After a very professional warm-up (the Macarena), we headed to meet Karen from Pitsmoor Pickers. It was about 2k each way, and on the way there we took the scenic route by the River Don (thanks Michelle for the navigation help! We had about 45 minutes to clear up the area around Andover Street, and we all covered as much ground as possible. We got a good few big bags of rubbish and passersby/local residents often stopped to say thanks, which shows what an impact GoodGym has in the community ☺ Litter picking is often very addictive and the time speeds by, not only is it good exercise but its really satisfying to see a measurable difference with each object picked up (and often we conjure stories as to how bizarre objects could've ended up there in the first place!)

The nights are getting darker but GoodGym Sheffield is priveleged to be made up of some shining stars, no matter what the season 🌟

This was my 25th good deed with GoodGym, and I've loved every one! Thank you to every one who has supported me, mentored me, and been a great friend :)

The rain held off for our uphill run to Arbourthorne Community Primary School, who were preparing their beautiful grounds for a horticultural show on Wednesday (there's even going to be llamas there!). A few of us grabbed some scissors and foraged for the last flowers left from the Summer for the children to make into little bouquets, which apparently they really enjoy and get to take home and keep afterwards. We "sampled" some of the fruit in the trees as we went, including crispy apples. Adrian and Ewan cut some willow plants for the kids to weave into wands. Arbourthorne Primary School have created areas of sustainable resources such as the willow plant, which can also be seen put to use in other areas such as a dome shaped den that we tidied a couple months ago. And even after the storm we had a few days ago, there is always watering to be done. Some GoodGymmers took on the task of watering the plants and flowers in the polytunnel - luckily the water butts were full! Angela very kindly shared some fruit from FoodWorks with us. Foodworks is a community action project in Sheffield working to reduce food waste and make wholesome meals accessible to everybody. Good luck in the horticultural show!

Michelle did a FANTASTIC job leading last nights task which also happened to be her 300th task over 8 years! Massive congratulations and thanks for becoming a Fitness Leader and we look forward to seeing you lead more sessions in the near future.

We also welcomed another new runner to the @GGSHF flock. Welcome Ewan! We hope you enjoyed your first run and will be back for more in the future!

We had a great intro, risk, injury and disclaimer talk from Michelle, followed by a RAMP warm up:

• Raise - heart rate, body temperature and blood flow
• Activation - The muscles (start with small muscle groups first and less intensive movements e.g. low skips) * Mobilise - Joints and tendons. NOTE: Activation and mobilisation can be done together e.g. hamstring scoops
• Potentiate - Essentially, we want to excite the neuromuscular system by performing explosive movements appropriate to the main activity.

We then headed up the hill to meet Jess and the fantastic group of Common Thread volunteers.

We had a great evening at Common Thread hosted by Jess and the other lovely volunteers. The clothes swap is coming up on Saturday 5th September so there was some preparation to do for this community event.

After the shortest run that we have on our books, we had various tasks to do. All very well organised and ready for us to get involved. With snacks and Regather apple juice for us. Thank you!

The changing room screen was mended and decorated to make it look more attractive. Katy was complimented on her skills relating to this although the whole team were on a race against the clock to get it done. It looked great by the end.

Cat gave herself a good hand workout cutting out cardboard labels for categorising clothes, whilst others worked on a novel box design with a bread knife to organise coat hangers.

Meanwhile, Tom had brought bicycle inner tubes for another imaginative use by the common thread team and Shahram was soon busy with this, cutting out the valves and prepping the tubes for use to tie hanging rails together.

We headed back for a stretch and then Amelia took some people for a free game of bowling for those who could make it. Thanks Amelia. A really nice gesture.

Thanks everyone for another good evening!

Report written by Michelle.

On a hot, humid and sticky Sheffield eve we welcomed a good gang to The Showroom including a new runner who got a very warm welcome.

A big hello to Katy. Please do give her a follow and we hope we see you again soon Katy!

We headed to The 5 Wiers Walk (5WW) and more specifically the Salmon Pastures area of this lovely if a little at times unloved walking and cycling route on the Walk Wheel & Cycle Trust's National Cycle Network.

This section of the 5WW is often covered with dust and glass from the neighbouring recycling center and also has some issues with the invasive species Himalyan Balsam which is best removed before it starts to seed and spread in August onwards.

We got straight to it after a quick brief from Gerry, with some cutting back, some sweeping, some litter picking and some bagging up the off cuts.

Once we were done the path was looking so much better with it being clearer, wider and less covered in glass from the recycling center.

Thanks to all who made it down and contributed to the improvements.

See you next week and happy running! :)

On a muggy Sheffield eve the GG SHF team assembled at The Showroom Cinema for another group run.

It was great to welcome Shahram who joined us fresh from the Future Leaders session in Manchester and was full of enthusiasm on his first GG SHF run! We hope to see more of you Shahram.

After quick intros we headed off to meet Karen of Pitsmoor Pickers and get tooled up!

I think our numbers were a shock to Karen and we even had too many people for the pickers she had so some of us got gloved up and picked up the bigger bits.

Cans were collected for future weighing in and everything else was bagged up and/or moved to a nearby public bin ready for collection by the council after Karen had reported it to them.

Adrian even found a knife which was carefully moved and reported to Police by Karen and has now been collected by Police to be destroyed.

It was a good haul and a number of us headed into The Showroom for drinks and bites to eat before heading home.

A good job by all and thanks to everyone for coming out.

Hope to see you all on the next one. Happy running :)