On a relatively bright November morning, 7 GoodGymmers joined forces in running and cycling to help St Nicks prepare for a wildflower meadow on Rawcliffe Ings.

St Nicks, pals of GG York, had a number of volunteers planting wildflower plugs on a section of the ings. Fortunately, they were to be planted in one of the areas not covered in floodwater, so GG Scuba Team 6 stood down and GG York went along to help instead.

Despite some hiccups getting there, we eventually all arrived at the task and got right into it. Our patch was soon dotted with optimistic little saplings, which will hopefully grow and contribute to a more biodiverse area for humans and other animals to enjoy. While we worked, Abi gave us some useful advice on how to protect ourselves in the event of a shark attack, then experienced some guilt for stirring human-shark relations.

Before long we were done and made our way on (with several of us popping to the Dormouse for lunch, which despite the name does not have a Beatrix Potter style mouse working behind the bar.

Mission accomplished!

n.b. we weren't planting vines exactly, but i wanted to put that

🙌 17 superb GoodGymmers met for our group run this evening. It was a double whammy task tonight and 6 splendid souls met straight at Gale Farm Court to start stripping the varnish off some benches there. This was a task that had been cancelled a couple of weeks ago due to the threat of rain. And the weather threatened to call it off again but after some debate, the decision was made to give it a go so they did ☔

📢 This is what Vicky had to say about it:

🎨 6 of us started early and met at Gale Farm Park as the task involved paint stripper which takes time to work. The damp weather wasn’t ideal conditions but we made good progress. After slapping on a generous layer we were able to then get a lot more of the paint off. It was too wet to sand or sweep so Michal got his hose out and washed everything down before we headed back to HQ (or sloped off home!). Another trip needed when dry to sand and varnish 🏜️

👋 Meanwhile, the rest of us met at CVS as usual. We applauded the Dalby Dashers (present and absent) and discussed some exciting Christmassy plans and equally exciting potential upcoming task plans. Check our social media for more info (and/or join our WhatsApp and Facebook groups if you haven't already - message me for the details) 🎄

🧂 While warming up, we discussed (as suggested by Tay who was sadly absent this evening) our favourite crisp flavours. As our resident crisp-hater (too strong, Mitchell?!) was already at the bench task, he also avoided participating. We had some harking back to retro flavours such as Pickled Onion Monster Munch and hot and spicy Nik Naks. Prawn cocktail and roast chicken were also (probably not very) surprisingly popular 🦐

🐢 Anyway, it was soon time to set off on a slow jog to West Bank Park where we were delighted to meet Kristina who was fully equipped with leaf-clearing apparatus. Abigail and Martin were quick to volunteer for the leaf-blowers, as was Leanne when she realised there was an option not to carry a big harness on her back 🍁

🌱 The weeding task was a tad less popular but Laura, Lucy and Carl did a stirling job and made a visible difference (which is always the aim). The rest of the gang were using the remainder of the tools (including the ever-popular leaf clappers) to gather as many leaves as possible, off the paths and playground area. Despite this feeling like a never-ending job, we hope we've prevented some slippages through our efforts tonight 👏

🍂 It was soon time to concentrate our efforts on the final leaf piles (continuing to ensure that no leaves ended up in the bowling club's dedicated grass compost, which was handily painted green to make it extra-obvious). A final effort meant we did this in no time and it was soon time to pose for a group photo and pack the tools into the van (with happy abandon this time as Kristina was feeling particularly relaxed about the order today) 🚐

🏃‍♂️🚴‍♀️We ran/cycled back to base, joyfully joined by Mitchell and Dom en route from the bench task. Our fitness session was groin-based (all the inuendoes tonight but let's not let politeness get in the way of our wellbeing) as it felt like a slightly neglected area of fitness (for me anyway - feel free to suggest other areas to concentrate on if you'd like to). We enjoyed opening and closing our leg gates (and all admired the distance Mitchell was able to achieve) 🦵

🍻 And with that, it was time to stretch off and part ways (mostly to the pub). Thank you everyone, great effort tonight 💪