Tonight we returned to the cemetery for more bramble clearing.

We named and numbered off stating some pointless things we get asked to do at work as a nod to health and safety day. These included cleaning pigeon poo and management appreciation days! We also welcomed back Ellie and celebrated some excellent weekend running with Rich and Michal completing the 3 Peaks and Deb's parkrun PB.

We then set off with Lucy and Abigail back marking to meet Clive at the cemetery. After the midge swarm last time, Michael wore enough insect repellent to keep the entire group safe (and anyone else within a mile radius!). We therefore had a clear run of pruning, lopping and digging. Barbara got so excited she snapped a fork!

To finish off we did some fitness relays whilst practising our hammering, then headed back to base. We stretched off then some headed to the pub.

Another night, another midge death squad. This time it was the turn of Bootham Stray allotments to experience a midge swarm of biblical proportions. Note to self, if it's been raining then bring bug spray!

As tonight was well over 6k in total we met for promptly at 6.15 to set the party pace group off, joined by a small GG bike gang. Ed led the remaining GGers after welcoming newcomer Dan and numbering off by naming our favourite flat things in honour of Earth Day. I'm informed that Hydrostatic Bearings are the best flat things ever!

We arrived at Bootham Stray allotments and soon got to work turning over a disused patch that really needed a lot of work. And then the midges came...

I feel ticklish all over - Ben

On one side, Mitch's tool of choice was a 4-pronged spinny thing that he used to twist the weeds together, as if he were eating a bowl of spaghetti. Whilst the rest of the crew, armed with forks and spades, soon made light work of the turf, weeds and roots before tackling bigger things like old guttering and ground sheets.

It was an entirely different vibe over on the other side with Bec spending the night on the tiles whilst Dan got hammered, as the two of them uncovered some old tiling and the head of a hammer respectively.

As the night wore on the midges got the better of us and we called it a day, but not before a group photo and some jaffa cakes kindly provided by the task owner. We then set off back to the Priory Street Centre where Bec learnt that spinning around helps you to touch your toes, and that if you touch a wall with your armed stretched out, then put your arm down, you'll fall just short of touching the wall when you bring your arm back up. Who knew!?!?

The promise of painting enticed a good turnout for tonights run.

We started off by naming and numbering off and we marked 112 years to the day since the titanic sunk by saying our favourite ways of crossing water featuring paddleboards, pedalos and platypuses!

Ed then led the group over to Park Grove in somewhat blustery conditions .... perfect for painting surely.

We were met by Vicky and split into two groups. The first set about repainting the fence (and grass in some cases). David did a great job as quality control making sure there were no gaps and Barbara's drippy bits were spread out!

The second group were tasked with freeing a bench from tree which had grown through it and clearing away plants from the fence.

All was going to plan until we felt the wind pick up and clouds gather. We quickly packed up and then the rain came just in time for fitness.

We put on brave faces and did some circuits until we finally moved under cover to do some star jumps and penguin huddling until the clouds passed.

We were greeted with a rainbow and split into four teams for a tug or war tournament. The Area Activator team won in the final (I think a coordinated effort was key rather than strength!).

We then headed back to base for a stretch and to hear about the week ahead.

Well done for braving the weather. See you next time!

A small but talented group of Goodgymmers broke off from their second day of eating chocolate for an Easter Monday trip to Rowntree Park.

With three tasks to complete, we split into groups. The first task involved securing the logs in the sitting circle with stakes, screws and tools. Martin was definitely in his element with Radu, Barbara and Michael ably assisting. Speeding though the task, they were also able to join in the second task, barrowing woodchip to be placed around some of the saplings in the park.

With Neil shoveling (and eventually Martin and Michael as well), Leanne, Barbara and Radu were able to shuttle the woodchip to Jenna and Nick. They took charge of ensuring it was laid correctly. The woodchip is intended to reduce the weeds that would otherwise grow up around them and reduce their growth.

The final task was to dig out the nettles that were already starting to grow around the circle. Paul, Claire and Jamie attacked the area on the left whilst Lucy, Abigail and Hannah dealt with the nettles on the right. The ground was soft but the nettle roots were deep as usual so some of them put up a lot of fight before accepting they were coming out. Hannah managed to pull out some incredibly long roots so hopefully the nettles will remain gone for a good while.

With lots achieved in a short space of time, we put the tools away and played an exercise themed game of cards before heading back for some well earned brownies courtesy of Barbara.

As it was the festival of Holi we started by saying something colourful that makes us smile as we named and numbered off. With Laura leading, Stef backmarking and Pete keeping track in the middle we ran 2k to St Chad's Scout Hut. We had been prewarned that we couldn't do the painting part of the task which we discovered on arrival was due to a toilet falling off the wall! However there was an abundance of gardening tasks to complete. We were given a tour of the gardens and shown the tasks before setting at them with loppers, secateurs, saws and wheelbarrows.

Ed and Abigail stripped the dead leaves off the palm trees while Pete, Nikki, Max and Stef got sawing. Unfortunately Pete was a bit overenthusiastic with his saw and caught his leg causing the first aid kit to make an outing.

Lyndsey and Leanne did an incredibly neat job of pruning a hedge and everyone else got to work cutting back brambles.

Afterwards we did a twist on our pairs alternate running game with the challenge of swapping with a different person each time with the non runner picking a new way of moving each time they returned. We then headed back to base for stretching and cake courtesy y of Lyndsey.

