It was another hot one in Paradise City (aka York), but that didn't deter us - a whopping 31 GGers ran, walked and biked to West Office Gardens, fuelled by our Appetite for (vegetative) Destruction. Jake and Ruth joined us for their second time - nice to see you both again - and it was Una's numero uno run out with us - welcome!

Having been given our brief on which plants should Live and which we should Let Die we got to it, clearing the area of overgrown vegetation to make space for a new planting scheme. We made quick work of the weeds, but the buddleia and other large shrubs gave us a run for our money: we Slashed them with saws, Duffed them up with spades, but it took heavy metal mattocks and Raw Power to really shift them. Martin twisted the roots, Jake heaved at them, and Kit tried pogoing on his spade, just for funsies. Vicky, Jamie, David and James showed great Patience cleaning up everyone else's mess, running around after us all with brooms and wheelbarrows. We were also tasked with trimming an oversized bush: Laura, Jenna, Scarlett and Jane tamed its frizzy locks, turning them from an out of control mullet to a tidy crewcut.

What had seemed at the outset an insurmountable task was actually completed very quickly - It's So Easy when there's a lot of you. Skip filled to the brim, we downed tools and laid out cones in preparation for fun and games. Ed led us in a round of competitive Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes - featuring an unseemly amount of squatting - culminating in a tiebreaker showdown between Jamie and George. The day went to Jamie, but he sportingly joined George in his second place burpees - Nice, Boys.

Tonight was our first balsam bashing of the season and there was plenty for everyone! 🌱

Before setting off all the way to Fulford Ings we celebrated May's goodgymer of the month Hannah Hannah has become a Monday night regular as well as giving up time on many a Friday. To top it off she's upped her running and is training for a marathon! What a legend!🤩

Matt also completed his 250th parkrun so we cheered him too!

Finally we welcomed Scarletto her first group run. Not sure how she heard about goodgym!

After all the kudos we headed off with Ed leading the run and Vicky with a cycling group.

At the ings we were net by Nicola who had been bashing all day but assured us there was plenty left! We avoided midges, nettles and thistles best we could and after 45 mins had accumulated piles to be proud of.

We then headed home with a pit stop on the bridge of pain for some mexican wave fun fitness and then finished off with birthday squats for Peteand Scarlet 🥳

Finally, we wished Ali a bon voyage as he heads back to France. Thanks for joining us and hope to see you again one day!🇫🇷

It was a scorching hot May evening, but it takes more than that to dim our Lust for Life. Fifteen hot, sweaty, mildly-dehydrated Good Gymers ran and cycled to St Aelreds to Search and Destroy weeds in their raised beds - that's My Idea of Fun. There was talk of going shirtless like Iggy Pop, but lacking his leathery charm we decided to stick to our GG tops. We were joined by Jo, a first timer, and Ali, a very new member - welcome!

Delving through the undergrowth we encountered no less than ten frogs of varying colours and sizes. Uncertain of the collective noun for frogs (army, chorus, colony or knot if anyone wondered) we settled on referring to then as the Flurry of Frogs. To protect them from harm (i.e. our haphazard digging and hacking) we compassionately rehomed them in the overgrown area at the back of the field, where they fro(g)licked happily. That was after we'd actually caught the little blighters, which was a task in itself - Naughty Little Froggie!

Once the beds were clear of weeds and frogs we filled them with Dirt, Mud and compost. With only one wheelbarrow we were forced to improvise - the Prime Movers were Nick with a traffic cone and Mitch with his toy dumper truck.

After the task we repaired to the sun deck for some (sadly alcohol-free) beer and a round of birthday squats to celebrate Leanne's big day. One of our longest serving members, Leanne is no stranger to getting in amongst the the weeds - she's a Real Wild Child. Oh yeah, she's a wild one.

Hotter, sweater, and still fairly dehydrated, we headed back to The Ackhorne for further liquid refreshment and a Real Cool Time in the shady beer garden.

☀ 32 epic GoodGymmers arrived on a chilly but bright Monday evening for tonight's group run.

👋 We were thrilled to welcome Ali for his first GoodGym session (fresh from a recent, and incredibly epic 4000k cycle from France to Istanbul - huge kudos!). We also celebrated Becca's 50th good deed with the traditional black cape of joy (and look forward to seeing her in a black GG top soon!) We also welcomed the return of Vicky's active transport at GoodGym (a long-winded way of saying she was able to walk tonight, following her recent hip surgery 💪)

🌸 The task was a short 1k trot from our meeting point so we were there in no time. We were greeted by some very organised task owners with a healthy list of jobs for us to do. There was something for everyone, and plenty of time to get stuck in to some serious weeding (of lots of mare's tail), ivy-pulling, shovelling and pruning. Arguably too much time as those in the shady area started to get a tad chilly and had to resort to extra fitness to keep try and warm up!

🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️We got lots done though, and had time to pose for a photo before heading to Scarcroft Park for some fitness. Ed had us doing the infamous squat game to keep us on our toes for the main event, which was Vicky's running drills - a variety of exercises designed to improve our running performance (followed by the Can-Can...). Despite some questions as to the validity of the source of these exercises (which Vicky has since quashed by providing said source), we hope to see some epic performances in everyone's upcoming runs (especially if they involve an element of skipping and/or side-stepping). So we can all thank Vicky for our next PB 👌

🚵 Soon, it was time to head back to base for some cool-down stretches led by Ed, accompanied by a run-down of the many opportunities to do good with GoodGym coming up this week. And after that, some of us went to the pub to catch up with Abi and raise a glass to Ali's epic cycle (to bring this report full-circle).

🙌 Thanks everyone, and hopefully see you all again soon!

On a chilly but sunny spring evening, an amazing 23 GG Yorkies came out to do one of our more bizarre tasks of the year so far. The initial excitement of heading to the Foss Fairy trail was soon diminished when Ed informed the group that we were actually going to a disused hockey pitch near the trail, rather than spending any time "away with the fairies" as Jamie put it! 🧚‍♂️

We welcomed Sanjay who was doing his first ever GoodGym task tonight 👋 and also gave a big cheer to the absent Rich who had completed the Fred Whitton round over the weekend, which I'm led to believe is a ridiculously long and arduous bike ride over a lot of passes in the Lake District. Rather him than me!

We warmed up by naming our favourite mythical creatures, although it's debatable whether the fraggles and the hobbit count in that category! When then set off with Ed leading the run and Jenna/Laura backmarking. We also managed to get a few step reps in at the front of the Premier Inn thanks to Kit's enthusiasm!

Tonight's task seemed to involve sweeping and scraping a lot of debris from an old astro turf hockey pitch. It's not entirely clear what the end goal is, but the team armed with brooms and shovels soon got to work and made good progress revealing some of the old lines on the pitch

Meanwhile another group tackled some brambles and nettles that were growing through the fence onto the pitch, whilst David and Amy went on a litter pick, which featured task owner Tracy running after some local youths that had previously pinched the litter pickers! 🏃‍♀️

We then stopped for a quick group photo before it was time for tonight's fitness session. After initially starting with Ed confusing the number of groups with the number of people in a group, we eventually got started with an excellent demonstration from Lucy, Martin and Laura. It was all very simple really, Jump, Lunge, Squat (or JLS for short) in a relay to the end of the pitch and back. Straightforward enough, until everyone arrived at the end of the pitch and weren't entirely sure how to turn around and continue the JLS routine. After a bit more clarification of the rules from Ed the group had a second stab at it, and despite some dubious squatting, everyone managed to get the hang of it to set up a tense finish at the end.

For some people a Bank Holiday Monday is a time to kick back and relax but Team GG never sleeps!

Some ran, some biked, some ran a bit and walked a bit, some meeting at the usual spot and others arriving from far and wide to rendezvous at the task. Either way 26 folk met at Not Fishponds Wood near Fishponds Wood.

We had some heroes to celebrate

• Hannah who was excited to wear the cape of Good Deeds now that she has completed over 50 tasks
• Neil who is our GoodGymer of the month for being an awesome gent, doing 7 Good Deeds in the month as well as being personal chauffer to Vicky The Hip Hearson!

We also welcomed Jake to his very first GoodGym task! Jake is Alex's mate. Whatever Alex is selling it's working as last week he brought along Dylan who was back again despite endangering his bright white new running shoes last week and now we have Jake too!

Who will Alex bring next time?

It was straight to work in Not Fishponds Wood Near Fishponds Wood pulling the ivy which was choking the trees and plants.

We tugged and pulled and scraped and snipped and hacked and sawed and yanked and plucked and picked and ripped and jerked and wrenched and heaved and hauled and slashed at the ivy and pretty soon had cleared a good section of the wood and had filled a huge collection of tonne bags with ivy!

Then we were off running and biking back for some fitness activity running up and down Windmill Hill!

On a Bank Holiday Monday!

I know!

Now that's just daft so the sensible ones discovered they really needed to go straight home instead!

Tonight York's Shiny Happy Good Gymers were joined by two new members - Dylan and Mark, welcome! We congratulated Stefan on Accelerating through the TEWV 10km and Amy for completing the London Marathon - we hear she ran So Fast, she went Numb.

We headed to a new location for us: Carleton Street Play Area, in The Great Beyond behind the station. This was a place shrouded in mystery - it was unknown to Google Maps, and to Nicola, a GGer who lives nearby. It was a regular Ignoreland. Some GGers were worried that you Can't Get There From Here, and others expressed concerns that it was Half A World Away and that it might even be necessary to Drive, but we got there in the end.

