THIS week we returned to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm to plant some grapevines.

We welcomed Caroline and Megan on their first goodgym task, and had a walking group this week led by Katie.

The walkers set off, taking a more direct route to the farm. After a warm-up everyone else then set off on a longer route - which was a total of 3km and included lots of hills.

The task involved using spades to loosen the compost, shovels to load the barrows, and strength to transport the compost. We managed to fill 2 of the holes positioned adjacent to polytunnels. We had to fill the holes with lots of compost to make sure the grape vines could grow in the right direction (through the polytunnel).

We then joined a ceremonious planting of the grape, a variety known as the phoenix. We learned that it is a very reliable grape and it will live for up to 200 years!

Well done everyone see you next week :)

On today's run we had a first time attendee to goodgym! Make sure to give Paul a cheer. We also had Sarah join us, who has now taken part in two areas, having previously run with Goodgym Lewisham.

The Run We ran through Meanwood Valley Trail and went the long way to the farm , about 3km, taking the ascent in our stride as we climbed Sugarwell Hill.

Once we'd arrived at the farm we were pleased to see the Alpacas, who were all huddled together near the entrance to the farm. A great way to end a run!

The Task

Tonight we were given a lesson on how to mulch apple trees, which turns out to be rather scientific!

Wood chip is used to help prevent weeds from sprouting, to help the trees retain moisture and help to fight off pests and disease. Ben at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm is the real expert, so you're best to come and ask him all about it the next time we go back to the farm. In the meantime, you can find out more here

We split into groups. Katie and Paul were stationed in the orchard and laid down the wood chip around the trees, whilst the rest of us took it in turns to fill barrows and transport the wood chip to the orchard.

Credit due to Katie and Paul, as Ben was complementary of the arrangement around the trees:

That looks very artistic!

By the end of the task, we had relocated at least 30 barrows full of wood chip, which was now protecting 6 more apple trees. Good work everyone!

Parting gifts

As a thank you for our efforts we were given bags to pick our own lettuce, which we all took home to enjoy.

We met at HPBC and were all ready for our run... when we were approached by student journalists! They wanted to find out more about our work in the community, so they tagged along and walked up to the farm to see what we were doing today.

The run

This week Helen suggested we take the hilly route to Meanwood Valley Farm, which meant running up sugarwell hill - an old favourite of Goodgym Leeds (in a way).

Around 3km later we made our final approach to the farm. After a quick greeting with the lambs, we went to go and find Ben to see what was in store for us today.

The Task

Ben had a good task lined up for us this evening - digging a trench to lay a new water pipe, to supply water for plants further along the plot.

It seemed like we had a lot of work to do... and we weren't sure if we had taken on a bit much! We needn't have worried, as we at Goodgym know how to get a task done ! It wasn't too much for us - laden with spades, and special trench spades we quickly removed turf and lay it out neatly next to the trench. It was sodding brilliant!

45 minutes later the pipe was in and the turf was back in place... its almost as though we were never there 😅

At the end of the task we were each thanked for our efforts and rewarded with bags of lettuce from the allotment 🥬

We took the more direct route back to base - and had worked up a good appetite for dinner. Well done everyone - mission complete!

Warm up

Today we started with a short warmup - jogging in a circle around the benches at the front of HPBC. After a few laps, a few different exercises and a change of direction, we attracted the attention of the staff at Hyde Park Book Club. At first we thought they were coming to join in... but in actual fact they had come to tell us off... as we were allegedly blocking the fire exit. Lesson learned - we will be more careful next time!

The Team

Today we had 8 runners join us on this typical spring evening. We welcomed Ellie on her first group run - who discovered us through a friend and Goodgym member in London. Congratulations to Mary who has now completed her 3rd task and welcome back Suzie after a break due to COVID.

*The Run - Outbound *

We set off on a 3km route to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm - returning there for the first time in 2 years. Rob led the way and Helen back marked.

The Tasks

Task 1: Creating a jenga pile of compost

Our first task was to move some compost outside - and create a tower - which resembled a giant game of jenga. Making good use of a conveyor system, within 5 minutes we had moved the pile and also warmed up for some wheelbarrowing!

