On this crisp autumnal afternoon a group of eager GG Yorkies made their way to the Groves to meet the team from Flower Power York to finish off a task we started a few weeks earlier.

We were informed we had an impressive 1500 bulbs to plant (rather than the few hundred advertised... Sorry guys!!) and were given very detailed instructions on what needed to be planted where... "We want it to look random... But not TOO random"

We had a variety of bulbs including tulips, daffodils and grape hyacinth to fill up the pre dug borders and areas around the bases of two trees. With the instructions fresh in our minds and trowels in our hands the team, including newcomer Sam, cracked on with the planting!

After about 20 minutes Mitch asked a very good question.... "Do bulbs need to be planted a certain way up?"

Yes... Yes Mitch, they do!! It will be interesting to see how his patches turn out come Spring!!

Most of the planting was done in record time and we were informed that we had 300 bulbs left to plant in 15 minutes! This was followed by the rather bizarre spectacle of a gaggle of trowel wielding goodgymers following team Flower Power along the borders as they scattered bulbs and told us to bury them where they landed... It was an odd but somewhat effective strategy with only a few slight snags (mostly the accidental digging up bulbs we had just planted)

All bulbs were safe in their new soily homes in under an hour and it was time for a group photo before heading off with another task completed!

An amazing 37 turned out to help with three tasks in the Groves

We welcomed along three brand new runners; the McAvoy clan of Nichola, Susan and Richard, one new-to-York and ex Norwich GoodGymer, [Rowena] who had met a bunch of the GoodGym crew whilst volunteering at junior parkrun and last but not least, an Adi who we all know from junior parkrun fame and had decided to come along and see what this GoodGym business was all about. Big cheers for all five of them!

Massive kudos to CENTURION CARL who did his 100th good deed tonight and shall run in the Centurion Cape next week.

Sadly our main bulb planting task had been scuppered as the bulbs hadn't arrived but there wasplenty to do and once we arrived at a central location, we split into three groups.

Group ONE headed to the Secret Garden with Jane

It's not that secret, I can see it from the street - Stef

Most of the team busied themselves planting crocus and daffodil bulbs in various flowerbeds whilst others dug up turf to make way for some new raised beds. Ed did the extremely vital role of leaning on a spade and initiating some debate about the plural of 'crocus'.

Group TWO weeded and extended the borders with Sara in the YUMI/Flower Power corner plot, cleared leaves and dug out borders around the trees.

Neatest border EVER (Izzy and Charlotte both LOVE a straight line)

Group THREE ran across the road to meet Vicky and Groundsman Gary in Park Grove Academy where they were tasked with cutting down a lot of willow which will be used by the kids to weave a giant wigwam.

Our walk leader and resident lumberjack Ellie was in her element, clambering amongst the willow and cutting down the biggest branches she could reach. Whilst half the team were sawing and generating a huge pile of willow, the other half dug up saplings and cleared the urban buzz garden so the wild flowers can thrive again next year.

Teams one and two finished a massive ten minutes ahead of schedule and were rewarded with a mini circuit of:

• hurdles
• press-ups
• tricep dips
• squats

...before running across the school field to help move the giant pile of willow. Anyone that stood still for too long ran back for a second circuit whilst the very last willow branch was being cut down. Tim was in charge of the circuit-zone and had added can-can kicks to the regime whilst Leanne added lunges for good measure.

That's the first time I've EVER done a lunge - Adi

We had one last run across the school field and attempted a group photo on the climbing wall before giving up and doing a normal one.

If that isn't enough good for you, there are community missions a-plenty this week so come and get involved!.

It was another evening of celebrations as we marveled at Team Gover for having a crack at another absolutely bonkers endurance event, all the amazing York 10k performances, a successful fell race (and Emily's win) AND the elite squad of Leanne, Paul Kelly and Stef representing at the GG Olympics. What a weekend!

Tonight we welcomed along Izzy to her first ever group run, and we split into two teams with Tim and Mitch leading a group to Glen Gardens to shift around 10 tonnes of bark whilst I led the other group to the Groves to start a new project with Flower Power.

Tim's Glen Gardens Report

Our task was expertly lead out by vice-president of the task Mitch. When we arriving it took us a moment to locate task owner Iain and his massive pile of woodchip. We like a good pile, so were pleased with the simple task of moving the big pile of bark to a flowerbed, to help stop the weed grow back.

With expert raking and direction from our ladies who rake, Lauren, Lindsay, Jackie and Amy, we quickly had the whole area filled with bark. Despite some of our more naughty members playing some bumper barrows with the wheelbarrows. I am looking at you Katie and Craig!

Spotting some spare hands, we got to work speed weeding so we could tip all of the last woodchips into the flowerbeds. Whilst Rich and Barbara sneaked off for some extra secret lopping behind the basketball courts.

We swept up the last of the woodchips to keep the beautiful Glen Gardens clean and tidy and we dashed off to join Egg's crew for fit-tastic fitness sesh!

Egg's Flower Power Report

In the Groves we were welcomed by the lovely Mamta who told us a bit about Flower Power and their project to 'Green up the Groves', which is a residential area in York with very little green space. Our task was to initiate the transformation of a small corner plot into what will be a beautiful colourful flower bed.

It's too early in the season for planting but we had to edge the new flower bed border, dig out the turf whilst retaining as much soil as possible and turn over the soil to remove any weeds and roots. Maddy found herself spadeless and wondering how she could be helpful.

I'll let you shake my grass! - Leanne

The team made quick progress with edgers carefully carving out little squares which could be easily extracted by spaders. Our task officially ended when the Glen Gardens group ran over to join us and we'd just dug out the last section when they arrived. They even managed to photobomb our group shot.

We all headed into Park Grove Academy for our fitness session using their wooden outdoor play equipment. In pairs, everyone had to take turns in doing shuttle runs and a variety of exercises including:

• box jumps
• hurdles
• beam presses
• the floater
• uneven squats

Then we had a steady run back with Mitch doing a solo sprint finish. Both Huw and Becky provided some excellent cakes this week.

It's just generic cake. To celebrate running (Huw)

Marianne suggested that we're missing a trick by not advertising all the cake when people sign up to sessions but we love to keep it as a really amazing secret bonus!

Pun credit, Ed Woollard

Six GG Yorkies turned out on a rainy day to help Flower Power with their relocation

We were asked to fill eight new planting troughs with soil that had been dug out in a previous mission. We also needed to count how many bags of soil went in each, so that we could calculate how much more we would need for another trough delivery later in the week.

We emptied 40 bags into their new homes, complete with worms. we worked out that we'd need 15 more heavy bags, or 20 light bags of soil to finish the job.

While Ellie and Mitch hopped on their bikes, the rest of us ran about a mile to the other location to fill more bags with soil. We all arrived before Mamta, our task owner who had driven there!

20 bags of soil later, we bid farewell and set off on our side runs home