On a gloriously sunny day we met Iain from the council in the resplendent Glen Gardens ready to trim the trails to our heart's content. Instructed in the art of the "lollipop" we set to our various trees and bushes.

Rich started with trimming the willow as he was the only one tall enough, while Louise and I gave some lovely plump bushes a tidy haircut, and Ellie, Abi and Jenna started on trimming the hedge back in line with the fence.

We all then converged on the hedge, where I got a bit overenthusiastic and forgot we were aiming for in line with the hedge not half a metre below it 🤣 To reach the last bits we had to insert ourselves into the bush, which got some funny looks, but we were soon done, and proceeded to tidy up. Deciding to combine both bags of trimmings, Jenna (very keenly) volunteered to get into the bag and squish it all down, which worked a treat.

Job done, we strolled to the nearest cafe (for the second time for Abi & I!) for a well deserved lunch and chat.

8 GoodGymmers returned to Glen Gardens to continue tending the flower beds. Showing up in hot temperatures on a lovely bank holiday we got to work digging out ivy and weeds from the flower beds in order to clear it up and make way for new soil.

Rich took charge of the rootslayer with no root or tree a match for it.

Minding the blue flowers and newly planted trees, everything else was fair game filling over 3 large bags to make way for new bulbs and other plants to brighten the garden.

Plenty left to do and we'll be sure to see Glen gardens and Ada again soon!

With Adi from the Friends of Glen Gardens we were tasked with digging over a flower bed with forks and a mighty ROOT SLAYER to fill with new soil that had been delivered...on the other side of Heworth Park.

Amy, Ed, Richard and Kieran set to running (and occasionally walking) wheelbarrows of compost over to the flower bed dodging children and leaving the entrance completely soil-free(ish). Ed tried to trade a wheelbarrow for a scooter but was unfortunately unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Paul, Hayden, Zinnie and Max began turfing out the ivy and weeds from the flower bed wielding forks and the root slayer (the correct way round).

By the time the bags of soil had been reduced in size and wheelbarrowed over they were ready to be emptied onto the newly turfed flower bed and distributed very accurately by flinging shovels full across it.

All in all a great time to see Glen Gardens in the daytime for once and nurture its wildlife.

9 community mission hungry GG Yorkies met by the park pavilion.
Welcomed by wholehearted Adrienne we listened to instructions and promptly started with the task. Today was to continue with removing roots and tired plants from two flower beds that the Friends of Glen Gardens want replanting with some fresh and colourful stuff. Dynamic Bec, energetic Kieran, spirited Amy, robust Tom and enthusiastic Jenny started working on the bed by the former bowling green and quickly made significant progress. Meanwhile bouncing Leanne, bilingual Emily, serene Cara and Michal worked their forks to get rid of unwanted stuff at the other end of the park.

This is smelly, I think it's me'- Leanne

Yes, we came across some smelly home pet deposits while working up the soil.

Chatting about languages, head torches, previous group runs and Bec's Social Vision we pulled out 2 half-full bulk bags of assorted roots and twigs.

With 10 minutes to go signal we gave it a final push and by 7:30pm tidied up the tools, dragged bulk bags to the collection point and were ready for the team photo.

Adrienne mentioned expected visit from a professional landscaper to help the group refine their vision for the park, so watch the space as we will definitely be called upon again.

Auf Wiedersehen

With the temperature reaching 26C we were sweating before we even started the task and we were facing a hard one.

I like when it is around 10C. It’s too hot for running today - Steve

Having discussed the latest heat wave and our preferred air temperature we were welcomed by the crew from Friends of Glen Gardens. Adrienne introduced us to the forked hand hoe, which was pretty much novelty tool to most of us.

There was a choice of ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ task at each end of the park, both consisting of digging and removing assortment of weeds and no longer wanted vegetation, to prepare two beds for new plants to go in. We didn’t hesitate, grabbed one of the neatly prepared tools each and off we went.

The ground is so hard that I cannot dig the fork in - All

However GoodGym muscle can do miracles and after an hour and quarter of hard graft we made progress and pulled out 2 bulk bags full of what used to be deeply rooted foliage.

Big cheer for our new members Ciara and Jonathan who attended their respective 2nd and 3rd community mission.

GoodGym is irresistible and there will be more fun to come at Glen Gardens, so watch this space.