It was time for celebrations at tonight's group run with so much awesomeness happening recently. Firstly there was a big round of applause for Jenna who got a new PB at the Great North Run. There were also cheers for Vicky, Neil and Ed who all took part in the Tholthorpe 10k at the weekend, especially for Vicky who achieved a season's best time. We then handed out the GGer of the month award to the wonderful Lucy who is pretty much the ideal GoodGymer, always getting involved, always smiling and leading tasks when she can. Oh and it also happened to be AA Vicky's birthday, but more on that later 🥳 🏅 🏆 👏

After a brief warm up, Ed led out the run to Acomb Primary School where we were met by Amanda who gave us the lowdown on tonight's task. Basically continuing the work we'd done previously in clearing the wooded area in the playing field so that it can be used as a forest school. We were soon getting stuck in, armed with saws, loppers and sheers.

There were brambles, sticks and branches everywhere as the busy GGers made excellent progress clearing a path through the woods. The green bins were soon getting filled up and we weren't short of volunteers for people to climb in and jump on top of them to make more space. Although Steve had a helping hand from Rich in getting back out of the bin!

With the task drawing to a close and the woods getting darker we broke on through to the other side and cleared enough space to see some daylight at the end of path, which meant it was time to down tools and get ready for a bespoke fitness session courtesy of the birthday girl herself.

Now, GGers aren't always the greatest listeners and on this occasion there was certainly a little bit of confusion about what type of animal walk we were supposed to be doing and who was supposed to be doing it. So a bit of a reset was needed, but we were soon back underway demonstrating some perfect bear walks in the correct order. I'm not entirely sure if there was a winner but we certainly enjoyed ourselves.

We then gathered in the cones and sung 'Happy Birthday' for Vicky before making our way back to the Priory Centre where some delicious cookies and cake courtesy of Vicky and Jenna were waiting for us 😋

Despite the earlier rain we were treated to some very pleasant sunshine for tonight's group run.

We welcomed newcomers Chris and Polly to the group and named off stating our favourite vegetable in honour of national vegetable day. Counting at the same time proved too complex so Vicky did a headcount instead!

Laura led out the group with Barbara and Vicky backmarking.

When we arrived we collected tools and got to work clearing a forest as part of the schools new forest area. We chopped, sawed, lopped and tugged away and we soon filled the green bins, made a pile yo be chipped and made a stack of den building logs.

To finish we did a tough tabata session - 20 seconds hard with 10 seconds rest. Everyone gave it some good effort and we were quickly through two rounds, got a group photo and on our way back.

Great turnout and effort tonight - good work everyone. Hope to see you soon. Next week its another school, another forest school at Tang Hall Primary.

👋18 excellent GoodGymmers met for a two-task session tonight. After hearing about Tristan's impressive sub-3 hour marathon in Manchester and Mitch's Dad's excellent racing, we named and numbered off. We considered what we'd do with an extra hour in the day. Sleep featured highly, alongside guitar-playing, baking and extra eating 😴🧁

🍎Our two teams ran together to Holgate Community Orchard where we dropped off our group who were based there for the evening. Here's what Leanne had to say about their task...

🥕Our task was to clear a long- neglected allotment patch.

🍅Shortly after starting our assault on the nettles and roots, Vicky dug up a beetroot. Then she joined Martin who, as usual, found a carpet to dig up. Soon, most of the group were involved in pulling the carpet from under the weeds -with a short pause in the middle to give Dom a chance to get the camera out. 📸

🌱With the carpet rolled up and set aside, the ground became much easier to dig over. There wasn't quite enough time to finish the job but we certainly made a good start 💪

🌻The rest of us continued on to Acomb Primary School where we'd been asked to weed and clear their outdoor area. Left to our own devices, we spread out around the courtyard, tackling different planters and beds with the various tools available.

🌿Ben found quite possibly the smallest brush ever (Mitch-sized jokes were made, don't worry) while Pete and Mitch used some delightfully floral tools. After some classic "Is this is a weed?" conversations, weeds were removed, drains cleared and planters tidied up.

👍We returned everything to where we'd found it and were pleased to notice the difference from when we'd arrived.

🙌It sounds like there's more to be done at both tasks so thank you for having us and we'll hopefully be back!

🦊On arriving at Holgate Orchard to collect our friends, some of us spotted a bold and beautifully orange fox (hence the pun). After saying farewell to the fox, we ran/walked the rest of the way together.

🎲Dom had purchased some fitness dice that we used for our fitness this evening. Some adaptations were required to ensure it was suitable for the surface but it was fun interpreting the exercises and transforming them into various dance styles 💃🕺

⚠️We've got a busy week of tasks ahead so do join us if you can. More information about all of these is available here.

*Credit to Harriet and Lucy for the pun 😁