👋 An incredible 35 people arrived for our group run tonight. There was a lot to celebrate, including two people attending their first task - both called Nick! Welcome to both of you. We also had Pete winning our prestigious GoodGymmer of the month for some excellent good-deeding and helpfulness in September. Well done Pete! We also had a duathlon, 15k PB and marathon PB to celebrate - well done everyone.

🏃‍♀️ 🚴 We warmed up all together then split into two groups for our tasks, with running and cycling groups. 10 people headed to Rowntree Park to help set up the Make Space for Girls art installation. Here's what Lucy had to say about it:

🛏️ Following a preliminary trip to prepare the ground in August, we returned to Rowntree Park to support an art installation as part of the Make Space for Girls project. Based on the concept of creating a safe space - the bedroom - outdoors, it involved carefully positioning (and half-burying) a table, bedside cabinet and headboard in the ground. The earth was still fairly hard after the recent dry spell, but the team set to work with a will, using all the tools available (spade, fork, hoe, sharpened stake...) to "bed" everything in as securely as possible. The artwork looks fantastic and it was great to be able to support this great initiative for girls.

🪏 Meanwhile, the rest of us headed to Park Grove School to help maintain the forest school area. There was plenty to dig up and cut back so we all got stuck in, with a huge range of tool sizes, from the small children's hand forks to the full-sized versions.

🐝 Unfortunately, a wasp/bee nest was found and a couple of people got stung. Not very fair karma for the good they were doing. But Vicky acted quickly and we avoided that area for the rest of the task.

🙌 Luckily, there was plenty of space to be able to avoid that area and we managed to make good progress clearing the space.

💪 After that, it was time for a group photo and then a proper fitness session! Still fun though, especially attempting to traverse a child-sized climbing wall!

🍰 Soon, it was time to head back to base/the pub to enjoy some delicious lemon drizzle cake, courtesy of Babs. Thank you! We also enjoyed some fairly in-depth chat about campanology (although apparently bell ringers prefer the term bell ringer...) 🔔

👍 Thanks everyone, and see you soon!

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!