We got to work plucking the site from obscurity by removing the brambles, nettles and burgeoning buddleia that concealed it. Kit dug down Low to uproot brambles, and was Feeling Gravity's Pull as he fearlessly climbed Up to saw off branches. Luckily he didn't Fall On Me. Ed was working so hard he managed to break a spade in half - he was having a Bad Day. We didn't Find a River, but we did Reveal a beautiful community garden with a winding path and a great big Rock(ville) in the centre.

Out of Time, we headed on for some heavy duty Circuits Envy led by the lovely Vicky. The skipping ropes were a particular highlight. Several GGers gave an impressive display of rope handling, while a few were Kings of Comedy, giving us all a laugh with an impressive display of ineptitude. Whether you're being stung by nettles, snagged by brambles or whacked in the face with a skipping rope, Everybody Hurts. Despite this we all agreed that we'd had a Funtime, and we repaired to The Ackhorne for stretching and, with minimal Pretty Persuasion, a pint.

Mark Dylan Ed Stefan Kit Vicky Nicola

Tonight's bumper turnout came with its own challenges as Ed turned from run leader to shepherd in order to keep things going as smoothly as you've come to expect from Monday night group run. With newcomer Nathan yet to appear we were stuck celebrating Chris's brunch at the weekend, before Charlotte saved the day with something actually worth applauding having climbed a particularly difficult climb! But just in the nick of time Nathan arrived and received a warm welcome, before we set off. Give him a big cheer 🎉

Laura set off first with a walking group, before Ed led out the run with Amy backmarking. After a short run out we met taskowner Maeve on New Walk and split the group into 2 with Pete leading the breakaway team to Millennium Fields (more from him later).

At New Walk the team got to work, armed with scythes and spades, removing the docks to make way for less invasive species. James S, Katy, Martin and Kit made light work of the big clump of docks with some epic scything, whilst the rest of the team got stuck in digging up the roots and getting them into sacks ready to be moved down to Millennium fields to meet the others later on.

We picked up a few extra bodies as Pete's crew completed their job, which made for a mad flurry of activity towards the end before we started the short walk down to meet the other group. This is what they had been up to...

After dropping the scythers and dandelion pullers off a group of 10 were led by Pete to Millennium Fields, a place of many a task. After finding the hidden stash of tools it was not hard to find the big pile of woodchip. Getting stuck in we soon realised that one barrow was not enough and while some managed to cup some in their hands Charlotte did a quick dash to her allotment for an extra spade and a very big drag bag. That allowed us to very quickly shovel, rake and stamp the path until the pile had miraculous disappeared. Nice to see Holly return after joining us for her first task in Jan and proceedings were scrutinised throughout by the part carbon fibre, part hero that is Vicky. Soon after we were joined by Ed's crew for fitness fun.

Fitness tonight involved trying to keep a "pizza" on your hand whilst running around and being chased. All perfectly normal stuff and not in the least bit confusing for onlookers from Millennium bridge!

Tonight we were back at the Arts Barge to help them do some jobs to get the barge ready for spring.

We had one group working on the boat doing a bit of problem solving sawing up rectangles of polystyrene to fit the inside of the boat for insulation.

The rest of the gang were tasked with tidying up on land. Michael, Jane and Nick were quick to volunteer to build a fire yo burn unwanted wood. Kit and Ben took it in turns to power wash the stones with a very big hose! Everyone else used various tools to weed between the cobbles.

We finished with a group pic then headed off to Tower Gardens for a Jenna speciality fitness. This involved moving around then getting in different sized groups to make a human sculpture! GG imagination at its best - we had a beehive, a barge, a snail, normal and sophisticated!

It was then back to base and off to the pub for some!

The first group run of April also brought first really nice evening of the year weather-wise as the majority of GG Yorkies ditched the long sleeves and leggings for shorts and baseball caps. Tonight we celebrated a couple of epic recent PBs; one for Matt at the Berlin half last weekend and another for James at yesterday's tricky Helmsley 10k. Epic running chaps 💪

Tonight we also celebrated Hannah completing her 50th good deed! Although there was to be no cape tonight as she signed up too late for Ed to realise he needed to pack one. We'll get you next time!

Tonight we headed off to the Groves for some leafleting and a few odd tasks around the communal gardens. Laura set off promptly with a walking group, which was a good job as they decided to take the long way round, whilst Rich led a walk/run crew. The rest of the group set off with Ed at the front and Pete backmarking, but not before they'd had a stab at guessing the world's most popular chocolate bar (a question that proved to be a bit too much for Mitch as he struggled to muster an answer). Leanne was the only one who guessed correctly which got her out of 10 seconds of fast feet!

Over at the task 16 leafleters (not sure that's a word) paired up and set off delivering flyers for the Groves Association. The remaining team got to grips with various tasks including shifting bricks (careful), putting up some fairy lights, and a spot of composting

We all then met back up at 7:15 sharp for a quick team photo before a very appropriate fitness session from James who organised an epic sack race and even brought along some chocolate for the winning team. Cue lots of talk about James' sack for the remainder of the evening!