We started tonight's group run by belatedly awarding our GoodGymer of the month accolade for February to the marvelous Nikki , who had continued her January exploits into Feb and been a shining example for other Task Forcers. Well done Nikki 👏

We also welcomed newcomer Sarah who was doing her first ever task tonight. Let's give her a big cheer 👋

A bit of daytime drama meant that our services were required elsewhere, so instead of going to Ashton Park, tonight's group run saw us head to Clarance Gardens for a spot of unsupervised wildflower seed spreading! Ed did his best to explain what was required of us, and with a few suggestions from the rest of the team, we soon decided on a system that saw everyone lining up a meter apart, with a few seed topper-uppers running between them all 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️

Babs seem to focus on quantity rather than quality and raced ahead of the rest of the line of seed spreaders, whereas Graham took a bit more time and care with his seeds and stamping. Let's see when they bloom who had the best technique!

With most people having whizzed through their seed portions in lightning quick time, we needed to fill the rest of the session with something or risk an early pub exodus. So Leanne led a congo/indian file stamping line to make sure that no spot was left un-stomped.

Before too long it was time for the fitness session and an opportunity to get to know each other a little better. The GGers ran in a circle (again led by Leanne) and made thier way into the middle for an exercise every time Ed called out something that they had done before. Unsurprisingly almost all GGers have baked a cake or planted a tree in their lifetime. Unfortunately we didn't uncover too many secret tattoos though!

Huge well done to everyone for a fab session. Next week it's off to St Chad's scout hut for a classic painting task!

The promise of sweeties tempted 27 GGers out on a chilly March evening to lend a hand to the front garden at Fishergate Primary School, which was in need of a bit of a face-lift.

We started proceedings by numbering off whilst listing things to be afraid of. Lyndsey conveniently listed her number (13) as something to fear, but we also Jamie's suggestion of FOMO and Joanna's fear of decision making as some great examples. It was then time for the short dash across to the task with Ed leading a sea of red shirts, and Vicky bringing up the rear.

At the task we were joined by Martin, Jenna, Anna and Charlotte and soon got stuck into the gardening. Rich declared himself the man with the bin and collected the various bits of rubbish dotted around, whilst others got stuck into weeding, pruning and clearing.

With everyone working hard on the ground to get the garden looking 👌, Mitch decided he'd think outside the box and look higher up for his opportunity to make a difference. A rogue black bin bag stuck up a tree was the goal and it was no match for Mitch armed with a spade, who had acted against all advice and climbed the tree to retrieve it.

Opportunities for further weeding and pruning were dwindling as the task wore on, so mind's started think about potential future tasks with Rich spotting a tree guard that looked like it was in need of removal. Obviously GG York are absolute pros at tree guard removal nowadays!

After a few last minute bits of weeding it was time for a team photo before heading off for Vicky's fitness sesh - Head, Shoulders, Knees and Cones! The game involved moving around a circle of cones before dashing into the middle to pick up a sweet reward. The sweets dwindled as the session went on, which led to a bit of pushing and shoving to get the most in demand sweets.

We then headed back to CVS for a photo with the coveted Golden Trowel (the prize for the most good deeds done in the January Challenge) and then sampled some of Nikki's delicious fudge which also turned out to be part of your 5-a-day 😋

Great session everyone 💪

Monday evening meant it's time for another GoodGym group run, and this one had everything that we love here in York. Logs, mud, digging and a pet dog were all on offer but before all that we needed to warm up on a chilly February evening. So this time, in honour of Johnny Cash who was apparently born on this day in 1932, we named our favourite black or at least very dark things and we had everything from Black Metal to Blackberries!

Vicky and the party pace crew set off early before Ed led a group, backmarked by Nikki, to join them. At the task we met Kristina from City of York Council as well as Jan from the Friends of Fishpond Wood, and Callum from Forestry England together with his dog Dylan. We were then led deeper into the woods to a particularly boggy area that will become a drier path through the woods in due time.

It was then time to get to work. Half the team armed themselves with spades and began digging a drainage trench, whilst the others began shifting logs to form the outline of what will become the path. There was some interesting log lifting going on with Martin favouring the over the shoulder look (one for the GG calender) and others preferring the rolling method

I've got a lady log 🪵- Abigail

The trench digging got boggier and the logs got heavier but the GGers were up for the challenge, albeit with some taking an occasional break to stroke Dylan the dog, and before long we'd run out of logs and were ready to head back to base for a spot of fitness.

Tonight's fitness involved two lines of GGers shifting a cone from the front to the back of their line through twisting their core or reaching up and squatting down. But it was no contest with Nick's team finishing comfortably ahead of Jenna's. Once all was said and done we said our goodbyes with some people heading to Dom's pub quiz, rasing money for Mind. Good luck in the quiz, guys 👍

After an exhausting January challenge, an impressive 23 GoodGymers turned out for the first group run of February. We celebrated those who had run at the weekend including a cheer for the absent Nikki Gover who ran a PB at the Dewsbury 10k 🍾. Well done Nikki! We then numbered off by naming our favourite things with pips in them 🍋 Then it was off to the task...

James looks like a criminal - Leanne

The team picked up where we left off after our last trip out to Ashton Park, and armed with saws and bolt cutters quickly got to work. Pete and James aka 'The Muscle' took care of the heavy duty stake removal with their crowbars in tow.

And then things got a bit messy. Some of the tree guards were easier to remove than others and so we ended up with a surplus of people trying to free the final tree from its intertwined wire guard.

Too many cooks spoil the broth - James

So with too many GGers and not enough space around the final tree we started the fitness session a bit early. This week it was a Squid Game inspired session featuring a fitness version of Red Light, Green Light. First up it was a lunge race, then a high knees race, followed by a squat race.

There's no nice way to say this, so I'll just be honest. Abigail is terrible at Red Light, Green Light!

With the final tree still not free from its wirey prison, Leanne led a team back to CVS whilst Ed waited around for the rest of the group to get the job done. Lo and behold a few minutes later the final tree guard was removed and we could finally head back to base

Great job everyone!