A group of 14 Goodgymers took to the streets of York for a morning of mobility mayhem to test drive scooters for shopmobility York, who rent them out from Coppergate Car Park.

After mastering the controls and speeds with a short practice in the car park their first obstacle to overcome came in the form of reverse parking into the lift, which once completed would give them access to the city streets beckoning below.

As all great Goodgym tasks do, this one came with responsibility and the need for strong teamwork along with some minor danger. The team excelled in navigating the city, it's visitors and testing various shops access and ability to welcome customers on scooters. With one-way systems and stacked displays no harm came and the test was a great success with all that scooted out came back with battery levels still holding charge.

After a scooter wash and some tea and biscuits for refreshments after, the mission was a success and the team left counting down the days to the next opportunity to paint the town red.

Kristina met us at West Bank Park with wheelbarrows of tools & a list of tasks. Nine feelgood Friday goodgymers turned out for some fresh air followed by coffee & goodies for some. We chattered whilst picking up logs & twigs & refreshed & replenished the ' dedge' around the pond which Michael dredged of debris with a rake. Some trees were coppiced (branches chopped off at the base) in the orchard & another 'dedge' was magnificently repaired. Finally a low 'dedge' to deter dogs in the bird watching area was refilled with more twigs.

Our first Group Run of 2025 saw a bumper turnout of 32 dedicated but chilly GoodGym Yorkies head off to West Bank Park for a night of leaf clearing in the play area. Buy before we set off we welcomed 4 newcomers Amy, Clare, James and Sam. Give them all a big cheer 🎉

We also had a few things to celebrate tonight, starting with awarding the December GGer of the month award to David who also happened to be completing his 200th Good Deed tonight. Way to go David 💪. There were also cheers for those that had taken part in some of the festive races including Chevin Chase and the Jolly Holly Jog. Well done guys!

It was then time for a quick but much needed warm up, whilst our walking group set off to the task. Vicky led a run/walk group (although by the sounds of it, it was a lot more run than. walk) and Ed led the main group able back marked by Babs and Laura.

At the task we were greeted by Kristina from the City of York Environment team who was expecting a fair fewer GGers than had arrived, so quickly grabbed as many extra tools as possible to keep us busy. We then set off armed with rakes, shovels, brooms, wheelbarrows and a leafblower, with the aim to clear as many leaves from the play area as possible.

We soon got to work with Clare and James sweeping leaves away from the play equipment whilst Babs and Nick got to work shoveling snow. The rest of the gang were busy with turning over the mulch in the leaf bays and getting them ready for the mass of leaves that were soon heading their way. Well, apart from Ellie who was spotted playing on the springy rocking horse type thing!

After a solid 40 mins or so of leaf clearing the park was looking a lot better so we gathered up the tools and got ready for tonight's fitness session, courtesy of Nikki; A game of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Cones. This involved two people battling it out to be the first person to pick up the cone after following Ed's instructions, with the losers completing 10 squats after each defeat (there's a chance Rich might have sore legs in the morning!)

Then it was back to CVS for some stretches followed by left-over festive treats courtesy of Vicky

Despite the low temperature and cold wind a hardy group of us GG Yorkies assembled before our weekly group run to do a litter pick around the local streets. We split into several groups and soon collected several bags of rubbish. The most unusual find was Leanne's discarded broccoli. 🥦

*Actually there were a lot of cigarette butts.