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👏

Despite the miserable weather a group of hardy volunteers turned out for tonights task, including new member Douglas

We celebrated Jenna reaching her 300th good deed and in traditional fashion she got to wear the magnificent cape of good deeds. There was also some epic ultra running to celebrate by Nikki,Michal and David, but unsurprisingly they weren't there so we'll save that for next week!

Mitch stepped up into run leader role tonight and led the group off the the Groves to meet Tracy and Ian. Much to our surprise the painting task was still on (and went very well!), so one group headed off to paint a garage wall. Another group did some digging and the remainder were asked to move VERY HEAVY stone so they could be built into flower beds, using sack trolleys and wheelbarrows. As predicted by Paul K, Max over filled his and buckled the wheel (no permanent damage hopefully).

Everyone got their heads down and worked hard and in no time it was dark and time for the team photo. We then did some fun circuits before running back to base to Jenna's delicious millionaires shortbread. She checked nobody was diabetic, but they may be now!

Thank you gang for your hard work in the damp tonight!