Thankfully this bonfire night was cool and clear as GoodGym Leeds were helping out at the Firepits and Festivities event at Kirkstall Valley Farm. Due to lots of other things going on this weekend, only 2 members of GoodGym Leeds were able to make it over to the farm, but despite that, we offered as much help as we could.

Gemma and Robert cycled to Kirkstall Valley Farm and found a safe spot to lock up their bikes.

Within minutes of arriving, Gemma and Rob were tasked with making candle lanterns using donated jam jars. It was a little tricky as many of the jam jars were small and the tea lights were big, but in true GoodGym style, Gemma and Rob battled through and got lots of lanterns made to light up the paths.

Once the lanterns had been made and handed out to other volunteers to lay out on the paths, Gemma and Rob helped with loading up the firepit. They carried logs over to the fire to keep it burning for members of the public wanting to toast marshmallows and keep warm. Gemma and Rob were tempted by the marshmallows but held out and found other tasks to help with.

Soon, they saw that the bar was getting overrun with customers, so Gemma and Rob jumped in to offer a hand. They spent the rest of the evening serving drinks, cakes and keeping track of the money. They also enjoyed a slice of very good Yorkshire Parkin when there was a lull in custom.

GoodGym Leeds are looking forward to helping at another event at Kirkstall Valley farm soon.

Three GoodGym Leeds members cycled over to Hunslet to help prepare garden space for the local community.

Helen, Gemma and Robert arrived at 10am and got stuck straight in to weeding, raking and clearing the space. They worked hard and made a real difference, supporting a team of other volunteers from the community, Hyde Park Source and local councillors. It was a great morning, and the team managed to miss the rain.

GoodGym Leeds will next be helping to create a memorial garden at Barca on October 5th.

Bright and early on Sunday morning, 6 GoodGym Leeds members made their way over to the First Direct Arena to help with baggage collection and storage for the Run for All Leeds Half Marathon. The morning started at 7:45 with a briefing, followed by a few hours of bag collection, sorting and redistribution.

The GoodGym members worked with other volunteers to collect the bags. Damu supported a team of other volunteers on one truck, with Robert and Gemma working with two other volunteers to store bags for runners, and Helen, Anna and Khara working together on another truck to collect and store bags.

It was brilliant to be able to offer support to keep the event moving. Well done to everyone - especially as it was a very early start! A big cheer goes out to Khara who made her GoodGym debut!

Last night, 7 GoodGym Leeds members headed over to the docks to help out with the Leeds Dock relays organised by RunLeeds. The event was great fun and saw teams of 4 people complete as many laps of a 0.9mile loop course as they could in an hour. The winning team completed 14 laps, which was amazing!

Liam, Rob, Damu, Suzie, Alice, Robert and Gemma supported at the event by marshaling and cheering on all the runners on the course.

All the GoodGym members did a great job and were thanked by the organisers for their support. Next year, we may also have to send a team over to the relays to see how we can do against all the other clubs in the city!

A shout out goes to Robert for overcoming a puncture to make it to his first community mission!