Task 2: Moving lots of gravel to create a path

Our next task was to shovel and move gravel to help make a new path. We all got stuck in and in a little over 30 mins we had moved a few tonnes - and it was ready for the paving slabs to be laid down. We couldn't believe how much we had done in such a short space of time - and Suzie exclaimed

I can't believe where the time has gone

Bonus 1: Blast of the past

It was great to admire the wall , which was constructed by Goodgym the last time we were here, and some of the contruction team were here today (Katie). We were pleased that even though it was slightly wonky - due to it being made in the dark - it did the job just fine!

Bonus 2

Of course , this task wouldn't have been complete without looking at the new born lambs, some that were only 24 hours old. It was a great way to end the task.

The Run - Homebound

We left MVUF with optimism, pride and lots of kale - thanks Ben! - and made our way back to HPBC. We conquered the steep incline on the more direct route back.

Well done everyone for all your hard work this evening. Next week we are heading back to Kirkstall Valley Farm for some more fun at a farm!

Last night had all the elements for a perfect group run: A seemingly impossible task, a huge turnout, loads of new faces, bags of teamwork, a proper physical workout, a bit of therapeutic stress relief, some silly quotes, great photos, a new tool to add to our collection and a pun inspired by High School Musical. What more could you possibly ask for?!

The night started with some big news. Joe was reaching his 10th good deed with us, and Rach had just smashed her 50th good deed over the weekend. Way to go guys! Nationally, we'd also just broken through our 8,000 good deed target, and Leeds was approaching 200! Incredible. It's amazing to see us sat in 11th place nationally for good deeds, especially as we're one of the newest areas. Give yourselves a big pat on the back, you deserve it!

We had seven new runners which is absolutely incredible! Give a big warm welcome (via cheers of course) to Ella, Dan, Cecilia, Daniel, Kate, Peter and Andreas.

We also welcomed Jenny to taskforce, taking us up to a massive 9 taskforcers already, and to celebrate she was backmarking our run down to Meanwood Farm along with Helen. Aron took the lead, and as Liz had already set off for the walk down, we were aiming to pick her up on the way down.

For a lot of the group, this wasn't their first trip to Meanwood Farm, so they knew the drill. We arrived at the Farm to find Ben, the task owner, ready and waiting for us with around 10 wheelbarrows. As a group we headed over to inspect our trench that we'd dug last week, and after a week away it made last week's achievement look even more epic.

Ben likes to give us a challenge though, and so he had an even bigger task for us this week. We had to:

• Fill the trench with rubble.
• Break up the larger bits of rubble so they would all pack down neatly.
• Fill in the gaps between the rubble with wood chip.
• Stamp it all down, and mix it around so there were no air pockets.
• Build a wall out of sandbags and gravel bags.
• Fill in the gap behind the wall with all of the soil we'd moved last week.

At this stage Trainer Aron was starting to look a little confused, because we definitely weren't planning to come back next week. Maybe we'd finally bitten off more than we could chew, but if this group is anything, it's ambitious, so the only thing for it was for us to crack on on with it!

We split into groups with half of the wheelbarrows heading for the woodchip pile and half heading for the rubble. Everyone got to grips with the challenges (including the perils of trying to direct your spouse as a GoodGym Trainer) and in no time at all everything started to move along smoothly. Barrows were filled, with rubble being tipped into place in the hole, where the Sledgehammer crew were goggled-up, ready and waiting. This was an exciting moment as it was our first taste of sledgehammer action. Immediately, Julie took on the role of resident expert, and promptly directed Katie on how to ensure maximum smash for your swing:

"I think you're hitting it in the wrong place!" You need to aim for that bit." Julie, giving a technical analysis of Katie's sledgehammering.

The sledgehammer really seemed to be a way for people to work out the stresses of their day, with some putting a bit more into it than others! After realising that the concrete blocks wouldn't be broken down any further, these were removed but the bricks and other rubble were bashed and smashed until they all sat together in a nice, relatively smooth layer. Julie later admitted the secret to her hammering technique:

"I was just imagining myself as Thor" Julie

Over at the woodchip pile, the barrows were also being filled and then transported across to the trench. The woodchip pile was a little further away which apparently just gave the group more time to get a bit giddy before they started working. It was only her second week, but it already feels like Naomi's run report worthy innuendo has been a part of the group forever. She didn't disappoint tonight:

"Fill me up George!" Naomi, requesting the filling of her wheelbarrow

We started to get some bottlenecks at this point as the woodchip was arriving faster than we could break up the rubble, but with a bit of shifting around of the group we soon got it under control again. Once we had enough rubble, and the woodchip had been thrown on the top, everyone needed to pitch in and shuffle the bricks around, stamp the woodchip down, and just generally wiggle and dance their way across the foundations to ensure there were no air gaps. We were now desperate for more woodchip wheelbarrows, and so loads of people were redistributed, and a steady stream of bobbing headtorches made their way to and from the woodchip pile.

