Today saw a great turnout for our first non headtorch run of the year!

Today was international Victoria day but rather than base our welcome on that we shared what we would do with our bank holiday weekend.

It should really have been Leanne day as she wasn't just crowned goodgymer of the month, but also got to wear the good deed cape for doing an incredible 1300 good deeds!

We also welcomed Ellie and congratulated Nick snd Babs for being married for 35 years!

We then set off to two tasks-

At Rowntree Park we were greeted by Stu who split us into 3 teams. The first team got to grips with a load of soil that we had previously shifted from from the gardens to the back of the lodge. This time we moved it to its final location into the raised beds.

The second group tackled a load of green waste and moved it from across the park over to the table tennis area. With Max particularly enjoying taking a ride in the giant wheelbarrow

Team 3 were instructed to remove the sedge from the garden, and after a quick Google to find out what sedge is, felt competent enough to know what they were doing. However the sedge in Rowntree park was about 50 times bigger than the ones in the photos on Google! Eventually the sedges, Sedgeric and Right Sedge Fred, were moved to their new homes closer to the lake.

All 3 teams finished their jobs with enough time spare to fill a couple of barrows worth of wood chip from the wildlife area and move it to the gardens. We were briefly joined by Jackie who earned her place in the team photo by grabbing a couple of handfuls of wood chip!

The second team stopped off at Southlands church to clear a bed of everything except the Magnolia tree! We pretty much completed the task just in time for team Rowntree to collect us and head to the park for some fun fitness.

Tonight we played heads, shoulders, knees and coins and the team with the most won a creme egg. After much tackling and slightly too much violence for goodgym, it all came down to a deciding game of rock paper scissors.

We then headed back to base and a decent crew stayed on for a drink, possibly to get one of Babs brownies!

It was all go at Wilberforce House , to help the Easter Bunny lay a sensory trail for their families. We got cracking! We put the batteries in the beeping eggs and tested that they still had their beep! We put up a gazebo in the gusty wind and brought out the boxes and boxes of egg prizes. But our most important job was to check the lawn for thistles, toadstools and other hazards. We even picked up after the Easter Bunny, so no little fingers would find the 'chocolate' droppings by mistake! From the full bags, it looked he brought his bunny friends onto the lawn for a party last night! We hope the children have a truly eggciting time!

Put away tables, chairs, swept and vacuumed all for a baguette... we really need to up our rates! Oh wait...

A change of tasks saw us head the shorter distance to one of our regular haunts, at New Walk, rather than making the more epic journey to Fulford Green, but we more than made it up for it with our fitness exploits (more on that later).

Tonight we welcomed newcomer Anne Mair who was joining us for the first time as part of a volunteering challenge that she'd set herself. Great to have you with us in 🥳

We also gave a round of applause to the absent Stef and James who had completed the Malta half and the Drop Harrogate respectively. What a fab effort and from them both 💪.

We then numbered off by stating our favourite birds in honour of the anniversary of the US military retiring their last working pigeon on this in 1952. We had everything from Seagulls to Robins, but only when they're perched on top of snow!

It was then off to the New Walk with Babs leading a large walking group, Ed leading run and Pete backmarking. We also had Rich join us on his bike along the way.

At the task we were greeted by Maeve who was armed with scythes, rakes, forks and spades and set us off removing the docks so that other species could prosper. Although, not before Kit had spotted the perfect opportunity to recreate a famous scene from Titanic, with a little help from David (aka Leonardo DiCaprio).

The crew made light work of the task and needed little instruction as the docks were flying left right and centre. This gave Ed a chance to go and check out the course for the fitness session, leaving Leanne briefly in charge, who ensured that everyone was having a much better time without him!

With the bags of docks and weeds filling up, a team of runners were needed to shift them quite a distance further down the path. Unfortunately this meant a little bit of a wait for them to get back once the task had finished, but we duly filled the time with some birthday squats for Claire, who had celebrated her birthday over the weekend 🎉

And then, after a quick group photo, it was time for the fitness session which featured varying lengths of a hill rep depending on which card you drew from Ed's pack. Hearts for the 1st lamp post, diamonds for the 2nd and so on. No surprises that Matt's team ending up winning by completing the most reps, although there may have been a little bit of manipulation of the cards!

It was then back to base with a quick stretch and a pint for those in need of liquid refreshment

Eight of us went to help Brunswick Organic Nursery in the beautiful Archbishops Walled Garden in Bishopthorpe. Special shout out goes to Claire who came back early from holiday to spend two hours of her 60th birthday digging. Also to Leanne and James who had already done volunteering and litter picking at YoCoWo parkrun beforehand. Our task was to dig out and level an area of ground outside their woodwork polytunnel. We levelled the ground to 4 inches below the edge ready for hardcore which was going to be tampered down to create a hard standing area for the woodwork group to use in the summer. The leftover spoil was barrowed onto the nearby beds. We dug deeper where the soil was good and refilled with the stony edge soil. As it was a longer tasks we had a tea and cake break in the middle and enjoyed some delicious Brunswick home baked cake. Claire had the additional birthday treat of seeing a kingfisher in the larger garden when we went through to look.

Malcolm gave us clear instructions to shovel out all the grit down to the blue membrane, along two parking bays, where a new path will be lain. The three of us got cracking! Luckily the ground was not too compacted and we could heave it into barrows. Wet soil and gravel made for some heavy loads that were to be piled up, a way off, down the slope. This would be recycled later on the project. This was a thorough work out for quads, glutes, core and upper body! Who needs an expensive gym?! As we began to peak the blue plastic sheeting, we were encouraged that we could complete the task, which we did! All that was left to do was to neaten up the edges and then consume tea and cake in the club house! The club could not have been more grateful to Goodgym. Huge thanks to Andrea and Hannah for showing true Northern Female Grit to get this worthwhile task done! PS The stone walling of a previous task looks champion too!