Some say a mens best friend is a dog and we say Yorks best friend for a charitable clean up is GoodGym.

A pack of GoodGymers assembled on a Sunday afternoon to help York Museums Trust clear up after a dog show.

The team worked together to make sure the clear down went with out a hitch and their task leader Neil advised them all he was the lead after the task was complete by thanking them for their hard work and efforts. His wife Vicky had earlier got the team going and supported her husband well with the lead.

All gazebos were safely taken down with no cocked legs in sight and many happy faces on the stall holders. A dog agility course was dismantled and an agile GoodGym team carried it over a rocky wall and down a small hill to its waiting van for transport.

Some hay bails proved to be heavier than expected to carry across the site and also very itchy to the skin a few minutes after putting them down.

The task finished with cart and trailer movement by the GoodGymers assisting the stall holders and then posing for the team photo with obligatory pose.

Another task complete and another positive day for dogs, people, museum gardens and our trusty GoodGym team.

Mikael and Jenna got on with the usual heavy lifting of stacking chairs and putting away tables, when the dustpan and brush staged a takeover! They took the glory, sweeping up the floor and then declared that they are our overlords and we must obey, or we will be hoovered into oblivion! Fine by us we said, but we will list the task next week anyway, in case the 'animate' objects have not worked out how to collapse all 16 tables. That takes real intelligence!

This week Jenna was able to set up Planet Food Cafe tables and chairs with more confidence, as we had the photos from last week, showing the layout of all 16 tables in the hall. So a new system was born! The boxes of surplus food were brought into the shop, then the cardboard boxes were collapsed to send back to Tesco. This week , as last week, loads of white rolls and sorry looking baguettes were looking for a home. How come there is so much of it? Had the bread secretly bred when no one was looking?!

We started the evening with what was supposed to be a quick and fun beanbag name, but turns out it works better with well behaved children than goodgym!

We celebrated Matt's Great North run and other achievements before splitting into two groups- a faster group with Ed to Clarence Street Gardens and a steady pace plus walking group with Vicky to the Groves.

At the Groves- we were met by Tracy plus a lady from York TV. The group split and headed off to do various tasks- hanging lights in trees, shifting slabs, weeding a courtyard, moving soil and raking piles of earth. Whilst all this was going on John kindly did the interview for tv.

In Ed's group

The Clarence Garden crew arrived and quickly continued the work that we'd started a few weeks ago. Mostly filling sacks full of the wildflower cuttings, shifting them over to the skips and then tipping them out.

The skips quickly filled up so Michael and Ed, in the absence of our usual bin dwellers, got stuck in and trampled down the cuttings so we could continue to pile the loads on top.

With time running out and the skips being fit to burst, we finished off by filling up the remaining tonne sacks and making a quick dash back across the gardens before leaving them next to the skips with just enough time to get creative for our team photo

We then all reconvened at the art gallery for a bean bag race with the new teeny tiny beanbags and hoops, posed as statues, then headed back to base.

Another successful night!

3 Goodgymers came to the rescue when all the regular Planet Food cafe set up volunteers were away. We got to see how this big operation gets started every Thursday. First we put out the tables and chairs for the shop and the cafe, taking heed of how 13 tables are arranged to be even quicker next time. Then we lifted and shifted the box after box of food donations that were coming in fast - everything from coffee mate to coriander,sourdough to swanky birthday cakes, most to be sold in the shop. Finally we collapsed the used cardboard boxes that are then returned to Tesco. There was a real buzz by the chef, kitchen staff, shop organisers, and cafe team to be ready for the customers lining up outside. It is scary to see how much food surplus piles up in just 1 corner of York. But It is encouraging to see how many volunteers work hard to make sure it does not go to waste. Thank you Goodgymers! We've been asked back for 1 more week.