With the woodchip and rubble mix now level with the original path, it was finally time to Build the Wall. We formed one massive chain of GoodGymers, passing bags along the line to put them in place. The bags were up to 30kgs so most people passed in pairs, but some were feeling super strong and passed the bags along by themselves. The bag shifting took super teamwork and reminded one particular runner of something:

"Have you ever seen the film 'Antz'? It feels like that" Carol (I think), although to be honest it could have been any one of the colony!

In no time the wall started to take shape, and Ben explained that we would lay the bags in brick fashion, with the second layer offset from the first, as this is what would give the wall it's strength. In just a few minutes, we'd built the wall four bags high, and around 10 metres long! While everyone collected the tools, a few people speedily shifted the soil back into the gap behind our wall and the job was complete! Absolutely outstanding work everyone.

With the satisfaction of another task well done, we returned all of the tools, took a quick snap and made our way back to base for a stretch.

I would normally conclude by letting you all know how amazing you are, what a great thing we achieved, and how I can't wait to do it all again next week, but in honour of our report title, I thought I should I should let the immortal genius of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and co do it for me. Enjoy!

Sometimes (ok most of the time) GoodGym is exactly what you want it to be. Tonight was one of those nights. It was a super-fun physical task, everyone was in a great mood, and it was just a great evening!

There was loads of news to share. While we'd just slipped out of the top division in the January Challenge, tonight's group run promised to bring us back into the Gold division (as I write this we're in 15th)! We have loads going on at the minute, and it's great to see so many getting involved.

We also had a string of people hitting their 10th Good Deeds this weekend, with Alex, Julie and Rachael all hitting double figures. We also had four newbies, with Brogan, Rob, Naomi and Eimear joining us for the first time! That's a big number of people who deserve a massive cheer, so go and give them some love!

Tonight's run was down to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, who are starting to make big plans with the things we can do for them, which is awesome!

We started out with a quick 'Big Wave' warm up to show off to all the new GoodGymers how coordinated we are (I think we can agree this is still a work in progress).

We then set off down the hill towards the farm, with Helen backmarking. We arrived to find Ben, the task owner was all ready and waiting for us. He had three pretty massive jobs for us to do:

• Dig a big trench, around 2 feet wide, and about 10 metres long
• Move around 40 bags of gravel/sand across to the hole
• Move a huge pile of soil from one polytunnel to another.

It was a super ambitious list of tasks that looked impossible at first, but for this group impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. (Kudos to anyone who knows the quote!)

So we all just got on with it! We split into groups, with hole diggers, bag movers and wheelbarrow shuttlers, and we just started grafting! And boy did we work! There were some serious effort faces, grunts and sighs as everyone really put their back into what was a serious workout.

"This is harder work than my pump class" Julie, Leeds GoodGymer

The diggers were really taking it seriously, even if some tools were perhaps more suited to sandcastles than trench digging! Some people were also getting pretty defensive about the section they'd been digging, and didn't want to move on to a new area.

"I'm quite protective of my hole" Naomi, first timer immediately getting into the swing of saying something inappropriate enough to make the run report.

The whole idea with digging the hole is that next week we're going to come back and fill the trench with rubble, which will be the foundations for a retaining wall (made from the sand- and gravel-bags). It's a massive job, that the regular volunteers just don't have the time or the capacity to do.

"What you've done tonight would have taken me about 2 or 3 weeks of serious drudgery!" Ben, task owner.

Once the gravel bags had been shifted, and most of the trench had been dug, a splinter group split off to move the soil. There was a constant stream of wheelbarrows from one polytunnel to the other with the pace not letting up despite all the hard work that had already been put in.

With the jobs all coming to a close, the tools were collected in, and everyone had a chance to admire their handiwork. It is still genuinely amazing to see the amount that can be achieved by a big group of people who are keen to work hard, and even better to see the smiles on everyone's faces the whole time too!

The run back was up the hill we'd come down, so we let everyone take it at their own pace. Tom took the lead group, with Adam taking up back-marking duties. We all reconvened back at base, with a few stretches led by Julie and Helen.

Thanks again for a fabulous evening, I was bouncing along on my way home tonight! You're all brill!