Its was quality not quantity this Monday with a reduced turnout due to a group of regulars being away sampling the delights of Marathon du Médoc.

Making a welcome return after a long time was Christine and her energy was put to great use leading us through an unconventional but fun warm up. Then eighteen of us made the longish run out to Greenfields.

When we got there, we split into two teams - team one was asked to cut back overgrown grass to make the paths around the raised beds visible, whilst team two emptied the compost bins and prepared some of the raised beds for winter.

Team one did a great job with the paths and were joined by a new prospective recruit Meya. We tasked George with welcoming her and explaining what we do and he must have done a good job because Meya is now going to sign up and join us again.

Team two had a shaky start with Tristan acting like he'd never used a wheelbarrow before despite his 161 previous tasks. Luckily the rest of the team performed admirably covering the raised beds with cardboard to suppress the weeds, and clearing the existing compost bins in preparation for the new ones arriving.

With the tasks complete, we headed to Clarence Gardens so we had space for a Médoc themed fitness exercise. Two (different) teams fought it out to transport the most wine (ok summer fruits cordial) on trays without spilling it. Everyone took it very seriously so there more precision than raw aggression but Leanne's team were convincing winners.

There were a few tired bodies as we made our return to the Monday night group run after an epic Goodgym camping weekend in Derbyshire. But that didn't stop our group from shifting a load of cuttings from the stunning wildflower meadow that we'd previously helped to plant at Clarence Gardens 💪

We started the night with a small but perfectly formed group celebrating the new male half-marathon wolrd record by naming the things that they believe they could hold a world record in. Turns out we all really back ourselves when it comes to eating challenges! It was then off to the task with Vicky and Babs heading out in the steady group, Jenna on bike and Ed leading the main group with Abigail backmarking.

Upon arrival we met a few other Goodgym Yorkies who had gone straight to task, and after some very simple instructions (basically shift the cuttings from A to B) from taskowner Iain, we were soon up and running. Nick and Micheal armed themselves with the tarp and made great progress shifting huge mounds of the cuttings whilst the rest of the gang raked and collected what they could into ton sacks.

Over at the skips James and Kit worked their hardest to trample down the cuttings to ensure that we could fit in as much as possible. Such was their dedication to the cause the Kit almost managed to get himself buried under a tarp load of cuttings at one point! But with the skips filling up and time running out attention turned to raking up and shifting as much as we could before calling it a night.

After a quick stop for a photo we then had time for brief fitness sesh which involved 4 teams competing against each other to see who could jump the furthest and run the fastest whilst shifting a cone from one end of the field to the other. It was a photo finish and to be honest Ed possibly wasn't paying close enough attention to see who actually won but it was definitely Jame's team or possibly George's!

We'll be back at Clarence Gardens in a few weeks to finish off the job!

Tonight we saw a bumper turnout for Holgate Community Allotment which meant there were plenty of hands on deck for a proper evening of GoodGym gardening.

Before we set off we celebrated PK and Leanne's epic hike up Kilimanjaro, as well a some great 10k running from Stef at the weekend.

When we arrived we were met by Helen who had a long list of jobs. We got stuck into turning the compost, cutting back brambles, watering trees and clearing the school plot, giving everything a much-needed tidy-up. There was also a group of scrumpers sorting the windfall apples. 🍎 Because there were so many of us there was lots of opportunity to stand about and have a chat too!

We rounded off the evening with a lively game of Fitness Splat, proving that even after all that digging, chopping and clearing, there was still plenty of energy left in the tank for a bit if fun!

A bumper turnout, a bumper workload and finally a bumper crop of apples. A very productive night at Holgate! 💪🌱

see you next week!