👋 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!

Age UK ran their first 'Race the Boat' event in York. This was an over 50's race organised by our very own Carl Wain which entailed a race down the river to beat a York Boat. GG were invited to help with running this first event, hopefully in view of future races!

Mitch led a warm up before the boat gave three bellows of the horn. Time for the race to start! Our marshall's Charlotte, Dom and James were already in position, as well as our trusty timekeepers Rebecca, David and James, and finally Laura was prepped for time conversion and certificate writing.

After 20 minutes or so, and a smooth operation, the race was finished, with lots of happy runners excited to do it again next year.

Well done Carl, it was an amazing event.

Tonight we returned to Greenfields for another night helping out the fab team there. But before setting off we congratulated Jane for completing an epic half marathon at the weekend, Matt for a very speedy relay effort, and Ed for managing to drink a fair bit during a half marathon round Sheffield 🥂

Jamie led the run out with Vicky, Babs and Pete bringing up the rear and as soon as we arrived we were off to work focusing on 3 key jobs. Team 1 were in charge of picking the apples from the main orchard area, Team 2 were tasked with tarting up the entrance to the community garden and Team 3 were trimming weeds and bushes closer to the storage shed.

There was a bit of confusion over at Team 1 when some rotten apples kept appearing in Leanne's good apple tray but the crises was soon averted (even if no one did own up). Meanwhile Jane got a lesson in how to use a little hand scythe thing and Becca tried her hand at modeling.

Things appeared to be going a bit smoother over at Teams 2 and 3, although there was a fair bit of stoppage time to get some pretty photos of the sunset, the tasks were completed promptly, even though Ed struggled to get a photo of Abel as he kept hiding behind a tree!

Once the task was done it was time for the obligatory symmetrical group photo, as is tradition at Greenfields, with the team getting more and more adventurous with their poses. There were even bikes involved in this one!

Then it was time for a quick fitness game featuring some skipping, some rock paper scissors and a bit of carnage to decide an overall winner!

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!

Its was quality not quantity this Monday with a reduced turnout due to a group of regulars being away sampling the delights of Marathon du Médoc.

Making a welcome return after a long time was Christine and her energy was put to great use leading us through an unconventional but fun warm up. Then eighteen of us made the longish run out to Greenfields.

When we got there, we split into two teams - team one was asked to cut back overgrown grass to make the paths around the raised beds visible, whilst team two emptied the compost bins and prepared some of the raised beds for winter.

Team one did a great job with the paths and were joined by a new prospective recruit Meya. We tasked George with welcoming her and explaining what we do and he must have done a good job because Meya is now going to sign up and join us again.

Team two had a shaky start with Tristan acting like he'd never used a wheelbarrow before despite his 161 previous tasks. Luckily the rest of the team performed admirably covering the raised beds with cardboard to suppress the weeds, and clearing the existing compost bins in preparation for the new ones arriving.

With the tasks complete, we headed to Clarence Gardens so we had space for a Médoc themed fitness exercise. Two (different) teams fought it out to transport the most wine (ok summer fruits cordial) on trays without spilling it. Everyone took it very seriously so there more precision than raw aggression but Leanne's team were convincing winners.