2 grouchy goodgymers overcame injury and overheating to help set up the annual park fair. Tables and chairs were moved from storage to the green for the stalls, refreshment tent and the orchestra. We marvelled at how our fellow GGers were coping at Endure24 in the heat.... Georgina thanked us for our help and we rushed (hmmm, limped) to the shade of a big tree for some well earned refreshments.

Kristina asked us to help with a number of tasks today, but first were the announcements.

• We congratulated the #RunWithPride team for participation in the running and walking event over the month of June celebrating the fact that no matter who we are, or who we love we are all equal.
• Secondly last weekend’s Endure24 was a big highlight that could not go unnoticed. Special cheers went to our solo runners David, Angela and Hayden who have covered remarkable distances, respectively 12 laps (97km), 17 laps (135km) and the 14th place and 10 laps (80km).

We did not want to keep Kristina waiting for too long, so I reminded everyone to gather back at 7:30pm for the yoga session and to hear the last item of news from me and we quickly allocated people to task leaders Ellie, Barbara, Pete and Laura and went to work.

Pete’s team report

Pete, Cara and Stuart headed over to the compost bin for the time honoured task of move the compost pit upside down again. We were quickly at it despite all the bins being quite full and fairly loose. Shortly after we started Michal pointed out that they had been done recently and showed us where we should have been! Joined by Leanne who knew what she was doing we made quick work churning the more compact compost even if it did result in slightly bent pitchforks. With time to spare we headed over to soil mountain...

Ellie’s team report

Mud Mountain were excited to get on with a classic GoodGym task: dig up a pile of dirt (or two in this case!) and move it so it can be spread on the path, ready to be topped off with bark chippings in a few weeks’ time. Ellie, Ben, Nikki, Carl and James were the original diggers and they swiftly realised what a gargantuan task was ahead of them. Armed with mattocks and spades, they split themselves into two groups to tackle the two piles.

One of the piles (“Mud Mountain Priority 1”) needed to be cleared ASAP so other GGers could dump grass clippings in its space, but space was tight and was made even tighter when the pile of clippings started blocking the way to the mud! Mud mountain 2 was a little more tricky to dig through - Nikki, Ben and James had to deal with a range of rubble and rubbish mixed into the earth.

Soon enough, though, extra help arrived, and Pete helped dig whilst Jenna helped Kristina down the new path. However, this is definitely a job to be continued another day!’’

Barbara’s team report

After Leanne and Jenna left Barbara’s group to help elsewhere, it was up to Stef, Barbara, Paul and Helen to take on the compost bins near the bowling green (where a vey lively bowls match was taking place). Our task was to remove all the grass cuttings and wheelbarrow them across the park to where the mud heaps and other compost bins were. With a variety of tools - several forks, a shovel and a pitchfork, we moved all the grass within the hour to where Kristina wanted it.

Laura’s team report

The geranium team got busy hacking back the geraniums from the paths leading through the rose gardens. Liz, Jackie and Laura lopped geraniums while David swept and bagged them. By the end of the hour we'd filled two dumpy bags and cleared most of the path.

So you can see that we have completed 3 out of 4 tasks. Not bad I say! Especially under the circumstances that Ellie’s team was understaffed and the space was too tight.

Gathered back at 7:30ish (and that is a BIG ‘ish’) we went through some yoga movements helping those of us who ran long distances this weekend to recover. The exercises were aimed to help improve our balance, flexibility and build up muscle strength. Few core exercises were thrown into the mix to benefit our running form.

And yes, the last item of news was announced by me at the start of the yoga session. The news is that I will be passing the baton of leading GoodGym York to a new person. More about that in the email which I will be sending out to everyone tomorrow, that is on Tuesday 6th July.

The lovely Kristina had asked for our help with the many many compost bins that line West Bank Park. This was deemed a double-size task so we had two completely separate teams meeting at different times to receive their instructions.

Team 6:30 with Ellie gave us this report:

The task was to turn over 4 out of 5 of the compost bins of leaves, and harvest the lovely compost from the final bin (after removing a layer of leaf litter). Barbara, Tom and Kay volunteered to go in one bin, described as “squishy” and “a trampoline” and quickly began turning over the sections in a methodical cycle. Tom then started harvesting the compost from one section of the second bin, which Abi had dutifully scraped the top layer of fallen leaves from, and barrowed it back to the park entrance to be used elsewhere. Meanwhile, Ellie turned over the the other half of the bin, making an increasingly big pile at one end (with Abi’s help). Eventually the midges got to be too much and when there was more swatting and itching than digging, it was time to call it a day.

Meanwhile team 6:45 were at the opposite end of the park.

