After an uphill run to Heeley Green Community Garden, we marvelled at the view with a beautiful sunset and admired all the hard work the community group had put in since we visited last - a new mural was added over the pond, the flowers were in blossoms and the fruit trees - including a peach tree! - looked strong.

Our host Fran explained the task: a pesky and unruly border was encroaching over the path which was taken over by nettles and other weeds and a bush.

We then grabbed our spades, dug, scraped, uprooted and plugged branches through fences, putting on our head torches in the process. Ah the days are getting shorter!

In no time, the path had been litter picked by Michelle and Jono, while Rachel, Tim, Sergiu, Cat, Charly, Becca and Celine freed most of the path up.

What a gorgeous community project led by the local residents of Heeley Green!

A midsummer nights team of 8 runners gathered together with the express intention of ridding a river of rubbish. We were tonight meeting Karen of Pitsmoor Pickers fame and a couple of extra wombles she was bringing along to help out. There is a section of riverbank along the Don that has needed clearing for some time and Karen felt that this evening was the perfect time to tackle it given who was to be in attendance!

The evening's run was also one of special celebration... one of GoodGym Sheffield's most stalwart and prominent volunteers was on her 300th deed. This of course meant the obligatory cape had to be brought out from the GG vault and bedecked with the requisite sequins denoting '300' for Rachel to don on the run to the Don.

We all gathered together outside the Showroom, had a brief briefing and count up of runners (so as not to lose any again) and set off to Cobweb Bridge. The leading group had a totally intentional detour courtesy of the good folks at GoogleMaps but soon re-merged with the others to run on to the five weirs walk near the arachnid filled underpass.

Bin there, Don that!

Arriving to see a brightly coloured Karen waiting to welcome us, we distributed the kit consisting of pickers, hoops and bags she had brought for us. We then heard a little about the precise areas to focus on and set about making this section of the Don sparkling!

We found the usual array of objet d'art by the riverside consisting of wrappers, cigarette butts, cans, bottles and shards of glass... with some oddities thrown in too such as a length of board wrapped in metal... an old road sign perhaps?

After a good 50 minutes of picking there was no more terrible trash to be found in the vicinity. We collected the bags together for a group photo with them, said our goodbyes to Karen, and set off a tiny way down the path for a rapid river workout activity. Just a quick wall sit this evening- it was gone in 60 seconds! The activity got the thumbs up from everyone... well apart from a couple of folk.

After this we had a short and steady run back to the grass outside the Showroom where we stretched off and heard announcements before heading inside to indulge in some confectionery that Rachel had brought along for us all to share!

We were rocking and rolling tonight on the way to meet the greatest rock star of all Parky Rob at Heeley People's Park for tonights task.

Def Leopard were in town and playing at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane stadium. Our Motley Crew ran past the aging rocker fans and the vibrating stadium to meet up with our other fellow GG'ers for the evenings task which was shifting wood chip up to the playground and turning the old wood chip and mixing in the new.

We split into 2 teams, one fetching and carrying and the other turning over and spreading.

With 4, yes 4 new runners this week it was great to get to know some new faces. Lets welcome:

Ed Freya Sophie Amos

There were some lovely scents coming from the steaming pile of wood chip (genuinely) which made the filling of the GG red buckets even more satisfying.

Once we were done, the playgrounds were looking tip top with the surfacing looking freshly turned and refreshed and Parky Rob was looking very chipper with our efforts.

Once tools had been collected Rob told us all about the upcoming summer events and how our work was contributing to them being able to happen in the park and in turn support the ongoing upkeep and development of the spaces.

Until next time, happy running :)

There are no spiders big enough that can keep the @GGSHF crew from helping out our friends from SUSTRANS.

This week we headed down to the Wicker and across the infamous spider bridge to meet with SUSTRANS SIMON who was in wait with the loaded SUV/MVP with tools galore for our runners to help themselves to and get clearing the cycle path beyond the bridge.

We soon had the cobwebs brushed off as we did the leaves and shards of glass. There was plenty of litter to pick at as we all looked enviously onwards to Rachael who had bagsied the bag trolley, making litter picking a dream!

Once we'd gathered tools and set off we used the spiders bridge as a perfect spot to practice some good running form by working on our lunge technique, ensuring we were co-ordinated with the opposite arm, working with the opposite leg.

Until next time, happy running :)

The clocks changing has really made it start to feel like spring with lighter nights from here on out which was a real pleasure.

We had a great new location tonight which took us on a route along the canal which looks like it's had some work done recently with gravel being laid and trees planted, a delight!

This weeks task with CADS took us to a new building which was once an a very prestigious Sheffield steel companies offices with lovely woodwork, marble and balistrades on show it was hard. to get us on task and not looking around in awe.

There was only one thing for it, takes us down to the basement! We were helping to clear the basement in preparation for a skips arrival and so the basement can be used for future exhibitions.

We cleared a skip full with steeley determination before heading back home through the industrial heartland of the Steel city.

A longer run than usual with almost 10km traveled was worth a pat on the back for all.

Until next time, happy running :)