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.

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.

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

We had a slightly smaller group of both Goodgymers and residents for tonight's activity session at Hartrigg Oaks, but that didn't stop us getting stuck into our favourite balance and coordination game - the giant marble run - and a good game of 9-pin bowling. We were even joined by a special guest bear for the football kick-around at the end!

Although Claire arrived bang on time, myself and John (having arrived early) had already done the lion's share of the task. However, we had saved her a few chairs to be put out! After a slight adjustment to one of the tables to allow wheelchair access, we were done and dusted in around 15 minutes.

Tonight we returned to Greenfields for another night helping out the fab team there. But before setting off we congratulated Jane for completing an epic half marathon at the weekend, Matt for a very speedy relay effort, and Ed for managing to drink a fair bit during a half marathon round Sheffield 🥂

Jamie led the run out with Vicky, Babs and Pete bringing up the rear and as soon as we arrived we were off to work focusing on 3 key jobs. Team 1 were in charge of picking the apples from the main orchard area, Team 2 were tasked with tarting up the entrance to the community garden and Team 3 were trimming weeds and bushes closer to the storage shed.

There was a bit of confusion over at Team 1 when some rotten apples kept appearing in Leanne's good apple tray but the crises was soon averted (even if no one did own up). Meanwhile Jane got a lesson in how to use a little hand scythe thing and Becca tried her hand at modeling.

Things appeared to be going a bit smoother over at Teams 2 and 3, although there was a fair bit of stoppage time to get some pretty photos of the sunset, the tasks were completed promptly, even though Ed struggled to get a photo of Abel as he kept hiding behind a tree!

Once the task was done it was time for the obligatory symmetrical group photo, as is tradition at Greenfields, with the team getting more and more adventurous with their poses. There were even bikes involved in this one!

Then it was time for a quick fitness game featuring some skipping, some rock paper scissors and a bit of carnage to decide an overall winner!