👋 An incredible 35 people arrived for our group run tonight. There was a lot to celebrate, including two people attending their first task - both called Nick! Welcome to both of you. We also had Pete winning our prestigious GoodGymmer of the month for some excellent good-deeding and helpfulness in September. Well done Pete! We also had a duathlon, 15k PB and marathon PB to celebrate - well done everyone.

🏃‍♀️ 🚴 We warmed up all together then split into two groups for our tasks, with running and cycling groups. 10 people headed to Rowntree Park to help set up the Make Space for Girls art installation. Here's what Lucy had to say about it:

🛏️ Following a preliminary trip to prepare the ground in August, we returned to Rowntree Park to support an art installation as part of the Make Space for Girls project. Based on the concept of creating a safe space - the bedroom - outdoors, it involved carefully positioning (and half-burying) a table, bedside cabinet and headboard in the ground. The earth was still fairly hard after the recent dry spell, but the team set to work with a will, using all the tools available (spade, fork, hoe, sharpened stake...) to "bed" everything in as securely as possible. The artwork looks fantastic and it was great to be able to support this great initiative for girls.

🪏 Meanwhile, the rest of us headed to Park Grove School to help maintain the forest school area. There was plenty to dig up and cut back so we all got stuck in, with a huge range of tool sizes, from the small children's hand forks to the full-sized versions.

🐝 Unfortunately, a wasp/bee nest was found and a couple of people got stung. Not very fair karma for the good they were doing. But Vicky acted quickly and we avoided that area for the rest of the task.

🙌 Luckily, there was plenty of space to be able to avoid that area and we managed to make good progress clearing the space.

💪 After that, it was time for a group photo and then a proper fitness session! Still fun though, especially attempting to traverse a child-sized climbing wall!

🍰 Soon, it was time to head back to base/the pub to enjoy some delicious lemon drizzle cake, courtesy of Babs. Thank you! We also enjoyed some fairly in-depth chat about campanology (although apparently bell ringers prefer the term bell ringer...) 🔔

👍 Thanks everyone, and see you soon!

Lots to celebrate tonight. Parkrun pbs for Neil and Claire, Claire hitting 300 and Nick completing a triathlon. We also welcomed Beth to her first group run and Katie who was visiting from Edinburgh.

We named and numbered off saying our favourite beverage in honour of national beer drinking day. There was a surprising amount of tea and coffee!

We then off to Holgate allotments. A select few were tasked with clearing the communuty orchard - Kit and Jane looked to be having a lot of fun the lawnmower. The remainder of the group collected tools and set to work on digging over an overgrown plot. Due to the high concentration of goodgymers we made rapid progress, leaving the plot ready for new tenants. And if that wasn't enough Nick, Claire and Michael went hunting for balsam in the beck!

We finished off with a game of catch squat, with Ed's team getting very excited over their victory!

Thanks team, another bumper week.

On a crisp autumnal Saturday morning 12 spritely Goodgymers assembled at Middlethorpe Hall a beautiful National Trust historic hotel. The first few to arrive quickly spotted a bountiful breakfast spread of juice, hot beverages, pastries and bacon or egg butties, incredulously they were all for us! But as Goodgymer Lionel was our task contact we shouldn’t have been surprised at such generous hospitality! But enough about the breakfast (which was delicious if you succeeded in getting it into your mouth - case in point Katie).

Our task was to refresh the sunken fence paintwork (not a ha-ha to be exact). And as we had generously been provided with new metal bristle brush scrapers and paint brushes, we got to work. It was decided to concentrate on the first half of the long sunken fence to make sure both prep and paint could be finished but as our busy team of 12 cracked on we were able to extend our progress even more, powered by good company and a brilliant buffet.

By the time 12 rolled around we had managed to complete the sections we set out to refresh much to a delighted Lionel. After doing such a good job we’ve been invited back on the 17th of October, so sign up now as it’s sure to be another great GG task.

thank you to everyone who stepped in, all done in super swift time :)