As the drought continued there was a huge outpouring of goodness going on in York at our Monday night group run. Tonight we welcomed Abel along to his first ever good deed. Give him a big cheer 🥳. Nick had also completed an epic triathlon at the weekend and successfully managed to stay afloat during the swimming leg 🏊. Whilst the cape of good deeds would be doing the rounds tonight with David completing his 300th (fresh from an ultra at the weekend, of course!) and James coming along for his 200th 💪. I'm exhausted just thinking about it all!

Tonight we were heading off to Millennium Fields to lend a hand to Nicola who had spent the day clearing a load of the grass on the wildflower areas in order to new growth come through. Ed led the main run out with Laura backmarking, whilst Vicky and Babs weren't far behind in the party pace group. Upon arrival we were straight off to work with Jen, Michael, Martin and James getting stuck in to the composting area in order to make enough space for all of the new grass that was coming across from the field. John had kindly volunteered to do the photography, so you can thank him for the much improved pictures of tonight's session (but also blame him if your photo is missing!) .

The rest of the Goodgym crew got to work in the field collecting the cut grass with pitchforks and rakes then getting it into tonne sacks or onto sheets and then dragging it across to the guys at the composting bays. Abel made an excellent first impression dragging three sacks full of grass at once, whilst Lucy was regularly seen with a smaller (but still very impressive) bag over her shoulders. The dried grass was soon piling up at the composting area where the guys were working flat out to make sure there was enough space for it all.

Matt, Abel and Neil did an excellent job scything more grass down for the guys to take across, and before too long we'd just about cleared all of the dried grass Nicola had spent the day cutting down plus a bit extra for good measure! This meant we just had to wait for the last few backs be taken over to the compost bays and then for everyone to come back, which gave Amy and Leanne time to get creative with the group photo

Then it was time for a quick group fitness session with Vicky, Babs and John demonstrating a game involving collecting cones and competing against the 2 other people in your group to be the first to get 3 of them back to your corner. Everyone had a few quick games before an epic final between Max, Kirsty and Abel, with Kirsty being declared the winner!

After tonight's session we had our summer Task Force catch up with lots of exciting things being planned for Goodgym York over the coming months including our tenth anniversary in January! However one thing to note was that the unfortunately a GGer's bike at the bottom of St Martin's Lane was stolen, so please be super careful with where you park your bikes. Make sure you've got a really good lock and try to park in a busy area

A big thanks to Becca and Abi for helping out at the South Bank Swap Shop, without any money changing hands! They set up the tables and racks, sorted the clothes and new donations, tidied and folded to keep the swap running smoothly. South Bank Clothes Swap are very grateful for our extra pairs of hands. I think this pair win the biggest smiles competition in every task they do! The next one is on Saturday 26th September.

7 GG yorkies met at museum gardens to be reunited with the long lost Lionel who we promptly added to the register to make us a team of 8. It turned out Lionel was front runner for Prom King with multiple mentions from the Town Crier (who was doubling as compere) about his programme wielding skills.

The rest of us dispersed in pairs for 'general duties' which mostly included directing people to the toilets.

Jane and Leanne quickly realised that standing too near the toilets meant that they'd be confronted with lots of reports of things that weren't working, so moved away to do a litter pick around the gardens. This led to the opportunity for Jane to teach someone to open their rucksack... Meanwhile Becky helped a lady put up her camping chair while others got fit by helping people with heavy picnic baskets. Tracey was a little bit too pleased to report how much she annoyed people by asking them to follow the rules, but redeemed herself when she and Amy came to the rescue of someone who fell over.

Once everyone was through the gates, Elle set up her picnic blanket and provided a lovely spread for her fellow GGs to enjoy along with the show.

... its paintwork's too perfect.

Four Goodgymers - including special guest James from the south-west, doing his first-ever Goodgym task - spent a very sunny Friday lunchtime sanding and varnishing the interpretation boards and signpost on the Solar System Greenway. This is popular route out of town for many cyclists and walkers, so it was great to spruce up the signage and leave the trail looking a bit neater for users.

After such a hot & sunny spell the raised beds were very thirsty indeed but fortunately even the weeds hadn't been growing so not much weeding required.

everything all cleared up and tidied away!