As it was the festival of Holi we started by saying something colourful that makes us smile as we named and numbered off. With Laura leading, Stef backmarking and Pete keeping track in the middle we ran 2k to St Chad's Scout Hut. We had been prewarned that we couldn't do the painting part of the task which we discovered on arrival was due to a toilet falling off the wall! However there was an abundance of gardening tasks to complete. We were given a tour of the gardens and shown the tasks before setting at them with loppers, secateurs, saws and wheelbarrows.

Ed and Abigail stripped the dead leaves off the palm trees while Pete, Nikki, Max and Stef got sawing. Unfortunately Pete was a bit overenthusiastic with his saw and caught his leg causing the first aid kit to make an outing.

Lyndsey and Leanne did an incredibly neat job of pruning a hedge and everyone else got to work cutting back brambles.

Afterwards we did a twist on our pairs alternate running game with the challenge of swapping with a different person each time with the non runner picking a new way of moving each time they returned. We then headed back to base for stretching and cake courtesy y of Lyndsey.

We started tonight's group run by belatedly awarding our GoodGymer of the month accolade for February to the marvelous Nikki , who had continued her January exploits into Feb and been a shining example for other Task Forcers. Well done Nikki 👏

We also welcomed newcomer Sarah who was doing her first ever task tonight. Let's give her a big cheer 👋

A bit of daytime drama meant that our services were required elsewhere, so instead of going to Ashton Park, tonight's group run saw us head to Clarance Gardens for a spot of unsupervised wildflower seed spreading! Ed did his best to explain what was required of us, and with a few suggestions from the rest of the team, we soon decided on a system that saw everyone lining up a meter apart, with a few seed topper-uppers running between them all 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️

Babs seem to focus on quantity rather than quality and raced ahead of the rest of the line of seed spreaders, whereas Graham took a bit more time and care with his seeds and stamping. Let's see when they bloom who had the best technique!

With most people having whizzed through their seed portions in lightning quick time, we needed to fill the rest of the session with something or risk an early pub exodus. So Leanne led a congo/indian file stamping line to make sure that no spot was left un-stomped.

Before too long it was time for the fitness session and an opportunity to get to know each other a little better. The GGers ran in a circle (again led by Leanne) and made thier way into the middle for an exercise every time Ed called out something that they had done before. Unsurprisingly almost all GGers have baked a cake or planted a tree in their lifetime. Unfortunately we didn't uncover too many secret tattoos though!

Huge well done to everyone for a fab session. Next week it's off to St Chad's scout hut for a classic painting task!

Five minutes before we were due to set off on our group run we got a call saying the council van had been broken in to and they needed to cancel.

A quick phone call and we swiftly rearranged to go to Park Grove and do next week's task a week earlier.

We warmed up and numbered off saying what we'd like a day to be named after as we were unimpressed by it being National Arabian Horse Day. Goodgym and running featured and the other end if the spectrum with do nothing day and stay in bed day!

We also celebrated some outstanding running at Snake Lane 10 with PBs galore. Well done!

We then headed off to task with Leanne as run leader, Pete middle marking and Amy bringing up the rear.

Once we arrived, Gary had lots of tools ready for us to divide into team hedge weeding and team woodchip Spreading (woodchip proving more popular!)

We managed to clear the whole pile of chips with plenty of time for some circuits including a bit of playground hopscotch.

Our route home took in a pit stop at the amazing light display on the art gallery.

After an exhausting January challenge, an impressive 23 GoodGymers turned out for the first group run of February. We celebrated those who had run at the weekend including a cheer for the absent Nikki Gover who ran a PB at the Dewsbury 10k 🍾. Well done Nikki! We then numbered off by naming our favourite things with pips in them 🍋 Then it was off to the task...

James looks like a criminal - Leanne

The team picked up where we left off after our last trip out to Ashton Park, and armed with saws and bolt cutters quickly got to work. Pete and James aka 'The Muscle' took care of the heavy duty stake removal with their crowbars in tow.

And then things got a bit messy. Some of the tree guards were easier to remove than others and so we ended up with a surplus of people trying to free the final tree from its intertwined wire guard.

Too many cooks spoil the broth - James

So with too many GGers and not enough space around the final tree we started the fitness session a bit early. This week it was a Squid Game inspired session featuring a fitness version of Red Light, Green Light. First up it was a lunge race, then a high knees race, followed by a squat race.

There's no nice way to say this, so I'll just be honest. Abigail is terrible at Red Light, Green Light!

With the final tree still not free from its wirey prison, Leanne led a team back to CVS whilst Ed waited around for the rest of the group to get the job done. Lo and behold a few minutes later the final tree guard was removed and we could finally head back to base

Great job everyone!

on our final day of the January challenge the committment of the Yorkies was still strong.

We efficiently barrowed a big pile of woodchip around the forest school and built up an appetite for curry!