The nature of groups is that people come and go, new people arrive and love the support and camaraderie running with a GoodGym group brings, whilst old friends depart as their lives begin to take a different course. Last night it was the latter as Mark Donnelley did his final run with the group before permanently moving away from the area. Mark has been an avid Huddersfield GoodGymmer, bringing plenty of laughs and hard work to all our GoodGym sessions over the summer. We of course wish him well, and if he ever returns to Yorkshire and needs a bit of hard labour on a Tuesday evening he will be very welcome back.

Mark had picked a great task for his final session, once again we were off to Little Deer Wood Activity Centre to have another go at their Mahoosive Mound of Mud. In order to make space for a new storage shed, the centre requires a huge pile of mud and builders rubble to be moved, which provides a great workout for us GoodGymmers and a is project which I suspect will keep us busy for many months to come.

Another advantage of this job is the fact we are able to meet and run from a different site, so instead of the Stadium our meeting point was Battyeford Sporting Club. From there Kati Law, Ben Godfrey, Davis Bilton, Mark Donnelley and myself set forth across the muddy football pitches, cycleway and decidedly wet canal towpath for the 2.5K run to Little Deer Wood. As usual by the time we arrived the place was buzzing, with kids engaged with gardening, woodworking and all manner of other activities under the centre’s floodlights. Having some decent lighting is such a luxury for us GoodGymmers, being able to work with more illumination than the meagre glow of a head-torch provides always makes the task far more enjoyable.

Martin from the Centre met us and was keen to give us a choice of tasks, either tidying a willow hedge or continuing the battle with the Mahoosive Mound. It was Kati who instantly made the decision on behalf of the group, and we were straight out with the spades and wheelbarrows and onto the Mahoosive Mound. Whenever we have tackled the mound before conditions have been dry, but this time things were entirely different. Copious rainfall over the last few weeks had turned the soil to sticky mud, making it heavy to shift and hard to push through the wire basket riddler to sieve out unwanted rocks and stones.

However GoodGym are always up for a challenge, and so the next 50 minutes were spent slowly creating good well graded topsoil which could be used to pot plants for sale at Little Deer’s forthcoming Christmas Fayre. Our efforts managed to create about half a dozen barrowloads of good soil, and we all had a good chat whilst we laboured so it wasn’t an entirely wasted effort.

The run back to Battyeford consisted of another couple of muddy playing fields, something of a feature of GoodGym runs recently, and excellent training for those who will be running in the forthcoming cross country season! Thanks to all last night’s GoodGymmers for another great effort, it goes without saying that you are a lovely herd of little dears 🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌!

One of the (many) things I love about GoodGym is the interesting, entertaining and occasionally bizarre mix of conversations we have whilst doing our tasks. And last night was no exception, 3D printing, Simon & Garfunkel and even zombie rabbits all featured in our discourse whilst we worked.

But whilst we were talking we were also forking, having returned to Little Deer Wood Activity Centre in Mirfield to help them out with another task. Unfortunately the ground was was too wet to continue with our campaign to shift their Mahoosive Mound of Mud, but Martin from the centre had found us another job to do. The area around the wildlife pond needed digging over and any large stones and rocks removing prior to it being planted and turned into a wild flower area, making it a lovely spot for the groups of kids who visit the centre for pond dipping sessions.

So it was on with gloves and headtorches as we picked up our tools to set about the job. Soon the night air was filled with the sound of spades shifting the earth, rocks rattling into tin wheelbarrows and of course six happy GoodGymmers chatting away as they worked. It’s always amazing how much a few eager, motivated GoodGymmers can get done in a relatively short period, and 45 minutes later a good chunk of the area had been turned over and destoned. One of our number even dug up an ancient arrow, probably not an archeological artefact though, more likely an errant projectile from Little Deer’s nearby archery range.

Soon enough it was time to head off for the run back to the start, leaving a bit more forking for another day. The talking however continued as we made our way back through the streets of Mirfield reflecting on yet another GoodGym job done. Thanks to Kati Law, Ben Godfrey, Louise Galvin, Wendy Redmile and David Bilton for you efforts, good to see you (and chat) as ever!

Thanks to Louise Galvin for the photographs.

GoodGym Huddersfield had a big challenge last night, to move a mahoosive mound of mud at the Little Deer Activity Woods Centre in Mirfield. The challenge would have been even greater had we run the 8K from the Stadium and the 8K back, but in order to leave time for the task the kind folk (and GoodGym fans) at Battyeford Sporting Club allowed us to use their car park as a meeting point.

A different start location means a different run route and this one being almost entirely flat was something of a rarity for Huddersfield GoodGymmers. Three level kilometres along riverside footpaths and canal towpaths was very pleasant on a warm sunny September evening.....what a treat!

There was a stop for a photo op as in my rucksack was the brand new GoodGym flag supplied only last week for the purposes of celebrating 10 years GoodGym good deeds. The instruction from GoodGym Central was to photograph the flag (and GoodGym group of course) alongside a local landmark. As we were out of area, a shot with Mirfield’s new, extensive and very impressive community mural had to suffice, although if you look hard you will spot that we managed to choose a section which mentions Huddersfield!

Little Deer Activity Centre was a hive of activity when we arrived with kids everywhere getting ready for their evening adventures, rock climbing, paddle boarding, gardening and woodworking there was so much going on! And plenty for GoodGym to get stuck into too. Gloves, barrows, spades and an impressive set of worklights were ready and waiting for us along with the aforementioned Mahoosive Mound of Mud which needed to be shifted. Not only shifted, but also sifted, removing all the rocks and stones leaving good soil for use in the centre’s gardens. Once cleared the site is to be used for a new shed to store the centre’s huge variety of activity equipment.

Following a quick introduction from Little Deer’s Martin the crew were on with the job, neatly dividing into a teams of rubble removers, diggers, soil sifters (or riddlers as I believe they are more accurately called- thanks Ben Godfrey) and barrow pushers. We worked like a well oiled production line, Kati Law, Jo Talbot and Zena Whalley got busy removing rubble, with David Bilton digging, whilst Louise Galvin, Helen Rutherford and Mark Donnelley sifted the soil through a huge basket removing all the smaller stones, twigs and various other detritus. The final stage of the process was for Ben Godfrey and myself to trundle the wheelbarrows filled with good soil 50 metres to the centre’s soil hopper for use on the veg beds.

GoodGym works best when we work together, and we worked hard last night, getting a good workout with plenty of laughter alongside the labour. Whilst we worked it was great to see kids of all abilities learning to rock climb together on the outdoor, floodlit climbing wall, Little Deer Wood Activity Centre truly is a special place.

After an hour we’d made a significant dent in the Mahoosive Mound of Mud and there was considerably more soil in the hopper, but the job wasn’t done by any means. I think this one will turn into a longer term GoodGym Huddersfield project over the winter, with return visits to finish the task.

Leaving Little Deer it was on with the headtorches for the first time this year and back to Battyeford by a different route, seeing some more glamorous sights of Mirfield including the new Lidl and “Ivy Alley”. A fast finish across Battyeford’s football fields and we were back at the starting point, tired but secure in the knowledge that GoodGym Huddersfield’s sphere of influence has now extended to Mirfield.

Happy Birthday GoodGym....10 year’s of doing good. The GoodGym Huddersfield crew look forward to being part of the GoodGym journey for the next 10 years.....it might just take us that long to shift the Mahoosive Mound of Mud!

Thanks to all for making it a great night, and special thanks to Louise for the photos.