We had 3 triple bins overflowing with grass cuttings from the bowling green, 5 forks, 3 rakes, 1 wheelbarrow, 1 set of grabbers and 1 Jack Russell. Our task was the turn the compost as best we could, mixing the grass-heavy matter with further leaves from the bays by the playground to give a better composition.

Amy C decided it would be quite nice not to work with Ed for a change, so Amy T drew the short straw and proceeded to show him exactly how it was done. She rapidly had one bay half-turned, whilst Ed pawed feebly at the top of his with little impact. Laura and Amy C headed up to the next set of bays and set to as well, no doubt also making much better progress than Ed.

This left Debs awaiting a tardy Michael (a role-reversal from normal; some excuse about picking up children), so it was decided to go and collect some leaf deliveries for the other bays before starting on our own. Fortunately he arrived just in time to learn that leaf grabbers pick up dry leaves brilliantly, but are poor at partly degraded ones. However the one fork we did have (pitchfork-gardenfork crossover) was brilliant, and showed itself to be the tool of choice for all tasks. We deposited a barrow of leaves to each pair, with the difference in effectiveness between Amy T and Ed only becoming more apparent. Laura and Amy C were well underway and seemed to have a nicely heterogenous compost mix already, but Michael dumped some leaves there anyway to be safe.

We finally started attacking our 3rd trio of bays, and felt the impact of only having one fork. With practice though we perfected the technique of raking off the grass, turning the compost with the mega fork, then alternating putting the materials back in as well as mixing with the bays to the side. A lot of the time it appeared we were just making a mess, but it was in fact effective. No organic matter was thrown at any persons honest, but let's just say that Michael's aim is rubbish.

Fergs did his best supervisor role, alternating between the different bays, and auditing them for quality. At bay 2 the tops of the piles were carefully inspected, whilst down at bay 3 he kindly took care of any stray sticks that had erroneously made their way into the compost. With time approaching Kristina was wondering whether people needed to stop, but we convinced her that if we didn't tell them it would be ok... That extra 10 minutes meant that practically all bays were turned successfully and (almost) tidied back up again, leaving not too much for the follow-up volunteers to tackle. A quick group shot later, and we headed back to the hut to put the tools away. Much compost was removed from inside shoes, and once again Ed made a mess all over the path. Typical.

Side note; a distanced Mitch collected some waders for work, and this lead somehow to a discussion about whether it was better to be functional or a peacock. No surprise whatsoever that Ed is most definitely a peacock.

8 GG Yorkies met in the park to commence part 2 of the great digventure.

Before we got to work, we welcomed Liz to her first task - give her a big cheer! 📣 The task itself was to continue digging roots out from a previously nettled verge of the picnic area to prepare it for some pollinating wild flowers.

There was some initial reluctance to use any of the many mattocks we'd been provided with and most opted for spades and forks. However, those brave enough to give them a try were soon mattock converts.

Where the previous group had opted for quantity over quality, this time we were encouraged to dig deeper to get as many of the roots (and butter knives) out of the ground as we could.

In the space of an hour, we made great progress and were ready to hand the land over to another group of GG Yorkies who are booked to finish the task later in the week.

Eight Goodgymmers. Two tasks.

Team A (Babs, Katie and Cara) were tasked with removing the dog grille and filling up the hole it left behind with hardcore. Amongst their tools were some javelin sized crow bars for levering up the grille, tampers, shovels, a wheelbarrow and some brooms to sweep the basket ball courts if there was time.

Meanwhile, Team B ( Paul Kelly, Laura, Tom, Leanne, and Kieran - when he eventually found the way to the park) set to work on digging up roots around the picnic area to make a bed for pollinator seeds to be planted at a later date.

Are we going for quality or quantity? (Laura)

As a seasoned Goodgymmer, she should have known better - it's always quantity over quality!!

The Grillsters were quick to finish their work and took it upon themselves to edge the basketball court, as well as sweep it. They still had time to play on the confusing outdoor gym equipment, perhaps thanks to some of the Weedsters setting down their spades and forks to help move the heavy dog grille out of the way. Even so, the Weedsters certainly met their 'quantity' goal and filled up four one tonne sacks with roots and dragged them over to the compost heap on their way back to the tool shed.

With a job well done we set off into the sunset on our respective journey's home.

The Team visited West Bank Park to sprinkle grit on paths making them safe to walk on. The weather forecast says it will get warmer from tomorrow, meaning that this was probably the last gritting missions this winter. Some of us got really excited about the „turf” game. One of the turf zones is just at the entrance to the park and we „battled” by trying to get to it first and stand on it for 20sec to claim it and get points. Check it out, the App is called „Turf”.