Spirits were high tonight as we continued our excellent start to 2026 with another great turnout. Ed, clearly struggling from over-indulging at weekend, just about remembered what to do for the group run intro as we celebrated all those that had helped out at another hugely successful York Community Woodland parkrun, especially run director Michael 💪

I'm not being held responsible for a load of wet trainers - Ruth

After numbering off and much debate about whether the river path was open, Rich led out a small walking group, whilst Ed led the main group backmarked by Vicky and Babs. There was a little bit of confusion when we arrived as Ed and task owner Nicola hadn't agreed exactly where we would be meeting at Millennium Fields, so we gambled on a light in the distance belonging to Nicola and not a dog walker.

I was never sure whether I was supposed to be the bird or the bee - Rich

Fortunately the gamble paid off and we were soon being led down to an area that we had worked on previously where apparently the bird and bee seeds had been hugely successful. Cue some interesting conversations about the birds and bees and even bears!

Meanwhile a small splinter group featuring Jane, Daniel, Kit and Jamie got to work turning over the compost bays that have been a bit of a staple of good gym millennium fields tasks over the years. This time with the added challenge of just having 2 spades between them.

Another group armed with trowels got to work on the bee bank although I'm not entirely sure exactly what it was they were doing, but i was informed by Abi that it was very good for a particular type of butterfly 🦋

Once enough seeds were sown it was then time for a quick fitness session involving running around and getting into different sized groups depending on the number that Ed shouted out. There's still some confusion over exactly how many people were at the session tonight with every number seemingly dividing well enough to not leave anyone without a group 🤔

Stef, Abigail, Laura and David tidied up the beds at Holgate Community Garden around the raspberry canes. Abigail litter picked around the garden and the condition of the sleepers on the raised beds were also assessed and some measured up for replacement - a future task.