Tonight five runners met Karen and some of the other pre-eminent Pitsmoor Pickers to de-litter the streets, specifically Rock Street and bits of Nottingham Street.

Upon meeting Karen, litter pickers, hoops and bags were distributed amongst us and we received a quick briefing of the areas to cover. We were to make our way methodically up Rock Street, occasionally venturing up side roads as needed, before cannily heading on to the can hot-spot of Nottingham Street. As we worked our way up the street we kept a special eye out for the glint of aluminium cans- which are separately bagged up to be recycled for cash. This cash is put straight back into the ongoing battle against litter by funding equipment for litter picking volunteers in the area. Many of the cans found had already been squished by cars, which made them extra tricky to pick up, but saved us having to flatten them ourselves. We had to kerb/curb our enthusiasm when spying rubbished that had fallen off the pavement and under cars, carefully watching out for traffic as we progressed ever upwards.

Bin there, done that!

After 45 minutes and a thoroughly solid effort from everyone involved, we piled up the full bags from the evening and posed for some photos before heading off on our merry way back down the hill into town.

When we arrived back near the Showroom we made use of one of the new university building's covered entrance areas to stretch off and debrief.

...And that's a wrap(per) for another week!

This evening we met up with Clive from AgeUK who had lots of of leaflets for us to distribute. The leaflets offer advice to older people about how to get confidential benefits and pension advice. We were given a list of streets to target, and a bundle of leaflets with two varieties. A plan was quickly developed about which streets we could most effectively get leafletted in the allotted time with just the two of us. We decided to focus on Shrewsbury Road and Norfolk Road, also doing all of the little offshoots from them. This also included gated flats and almshouses up Fitzwalter Road.

Giving up the post

After an hour of battling through stiff gates, venturing down dark tracks, and risking dog bites, we set off back to the Showroom to debrief Clive and hand back the remaining leaflets.

A big welcome back to Monika who joined us for her second GG task in a row. We hope you become a regular member and continue to join us each week.

This week we joined Jess from Common Thread and Regather fame at Union Street along with other volunteers to help sort some clothes out for Ben's Centre; a charity that aims to provide a safe space and an open hand to those who suffer through substance misuse and its associated barriers.

You can find out more about Ben's center here.

We sorted through Common Thread donnations and put bags together of wanted items for Ben's center including warm layers and clothes that would dry well after getting wet.

9 bags in total were sorted, ready to go to Ben's center.

Until next time, happy running! :)

2 Goodgymmers joined other regular volunteers at Common Thread to help tidy everything away after the latest clothes swap. It involved lots of physical work, heaving boxes up and down stairs in the labyrinthine building. We also had the usual fun of searching through for weird and wonderful items, plus we were rewarded with delicious homemade food at the end!

It was fantastic to welcome a new runner to GG SHF!

A HUGE welcome to Monika please give Monika a follow and a cheer! Monika even ran all the way from Eccy road and back as well as doing the group run and this was her first run for some time! Excellent work Monika we hope to see you again next week!

On a drizzly, dark eve we headed out from The Showroom Cinema, alongside the river Don and over the Spiders bridge to meet with Gerry & William from the Walk, Wheel & Cycle Trust (ex Sustrans). We were welcomed and briefed on the areas that were in need of some attention and got straight to it!

The main job was litter picking over the Spiders bridge and alongside the river Don, all the way to the road. We did a thorough job and picked up plenty of rubbish and made the route look much more welcoming again to all users. Once we brought bags back to our bag drop location we all got involved in bagging up a big load of dried leaves which were acting as a net to collect rubbish on the route. We bagged these up with the help of David who had joined us on bike and popped all the bags at the collection point which Gerry reported on the Fix My Street app.

As a reward Gerry very generously offered us all some homemade ginger biscuits which were absolutely delicious!

Until next time, happy running! :)

One Goodgymmer joined friends of Parkwood springs for the monthly gardening session. We weeded - removing creeping butter cups, wood avens and couch grass - pruned gooseberry bushes and planted strawberries. The sun even made an appearance and we admired the buzzards flying overhead. Next session will be on 28/2. We’re already thinking what other plants we’d like to grow! If anyone has any spare rhubarb plants - this being Yorkshire after all!- or globe artichokes, please get in touch !