the task, making the team 15 strong.

Some of us were familiar with the location as we have been here before on three community mission. Today we were determined to complete what we have started back in April, namley remove every remaining bit of the invasive grass and other unwanted weeds and make space for new plants.

Guess what, the ground was hard here too...

Be careful not to dig into the electric wire - Debbie the task owner

To be on the safe side Ros, Cara, Jenna and Abi opted for a selection of trowels as oppose to forks and went on weeding along the paving slabs.

Barbara and Laura wielded a fork each and focused on the bit of the garden close the the school wall and well away from the illuminated path.

Rich, Stuart, Vicky and Izzie dug and pulled at the weeds by the wooden fence and the rest of us worked around the edges.

About 20 minutes into the task the ton bag was looking like full and Stuart stepped in. With Leanne's and Carl's assistance he demonstrated very effective compaction technique which involved jumping on top of the green stuff to make space for more.

We are an efficient bunch and Michal, Louise and Carl even found time to list the next bench marking task on the website.

With all the unwanted roots and weeds removed and the landscape fabric expertly laid Debbie opened the remote controlled gate and bid us farewell.

Back at the base and with various degree of eagerness we did few fun exercises including walking lunges, spiderman walk, duck walks, crab walk and backward walking lunges, before heading to the Ackhorne for the traditional after run social.

Next week we are all going to Hull Road Park.

On an early Sunday morning, 4 GoodGymers went down to the Knavesmire to help set up a fair for 'Keep Your Pet'. Keep Your Pet are an amazing service set up by AgeUK and RSPCA York who provide short term assistance for domestic pet owners who are older or vulnerable and living in the York and Selby areas at times of ill-health or other emergencies. These services include feeding and walking pets and short term fostering.

We arrived and offered to assist in any way needed. Whilst we helped out with unloading and moving tables and chairs, our main task was to set up the gazebo's. Luckily as we have been camping a lot recently, we all (...mainly Leanne) knew exactly what to do and made quick work of setting them up.

We were also available to help when any volunteer required some assistance:

Can I have all volunteers around the back of the van

Are we about to be kidnapped? Abi

Whilst we were setting up the stalls, junior Parkrun was happening nearby and we needed to make sure not to get in the way. Luckily Nick was on hand to keep us away! Despite that we all still found the time to give the runners a cheer.

After an hour of graft, the fair was set up and it was job well done. What better way to celebrate than an long run...or cup of tea.