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

A good turnout this month with five of us helping the volunteers at the clothes swap keep things running smoothly.

Drinks were made, clothes were sorted and put out and a good time was had by all.

With the nights drawing in a whopping 29 GG Yorkies turned out to volunteer in their local community! We started off by welcoming newcomer Erin who was attending her first ever GoodGym session. We also gave a huge round of applause to one of our run leaders, Laura who tonight was completing her 500th(!) Good Deed. What an amazing achievement. Give them both a big cheer!

Tonight we were heading to Abbeyfield Care Home for the first ever time. Vicky set off a steady pace group whilst Ed led out the rest of the gang with Cara backmarking. We arrived at the task at the same time, but alas there was no one there to greet us. After a few laps of the grounds by Ed and Vicky we eventually encountered a member of staff who despite knowing we were coming, didn't seem quite prepared for us. Nevertheless we shared the one broom between us and after a fair bit of a delay got to work picking up weeds and leaves by hand, filling up a load of black sacks as we go.

The darker night had caught a few of us by surprise so the lack of head torches meant that we weren't always entirely sure if we were picking up the right things. But we did as much as we could in the brief amount of time we had and certainly managed to pull out a few weeds and sweep up a lot of leaves in the process.

Before too long it was time for the evening's fitness so we headed around to Little Hob Moor where Ed laid out a ring of cones for a game of tag with a twist. This time you would only be allowed to move using animal-inspired movements, including the taggers, so to start with we hopped around like Kangaroos whilst being chased by Nick, Vicky and Charlotte. After a few minutes of hopping we moved onto our finest crab impressions, with Charlotte once again proving she is the queen of niche exercises! The taggers then 'tagged out' to make way for Max, David and Laura who started as reluctant bear crawlers, before finally hopping around on one leg à la Flamingos. Every time someone was caught by a tagger they would step out of the circle and complete an exercise before being allowed back in, although as time progressed more people seemed happy to complete the exercise then spend anny more time hopping around on one leg!

We then headed back to the Priory Street Centre for some stretches and a wrap of what's happening in the coming weeks. We're still on the lookout for hands at the Yorkshire Marathon water station, so get yourselves signed up if you can!

Apologies for the slow start to tonight's session. We more than made up for it with the enthusiasm during the task and fitness!

It was a wet and windy one tonight, but that couldn't dampen our spirits because there was just so much to celebrate this week! We kicked off with a shout out to Stef who took on one of the 'Grim Up North' events at the weekend, and despite his lack of training, managed to get round in a very respectable time. We also give a big cheer to the crew who had tackled the Marathon du Medoc featuring 23 glasses of wine over 26.2 in the French sunshine. More importantly, we also had the news this week that GG regular, Abigail, had given birth to baby Dylan. Huge congratulations to her and Martin. We'll forgive her for not being at GG this week but expect normal service to resume next Monday!

After all that celebrating, and with the rain lashing down, Mitch set off with the walking group whilst Ed led a quick warm up before setting off the running group, ably backmarked by Laura and Babs. We then arrived at Park Grove Academy to be greeted by an already soggy Vicky and Gary who soon got the everyone off to work to avoid any unnecessary standing around. The group were split into wheelbarrow and shovellers, raised bed weeders, tree choppers, willow weavers and rakers.

This task definitely wasn't for fair-weather GoodGymmers as the rain continued to pour down, giving a real test to the new GG branded jackets that were on show. A few people may have spent a bit more time hiding under any shelter they could find, but Ed wasn't going to be too much of a taskmaster tonight as it really was pretty grueling conditions.

There was a little bit of confusion when the walking group were gathered to begin their route home, with word getting around that the task was complete (possibly more out of hope than anything else) despite there still being a good 10mins or so left. But we decided to call it a day before anyone suffered from hypothermia and so downed tools ready for a warming fitness sesh.

Before the fitness began we heard the news that Sophia would be leaving us for a few months in order to go and work abroad. It's been fab having her join us and we look forward to seeing her back next year. Give her a big cheer!

The fitness then involved some wacky relay racing which included lunging, jumping, skipping and crab walking. After the first round of racing we did some traditional birthday squats in honour of Area Activator Vicky's birthday, before a second round of relay races before a dash back to CVS to warm ourselves with Lyndsey's chilli chocolate brownies.

Another bumper turnout for a mammoth task! Tonight we headed to West Offices all of 450 metres away! After naming and numbering off and discussing past injuries Ed took a slightly longer route whilst Vicky led a short run group and Abigail led some walkers.

When we arrived Ian met us armed with maps and a long list of jobs. There was deadheading to do, planters to weed and large areas to clear. Ian said he had lots of bags for us to fill but in true gg style these didn't last long so we had to make a big heap against the wall!

By 7.30 we'd make huge progress so stopped for a game of musical cones. There was some fierce competition but Lyndsay finally took the crown!

Thanks team for another productive evening!