We started the evening with what was supposed to be a quick and fun beanbag name, but turns out it works better with well behaved children than goodgym!

We celebrated Matt's Great North run and other achievements before splitting into two groups- a faster group with Ed to Clarence Street Gardens and a steady pace plus walking group with Vicky to the Groves.

At the Groves- we were met by Tracy plus a lady from York TV. The group split and headed off to do various tasks- hanging lights in trees, shifting slabs, weeding a courtyard, moving soil and raking piles of earth. Whilst all this was going on John kindly did the interview for tv.

In Ed's group

The Clarence Garden crew arrived and quickly continued the work that we'd started a few weeks ago. Mostly filling sacks full of the wildflower cuttings, shifting them over to the skips and then tipping them out.

The skips quickly filled up so Michael and Ed, in the absence of our usual bin dwellers, got stuck in and trampled down the cuttings so we could continue to pile the loads on top.

With time running out and the skips being fit to burst, we finished off by filling up the remaining tonne sacks and making a quick dash back across the gardens before leaving them next to the skips with just enough time to get creative for our team photo

We then all reconvened at the art gallery for a bean bag race with the new teeny tiny beanbags and hoops, posed as statues, then headed back to base.

Another successful night!

Running and cycling from the previous task, we made our way into Haxby village to the scout hut. We were greeted by a sea of thistles. We got to work pulling up as many as we could - we cleared the area around the cycle parking area, and swept across towards the entrance, where the scouts had done some planting. The day was wet and the thistles spiky, but our spirits lifted considerably when Chris produced tea and biscuits.

There was a real sense of accomplishment doing this task, which the before and after photos show. It's always nice to see that you've made a tangible difference.

Thistles uprooted, we dusted ourselves down and headed on to our final task of the day.

Seven adventure-seeking Good Gymers set off to the badlands of Haxby and Wigginton , hoping for hard graft, an opportunity to exercise, and maybe a bit of cake. We made landfall at The Land, a site off Towthorpe Road which offers classes, events and a sense of community to families of kids with autism who struggle with mainstream education.

The main task was moving corrugated metal shed sections from the entrance through to the main area of the site where the shed was to be built. These were very large and required a full team effort. We assembled around each and carried them across the site along a winding road, navigating tall grass and the occasional bramble.

With only 10 minutes remaining we were tasked with removing as many dock seed heads as we could from a field. Good Gymers love a time trial, so we set off with gusto, culling as many weeds as we could lay our hands on. One very large pile of docks later and we were ready for the next Haxbingtonfest task.

It was great to welcome Beth to her first Goodgym task. Beth, Laura and David weeded the long bed in the garden. Ed cut down the cardoon plants. We wanted to keep the seed heads for the birds so he and Leanne arranged the heads into a recreation of the Thixendale Swirl. Ed then cut back the brambles, Beth cut back the raspberries and Leanne trimmed back some of the bushes. One of the members of the garden group brought quince jelly and paste made from the quince tree for everyone to take home.

Having boasted last month about how much cleaner the area was becoming due to the monthly litter picking, this month two GoodGymers showed up to help local neighbours with the Germany Beck litter pick, only to be surprised by the amount of fly-tipping that had taken place. Soph and Elle were not deterred and in true Goodgym style realised the opportunity to do a bit of heavy lifting!

Sometimes there are 6 GoodGymers vying to clear up after the brilliant Planet Food community lunch, and sometimes there are only a couple. This week it was down to Mike and Bec, tidying aways the chairs, tables and sweeping up to get Southlands back into ship shape.