On a miserably wet evening our hardy Goodgymers’ spirit couldn’t be dampened.

We met and welcomed newcomer Katy and celebrated soooo many running achievements from the weekend. We also adorned Charlotte with the cape of good deeds for completing an amazing 100 deeds! You legend!

After naming and numbering off, whilst saying what our favourite item of clothing was, Claire set off with a walk/run group, Ed led the runners, and Vicky shot off ahead on her bike to make sure everything was ready.

We arrived in the Groves to be met by Tracy, who had sorted the newsletters into piles with laminated maps! Jen and Lucy were quick to volunteer for a digging task and everyone else got into threes to go and deliver the Groves newsletter in their allocated zones.

In what seemed like no time at all the groups started to trickle back to base and the diggers had successfully dug up a big stump. No time for fitness tonight - straight back to base. Tracy was very grateful for our help - she said it would have taken her a week!

Great work team GG!

Tonight we started by saying something on our bucket list - looks like a trip to the south pole is on the cards!

We then set off to Fulford Cemetery. Vicky led a cycling group and Ed the runners. When we arrived we were met by Mel who gave us a selection of jobs to choose from. One group headed off to the yew trees to remove unwanted plants growing within them. Another team set about sanding the pergola and a bench, and even managed to give the bench a coat of paint. A third group weeded the edges of the path and the final group cut back grass between the graves!

In no time at all it was time for the team photo, put the tools away and head back to base. The light was fading so bike lights and head torches started to make an appearance!

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.