Great turn out for a Friday night and our first visit to Homestead Park.

We got into three groups. Team woodchip, team hardcore and team balsam. Within the hour we'd made a big impact and agreed to come back.

After a play on a horse and group photo (next to the pavillion!) we headed to the Old Grey Mare for a well deserved pint or two. This weirdly ended up with lots of discussion of height v head circumference and then us all lining up in order! Whatever next!

Tonight we started by welcoming new comers Sophia, Joss and Rebecca then we applauded Paul Kelly's parkrun pb and Steve's epic lakeland marathon.

To name and number off we all pledged to do something to show we care in honour of Carers' Week, Men's mental health wed and loneliness awareness month. Lots of people said they would be making contact with someone or doing an act of kindness.

The walking (and a bit of running) group set off leaving the rest to warm up and follow shortly afterwards.

Christina was waiting for us at West Bank Park with a selection of tools and barrows. Before we could move the compost to the skip we needed to remove the rather unpleasant smelling stuff which had been fly tipped there. This didn't phase Pete, Vicky and Sam who made quick work of it, ready to welcome the continuous relay of wheel barrows.

After a good workout we then tidied up and had a game of fitness dice. Rich was particularly good at sit ups (or rather sit downs!) .

We then headed back to base for done well earned cake and promised to return on 30th for part 4!

We made great progress this afternoon tidying up the beds and planting a few new plants at Holgate Community Garden. We welcomed Joss and Rebecca to their first Goodgym task. Leanne kindly brought a puncture repair kit so Leanne and David started by mending the puncture in the wheelbarrow tyre which made it a lot easier to dispose of the weeds once we'd pulled them out. Everyone else got to work weeding the beds and pulling out the cornflowers that had died and Joss trimmed along the edges. Amy planted some celeriac seedlings once we had space for them. By the end the beds looked much tidier and there was much more room for the vegetable plants and flowers to grow.

York Pride is a huge event celebrating diversity and the LGBTQ+ community.

This year we helped out by marshalling at the parade. Our first job was unfolding the 50 metre long flag and spreading it down the crowd. There were many happy volunteers to carry it!

We then walked alongside from Parliament Street to the Knavesmire. It was amazing to see so much support on the route.

We arrived at the festival and were given our free wristband, then went our separate ways to explore.

Lovely to see Antonia again, hopefully we'll see you again at another task.

Tonight's Monday Night Group run saw 22 GG Yorkies tackle an overgrown patch of land in Clifton. But before setting off we welcomed the return of Amy practically fresh off the plane from New Zealand. We also celebrated Pete's 200th Good Deed and gave a big cheer to those who had completed the Yorkshire 3 peaks at the weekend. Give them all a big cheer 💪

The run out tonight was just over 5km out and back so we kept the warm up short and headed straight out with Ed leading the group and Abigail and Laura backmarking. Jenna was our sole cyclist whilst Jane, Michal and Martin met us at the task.

Kristina from the council's eco team gave us the lowdown on tonight's task. The area used to be a play park but had since been left to grow over, to the point that it had started to cover the paths that run through it. Our job was to cut back anything that was growing over the paths and generally make it feel a bit tidier and safe for those that use it as a cut through to the hospital.

Emma armed herself with a pretty mean looking strimmer whilst the rest of the group picked up wire brushes, loppers and shears and soon got to work tackling the overgrown foliage. Although it wasn't always easy going, with Amy struggling to get to grips with her wire brush and later not being able to open a pair of secateurs!

But it wasn't just Amy who was struggling. Emma was keen to get going with the strimmer, but wasn't too sure about where to put the rather large battery pack that came with it. Fortunately help was on hand in the form of Abigail who was looking for a mote gentle job to keep her busy, and was more than happy to act as the battery pack carrier, sort of like the GG version of a flower girl at a wedding carrying the brides dress

Before too long the task was completed and we had a quick thank you from local resident Rebecca who was delighted with the progress that we'd made. It was then off to Clarence Gardens, scene of many previous GG tasks, for tonight's fitness session

Since Amy T had been away for 2 and a half years the fitness was all about getting to know each other a bit better. The group ran around in a circle and then came into the middle if they had done the thing that Ed shouted out. We then chose someone to tell us a bit more about that thing. In true GG York fashion, we had more people who had a piece of work published than those that had tattoos but we still heard about the meaning behind a couple of Issy's tattoos as well as learning a bit of Urdu from Pete and being suitably impressed by the various celebrities that our crew had met. Although it's possible Jane's UFO sighting during a Radiohead concert may have been more to do with the light show than flying saucers!

It was then back to base but not before wishing Pete, Laura and Cara a happy birthday with some traditional birthday squats.

We've also had a special thank you from the council for our help across the city. GoodGym has been a huge contributor across multiple projects, so it was fab to do our fitness sesh right in front of a flourishing wildflower garden that wouldn't be the there without us.

See you all next week when we'll be back to West Bank Park