Oh no (says Mike) we've missed Elle from the photo, she is fighting the hoover!

Today was week 4 of the new York Community Woodlands Parkrun and word has definitely got out given the number that flocked ti hear Laura's first timers briefing!

Our very own Nick was RD and with the help of the new loud speaker set off 550+ runners and walkers off round the 2 lapper 5k course.

We welcomed Kit to the parkrun volunteer family as a marshall. Thank you Kit! We also had goodgymers doing lots of roles- marshal, barcode scanning, funnel managing, car parking and tokens!

Many of us then headed to Dobbies for a nice breakfast with at least three if us showing true commitment by getting a Dobbies loyalty card!

We also need to give Stef a shout if for completing his 400th parkrun!

if you're interested in volunteering we will be listing this again for a few weeks to help get it up and running.

The Tiny Forest compost heap had already been emptied into bags. These were taken up to the Memorial Garden along with excess donated trees, where they were planted. The organic matter produced by the Tiny Forest is proving very useful.

On an amazingly warm and calm morning we met at the Memorial Garden on Kimberlow Hill to plant donated trees. We followed the method of Yacouba Sawadogo who used traditional methods called Zaï, (digging pits and filling them with organic compost to trap water and nutrients) to create forest in the desert. One of us (who shall remain anonymous) was so busy concentrating on the organic matter they forgot to put the tree in! 🤣 The organic matter was a combination of Tiny Forest's own generated compost, biochar, eggshells & euphemistically malteser misshapes? We used some seriously spiky mulch to deter the rabbits. We finished the morning with a well deserved rest sharing flasks of drinks & tubs of goodies. Thankyou all.

🏀 The residents at Hartrigg Oaks were keen to try out their ball skills this evening. We warmed up with the giant marble run - always a challenge! - then attempted to get a hole in one (or two, or three, or four) on the mini golf. Seated basketball is always a firm favourite and we upped the ante this time with a bit of passing - some of us harking back to our netball days - before finishing off with the giant football! ⚽

For tonight's run we headed out on mass covering an impressive 1km to get to Scarcroft Allotments. The really fit ones then carried on an extra 300 metres to Wild Things Forest School!

At Scarcroft we were given two tasks. Team 1 were asked to move some sleepers (I'm sure we moved these very same sleepers not long ago...). In goodgym style this took about 5 minutes so we were asked to move some brash and woodchip to keep us busy. It wasn't long before team 2 arrived back having been given the job of carrying sheds down the hill. We then moved onto smashing these up (I think Nikki had had a bad day as given the gusto with which she yeilded a hammer!) The last job (which Rob said would be too difficult - has he ever met us?) was to prise apart the ruins of a burnt out shed. No problem for us!

Meanwhile at the forest school...

The group of 9 that headed over to wild things forest school had a range of physical tasks to get stuck in to. The first was to chop up some old Christmas trees to lay a bed for the wood chip that was to be spread on top. Nicola was shown which areas needed doing and everyone else got to work chopping trees or shifting the bark chip around. Meanwhile Ed got to work with some pallet splitting using a fancy pallet splitting tool. Fortunately, despite a few near misses, no nails ended up in anyone's feet even after Rich joined in with the destruction.

It was then time for a creative team photo, seeing how many people we could fit on a giant tree trunk, before heading over to Scarcroft Green for a beasting from Vicky!

After the beasting we jogged or walked back to base then a few stayed on to quench their thirst.