It was a warm and windy evening when 31 Goodgymmers assembled at York CVS for their weekly evening of doing good. It was great to welcome back some of our newer faces again, as well as those we hadn't see for a while - Hi Jamie! We also celebrated the York Acorn Runners who had taken part in the Cleveland Way relay over the weekend, as well as Max and Paul Kelly having a very impressive "short jog" in the Hebden hills. (Either 38 or 39k, depending on the watch. Perhaps they could pop back to measure it again to be sure...?) Next up, Leanne treated us to another rendition of "The Cha Cha Slide", this time with more instructions. Formed up in rows, we wiggled our way through the moves, getting nice and warm and potentially bemusing the neighbours in the process.

All set, we split into groups with a choice of steady run, run-walk, or walk-walk. Nick led our flock of red shirted runners through the streets, whilst Vicky had a strong team of run-walkers, and Debs assembled the walkers, with Jenna navigating and Amy setting a good pace. Our destination; Acomb Primary School, and their lovely forest school, with a host of tasks to keep many hands busy.

Once briefed by task owner Amanda, everyone got to work, clearing the two different areas of woodland that are used by the school children for outdoor education. It was great to see progress since our previous visits, with numerous log circles installed for groups to use. There was a lot of undergrowth to be cleared by hand, sticks to be moved, troublesome shoots to be tackled with tools, as well as piles of logs and branches to be relocated. The wood movers seemed particularly keen to show off their strength, posing for many a photo in the process. (Any claims that the logs were in fact rotten and surprisingly light are unfounded, and will be refuted.) Given our bumper group size we rather outnumbered the tools available, so much bartering and trading occurred. It's very Goodgym to use one tool in place of another, and Pete was doing a sterling job of trying to dig a fire pit with a fork, but fortunately a spade came to the rescue in the hands of Paul Kelly. Thankfully our glorious leaders Ed and Vicky were on hand in all the busy-ness attempting to keep everyone focused, and redirecting folks as tasks were completed. Time was soon up, and we admired our handiwork from the main log circle; conveniently just large enough to hold all Goodgymmers. We had a group photo, and assembled for our very special fitness session.

With Captain Pete in charge, we were treated to a competitive winner-takes-all battle of rock paper scissors. With losers cheering on the winners it was a buoyant affair, and soon only two contenders remained. Nicky vs Laura for the crown.. Once, twice... Laura reigned supreme! Our two finalists became our team leaders for the next (actually) fitness component. A multi-challenge race with sub-groups of 4 having to transport specially chosen branches through hoops, up a hill and back, with some press ups thrown in, before tagging in the next crew. It was a close run thing, with our more recent joiners throwing themselves into standard wacky GG fitness with great gusto. Team Nicky edged it, and it was a draw on points between the two teams, with only a tie breaker question to go. Alas Ed showed a spectacular failure at maths, forgetting that your height is three times the circumference of your head, (something he had only educated us about at the previous task,) and Team Laura were crowned overall champions.

Excitement over, it was time to run, run-walk or walk-walk back to base, a little more gently this time. With knowledge of a job well done, many folks headed off to the pub for a cool drink and a piece of excellent home baking. Thanks to the chefs, as well as everyone who contributed in some way to the excellent evening, whether by leading a group or activity, backmarking, motivating or simply turning up and getting stuck in. Goodgym is a team, and wouldn't work without any one of us. Same time next week?

**Huge thanks to Debs for the fab run report

We started the evening by celebrating some achievements. David achieved yet another parkrun pb - is there no stoping him! Michal also reached his 200th good deed so got to wear the fabulous cape of good deeds. Not only that but he also arranged tonight's task and was our run leader!

We named off by saying our favourite museum or vaccine! Keswick's pencil museum was popular!

Michal then set off with the runners on a longer route whilst the walkers wandered the whole 700 metres to the task!

We then got stuck in weeding and sweeping City Mills to make it nicer for the residents.

To finish we did some hill reps up Baille Hill, which was very short, steep and slippy. The offer of a longer run back was declined so everyone had a nice gentle stroll.

All done for another evening !

Four of us met at museum gardens to help set up for the arts Mela tomorrow.

After a chaotic start due to the gates being blocked, stall holders soon were able to unload their stuff and we helped erect many gazebos, some with more ease than others!

We will be back tomorrow at the crack of dawn to continue….

A fab bank holiday turnout of 21 GoodGym Yorkies, saw us tackle a variety of tasks at the Wild Things Forest School. With Ed being injured tonight's group run was a Tristan Takeover special and he got the crew warmed up with some running drills after we'd given a cheer for those who completed the Bluebell Trail 10 miler at the weekend.

After the short run out to the task we met Emma from Wild Things who gave us an overview of tonight's activities, including painting a shed, putting down some chicken wire around the pond, taking some old timber to the skip, cleaning a massive tent and cutting back some plants. We then split into our various groups and got to work

Martin had already got stuck into dismantling one of the outdoor kitchen areas before we arrived, so the rest of the group were playing catch up and the site was very quickly a hive of activity! There was action everywhere you looked, with scrubbing, painting, hammering and chopping all going on.

Over at the pond, Cara was doing an excellent job of supervising Paul and Steve's chicken wire laying. Whilst the shed painting crew found the conditions challenging with some inferior paint and, according to Jane, Bab's interesting techniques! Before too long the various tasks drew to a close and it was time for Tristan's fitness session.

The group was split into 4 teams and were then pitted against each other in a series of shuttles runs. It was a simple enough start with regular sprints, but soon got more challenging with high knees, skipping (Tristan's personal fave!) and eventually a conga line.

Big thanks to Tristan for leading a fab session. Don't forget next week's session will be a group ride rather than run (although we will still have a running group but it's a good 5km each way)