On possibly one of the wettest group runs we've had at GG York, a dedicated and hardy bunch of GG Yorkies showed up for a rapid tree guard and hedge trimming session at Ashton Park. Tonight we welcomed Vicfrom GG Lewisham who was doing a spot of tourism and also welcomed back Emma who was making her return to GoodGym after a lengthy spell out. Give them both a big cheer 🎉

Vicky led out the party pace group whilst the rest of us were numbering off by naming the things that we find unforgivable, including leaving beer in the bottom of a glass, pineapple on pizza and being late to GoodGym!

The two groups arrived at Ashton Park within a minute of each other and were greeted by Kristina from City of York Council who gave us the lowdown on tonight's task and had also very kindly agreed to continue with the session despite the horrendous weather (you're a star, Kristina!)

Two thirds of the group picked up where we left off last time we were at Ashton Park by using a variety of tools to remove the remaining tree guards, whilst the other third armed themselves with sheers and got to work on an overgrown bush.

We'd agreed to shorten tonight's task to 30mins so it was a race against the clock to make sure we finished on time. Each section of the guard that was removed was greeted with a loud cheer and as the stumps also came out we were able to add to our collection of 'GGers with logs' photographs.

Meanwhile the bush trimmers made excellent progress and soon came over to help remove the final bits of tree guard and gather in all of the tools. But by this time we were all very much looking like drowned rats and the prospect of an early finish and some warm, dry clothes was too tempting. So after a quick dash back base we said our Goodbyes headed for home

As a side note, well done to Pete and all those who donated clothes for Ukraine👏

Tonight was another big night of celebrations as we kicked off with a round of applause for Amy W's 30th Birthday. The applause didn't last long though as it got Fergie the dog over-excited, so we then did a big round of jazz hands for all the weekend runners, especially Rich who completed the Lake District Mountain Trail whilst the rest of us were busy eating sausage rolls and drinking Gin at the Marathon du Malton. But the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Barbara who has been part of GG York since day one and earlier in the week had completed her 600th(!) good deed. What a legend! 🎉

We then numbered off by naming our favourite style of potato featuring hash browns, curly fries and roasties. Then it was off to the task with Ed leading the meaning group, backmarked by Claire. Nikki, Amy W and Tess were the walking group whilst Vicky and Abi run/walked. After a brief pause for some wall squats we arrived at the task to be greeted by Maeve from St Nicks who set us off promptly with scything, raking and digging to spruce up this area of New Walk. Amy H and Tess were having their first scything experience so received a bot of extra tuition from Maeve whilst the old pros were hacking away like there was no tomorrow.

I feel like I should be topless doing this - Rich

The cuttings soon piled up and the dumping area was a fair trek away so we set off some speedy folk to be in charge of shifting the cuttings using a tarp, a wheelbarrow and also a ton bag on top of a plank with some coasters on it. Unfortunately it did mean that there was a bit of hanging around at the end of the task, but that gave us some time to sing happy birthday to Amy W whilst doing some birthday squats. In fact, there was enough time to do it twice so Vicky could record us!

Then it was off to Tower Gardens for tonight's fitness. This time out we played a game of rock, paper, scissors that involved jumping forward when you win or going back to the start if you lost. In classic GoodGym style half the people absolutely nailed it whilst confusion reigned over the over half. After several games (more than enough time to get a handle on the rules) Abigail and the boys were declared the overall winners despite some dubious jumping going on.

Whilst all this was happening Michal had also arrived with a cake delivery to compliment the delicious brownies that Babs had brought along, so there was no shortage of sweet treats available when we got back to CVS. We then said it our goodbyes whilst some people headed off to the pub

It was time for celebrations at tonight's group run with so much awesomeness happening recently. Firstly there was a big round of applause for Jenna who got a new PB at the Great North Run. There were also cheers for Vicky, Neil and Ed who all took part in the Tholthorpe 10k at the weekend, especially for Vicky who achieved a season's best time. We then handed out the GGer of the month award to the wonderful Lucy who is pretty much the ideal GoodGymer, always getting involved, always smiling and leading tasks when she can. Oh and it also happened to be AA Vicky's birthday, but more on that later 🥳 🏅 🏆 👏

After a brief warm up, Ed led out the run to Acomb Primary School where we were met by Amanda who gave us the lowdown on tonight's task. Basically continuing the work we'd done previously in clearing the wooded area in the playing field so that it can be used as a forest school. We were soon getting stuck in, armed with saws, loppers and sheers.

There were brambles, sticks and branches everywhere as the busy GGers made excellent progress clearing a path through the woods. The green bins were soon getting filled up and we weren't short of volunteers for people to climb in and jump on top of them to make more space. Although Steve had a helping hand from Rich in getting back out of the bin!

With the task drawing to a close and the woods getting darker we broke on through to the other side and cleared enough space to see some daylight at the end of path, which meant it was time to down tools and get ready for a bespoke fitness session courtesy of the birthday girl herself.

Now, GGers aren't always the greatest listeners and on this occasion there was certainly a little bit of confusion about what type of animal walk we were supposed to be doing and who was supposed to be doing it. So a bit of a reset was needed, but we were soon back underway demonstrating some perfect bear walks in the correct order. I'm not entirely sure if there was a winner but we certainly enjoyed ourselves.

We then gathered in the cones and sung 'Happy Birthday' for Vicky before making our way back to the Priory Centre where some delicious cookies and cake courtesy of Vicky and Jenna were waiting for us 😋

we met

we ran in three groups

we got wet

we ate food in the pub

see photos for more details!

Tonight we started by naming and numbering up and stating our favourite exercise, then doing it. Pete demonstrated pilates beautifully (see photo) and no Amy, sleeping lions is not an exercise!

We then welcomed Nate to the group and headed off along the river to Leeman Road. When we arrived we were asked to spread some compacted soil around the grassy area. It looked simple enough but it was pretty solid so took a lot of physical labour to break up!

After 45 minutes we'd flattened one pile and made good headway in the others.

We then headed off to a grassy area for some fitness fun where everyone had to keep collecting tickets with exercises on until they were all gone. We then headed back to base where we celebrated Ed's parkrun PB and some folk headed to the pub.