🏆 A mega (post-COVID record-breaking) 40 people attended tonight’s group run. We kicked off December with a bang and donned our Christmassy cheer for some present-wrapping fun.

💪 But first, it was time to celebrate some excellent Goodgymmers. James T was named GoodGymmer of the month for his sterling work leading clothes swap and book sale tasks very regularly. Then we had not one but two PBs to celebrate from the weekend - Charlotte with a 5k and Matt with a 10k at the Abbey Dash. Amazing stuff everyone!

🎄 Next up, we had a Christmassy warm-up in the shape of (an abbreviated version of) the 12 squats of Christmas (a different exercise for each day of Christmas). Pete led the walking crew while Ed led and Laura backmarked the runners to Park Grove School.

🦁 Vicky met us there with our instructions - to wrap whatever was in front of us. For some people, that was incredibly cute teddy lions, for others it was keyrings.

🍭 And for others (not for the faint-hearted), it was pass the parcel. Wrapping up to 30 layers of paper and making sure there was a lollipop in each layer (cue lots of double-checking for lollies) was quite the challenge, but one that was impressively tackled by Team Parcel.

🍫 And if that pass the parcel wasn’t enough, once we’d finished wrapping, it was time for Vicky’s special fitness pass the parcel. With a different fitness challenge for each layer and the ultimate reward of a Crunchie for the winner, it was the perfect way to finish our task (especially for Alex who won the golden Crunchie).

☔️ Although the rain had held off on our run out, it wasn’t so kind for the return journey. The walkers therefore made the sensible decision to head straight to the pub where lots of the runners joined afterwards for a meeting to discuss the January Challenge. And with some exciting plans being made, there’s lots to be looking forward to (and some more fun group runs in the meantime).

👏 Thanks to Vicky for a really fun task, and to everyone for coming along.

We had bumper turnout of 27 GG Yorkies tonight as we came back to tackle the wildflower meadow at Clarence Gardens. But before setting off we had a couple of things to celebrate. Well done Michael who completed a 20mile race in Czechia that i won't attempt to spell! And an even bigger well done to Jane who was completing her 50th Good Deed. Jane joined us midway through the January Challenge and has been a regular ever since. Great work Jane 👍

Our warm up was inspired by Paul Kelly's dedication to seeing Radiohead at the weekend after securing last minute tickets and jumping straight on a train to London to just make it to the O2 in time! So we named the great lengths we had gone to for an event or a thing. Turns out a lot of us have travelled a very long distance just to get dumped! 💔

We then set off with Vicky leading a walk/run group, Ed leading the main run and Lucy backmarking. Upon arrival we were greeted by task owner Iain and future task owner Rachel who has just joined the council's eco team. We then grabbed some rakes and got cracking, scarrifying (no idea how to spell it, sorry) the ground ready for it to be seeded. The GG crew formed an almost perfect line other than one head torch which could be seen in the distance raking their own corner of the meadow. Turned out our lone raker was Bec who, not wishing to conform, had decided to rake a different spot

Meanwhile, Alex, Nikki, Mitch, Paul and David were busy with their own task which involved clearing quite a large amount of green waste and shifting it over to the skip. There are few things certain in life other than death, taxes and seeing Mitch on top of a skip when we need to create more room!

Over with the rakers, Jan and Nicola were doing an excellent job of gathering up the arisings and shifting them to the skip giving Mitch more to jump up and down on!

Before long it was time to down tools and start our fitness session, which this week involved teams competing against each other to jump forwards with a cone and then sprint back to their team for then next person to sprint out to the cone, jump and then sprint back. The result of the race was too close to call, so they had to go again to decide a clear winner, which I think ended up being Leanne's team, although possibly with a little bit of cheating

We'll be back at Clarence Gardens in a few weeks to finish the job

The cold weather has arrived in earnest but it didn't stop a hardy team of goodgymers rock up ready to go off to the trenches for their weekly workout.

We started the session by celebrating Barbarapassing her 700th good deed and Laura her 50th, and welcoming new comer Alex to the group.

Vicky set off first with the party pace group and were met at Glen Allotments by an enthusiastic team. Ed's group arrived very soon after and we were all armed with spades and set to work.

The task was to dig one trench of 30 metres and another 20 metres, in preparation for a water pipe. There was some discussion about how deep 18 inches is - quite deep it turns out! No problem for our crew, who rose to the challenge! Within our alloted time we'd completed the task and were rewarded with home made flapjack.

Vicky set of back with the party gang whilst Ed's group did a spot of fun fitness.

Back at base we were rewarded by more delicious homemade biscuits courtesy of Laura!

A very enjoyable task!

As hard as it tried, the weather couldn't dampen GG York's spirits and we still had over 20 amazing volunteers brave the conditions for the choice of two tasks. Either delivering leaflets for the excellent York International Women's Week, or heading to Park Grove for what was originally going to be painting but promptly changed once it was clear that the rain was hete to stay for the evening 🌧️

Tonight was a landmark occasion for GG York with the winner of the GG Yorkie of the month and the cape of Good Deeds both going to the same person in the same night! So give a huge well done to Lucy who not only was completing her 400th Good Deed but also had her picture taken in the frame for being pretty excellent throughout October. We also gave a round of applause to Laura who was completing her 50th good deed tonight (although she signed up after Ed had set off so unfortunately no cape until next Monday). Give them both loads of cheers 🥳

Before we set off Ed and Nicola did the admin of marking out the distribution zones for the leafletting task, with 5 crudely drawn areas highlighted on maps of the City. We then set Leanne and her team off to Park Grove, whilst the rest of the crew were divided into 5 groups of 3 and set off armed with 200 leaflets each to hand out to all the wonderful places across the city that they thought would be receptive

Pete, Ellie and Claire won the prize for being the first group back having got rid of all their leaflets. The rest of the groups slowly trickled back and stuck around for some of Lucy's tasty cake! 🍰

Meanwhile at Park Grove....

The infamous five GG Yorkies ran over to Park Grove n the rain where they met Vicky who had some surprise sheltered tasks including repainting a pink fence panel and painting the interior of a shed in colours of their choice.

For those who wanted to avoid paint splashes, there was also an optional leaf clearing task. Lucy, Leanne and Paul got stuck into the shed, painting panels (and a few spiders) with bright shades of blue, red, yellow and purple. Lets just say we wouldn't be surprised if caretaker Gary opened the shed door tomorrow to find the fresh paintwork covered in red spider footprints... Even brightly coloured spiders couldn't persuade Vicky to come near them, so she stayed outside, but under the shelter repainting a pink fence panel with Jen. Kit was the most waterproofed of everyone, so he set about clearing leaves into big sacks to be dragged into the forest garden.
The group overruled Leanne's plan to lead a fitness session in favour of putting some finishing touches on the shed and washing paint from their skin. The rain came pouring just in time for the run back to meet the other teams. Lucy sprinted off into the distance, leaving the rest of us in the breeze of her flapping 400 good deed cape, claiming that she was a bit cold. Thankfully it wasn't long before she slowed down to let the rest of the team catch up.

What a night! Well done everyone for getting out in the rain

We set up the swap stations, sorted the clothes and chatted to folk who dropped by. There was a steady stream of swappers who were delighted to know they could take as much as they like and all for free! Leanne braved the fresh air after her illness and took a fox hoody home. Jenna found more costumes for her play and James and Vicky practiced their folding techniques. Vicky helped pack it all away again too. It looks like this will be a permanent feature in South Bank. Great news for Swapaholics!