On a chilly but gorgeous winter's morning, something strange was stirring in the new York Community Woodland. A group of runners, marshals, timekeepers and walkers had made their way to help support a dress rehearsal for a new community based running event that will soon be coming regularly to this spot

The event had a very familiar feel to it and everyone seemed to know exactly what was required of them but surely that was just a coincidence

Goodgymers took up spots at various marshalling points as the community based running event got underway. In classic Goodgym fashion Tristan forgot to start his watch, Mitch arrived late and Fergie got passed around between various walkers, marshals and runners

All in all, the event was a huge success. So much so that I can definitely see this kind of thing catching on at other places!

Now we all know that community based running events aren't a race, but the top spots on this occasion were taken by both of the Woollards who can, for a few weeks at least, be crowned the power couple of the York community woodland community running event!

What a fab morning to be part of the York running community ❤️

We were met by Candy and colleague from Books for Everyone York at the stable in Bishopthorpe which is now home to a large collection of donated books. Our job was to sort through and remove any ones that were too tatty, missing bits or innapropriate and put them into boxes in categories - fiction, non-fiction, biographies etc. These were then neatly piled up back into the stable on one side so that it will be obvious to other volunteers who can continue what we've started. Once sorted the books will be handed out to homeless people on the streets of York.

This was the last of the tasks in the busy first four days of January. It was great to meet Dan and Jaime who had recently moved to York and had previously been involved in Goodgym in London. Dan and David started by replacing the nets on the basketball hoops before joining everyone else to cut back the ivy on the top if the wall. We also cleared and tidied some of the beds around it. By the end we had cleared a lot of the ivy back from the top of the wall to prevent it damaging the wall.

In the beautiful winter sun, five if us returned to Danesmead Wood to barrow and rake woodchip to improve the paths through the wood.

Despite only being a small group, we were able to shift the whole pile within the hour, giving us enough time to eat the delicious chocolate and coffee traybake Jude had made.

On a freezing Saturday, 9 GoodGymers continued their weekend of good deeding. We went back to the York Railway Bowls and Social Club and helped with their ongoing project to maintain their raised beds. We were tasked with moving large bits of brick and mortar from a levelled site and used them to fill in a gap underneath a fence. That way we could stop rubbish being shoved onto the plants.

We got to work with lifting, digging and moving. Some people approached it like a puzzle, where each piece was painstakingly chosen and slotted correctly...some of us roughly shoved bricks in and called it a day. Regardless after 45 minutes of hard graft, and plenty of innuendo's which I shan't repeat here, we were able to seal up most of the gap in the fence.

We were treated afterwards to tea and cake...now that is great service!!

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of York, there was an overgrown allotment. Following the death of the old allotment keeper, the brambles grew tall, with thick thorny stems curling around the fortifications (piles of wood) which protected the treble-locked castle (shed).

On the third day of January, ten red-coated Goodgym heroes traveled from quite nearby to tackle the chaos left behind by the old allotment keeper. Their mission was to release the shed from its thorny prison and reveal the magical contents within. Ultimately, the shed would be cleared and the allotment patch refreshed so that the council of allotment wizards could prevent the weeds taking over the whole kingdom, and the earth could once again bear fruit (and vegetables).

The red knights arrived armed with loppers, secateurs, rakes and saws. They quickly got to battle with the brambles. They joined the allotment keeper's son, who had already used his magical keys to unlock the shed. As they cleared the brambles, fair maiden Becca pushed the cuttings into a sack to be transported away. Once the brambles were cleared, Prince Paul Kelly set to work on dismantling the fortifications for Lady Lyndsey and Benevolent Ben to burn in a roaring fire.

Meanwhile, Lady Ellie and Magical Mitch couldn't resist the lure of the open shed door which contained hundreds of years of magical gardening implements (and more piles of wood). They dutifully removed the scrap wood from amongst the cobwebs to fuel the now furious fire. Lyndsey and Ben got busy casting spells over the flames to ensure they didn't burn down the beanstalk frames which they were dancing perilously close to.

To finish their misson, it was all hands on deck to lift a heavy metal fence from the soil and carry it to the allotment entrance for disappearance.

With their efforts the ten hardy GG Yorkies cleared the way for future Knights of the order of Yorkies to continue clearing the cluttered- cobwebbed shed on the morning of the 31st day of January.