Thanks to the rail strikes a couple of us had an extended trip to the allotment via bicycle. The trip took us a tad longer than expected thanks to the failing of the Komoot application to send us along routes that actually existed. This meant that by the time we arrived at the allotment we were quite puffed out. Thankfully we were greeted by lots of smiling faces and cups of tea; we always seem to arrive just in time for the tea break. Accidentally on purpose, who knows? There was a good turn out this month, so instead of tea for two it was tea for ten! As always there were people of all ages in attendance all working together in perfect harmony!

The kids had been planting and watering in a new crop, some of the adults were assisting with this and others were busy weeding, watering and attending to other allotmenty tasks.

We got stuck into the sticky willy

Our job for the evening was to rid a raspberry bed of 'sticky willy'. We got stuck into the sticky willy and filled up several bags full of the stuff.

The kids were keen to show us the little pond full of tadpoles. The tadpoles themselves were hard to spot because of a complete covering of algae. I think the removal of some of this may need to be a future job for us. It's good that they have some hiding places but it's too much of a blanket at the moment. All we could see was bubbling green nodules all across the surface.

After finishing this job, and having some thoroughly lovely chats with everyone in attendance, we packed up all of the tools we had used and said our goodbyes. We also learned of some weekend allotment meets that will be happening soon, so I will be sure to list these as community missions as soon as I find out the dates.

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It was a task for two this evening at the YMCA in Barnsley town, with just enough space for a socially-distanced painting task.

The register limit had been set low as we knew it would be a fairly small indoor space to paint, thankfully we had the outside door open too to allow fresh air through. It was great to have a catch-up in person as it had been a while, and also great to get out and do something different with positive benefits for everybody. The corridor got a good two coats of paint before we left - looking brighter already 👍

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A trio of GoodGym runners once again returned to aid the YMCA in Barnsley paint their hall/lobby space. On a gloomy and rainy night it was nice to be indoors, with all smiling people to brighten things up; literally and figuratively.

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6 runners headed over to the YMCA to help clear out an old office space.

The YMCA Barnsley are in the process of clearing an office to make room for a new community group joining the premises, and we were happy to help.

What we thought was just a small job of a few planks of wood in one room, turned into a great skip-filling endeavour, not just rubble but a whole host of hidden treasures. The space at one point was used by the community radio, and we came across: old log books of radio call-ins, knitted figures, homemade CDs, old school video tapes and even a Christmas tree.

We had a good throwback to 90s and early 00s video games and TV shows. Member Jason even took a few items of memorabilia to donate to the Barnsley Museums.

We managed to fill an entire skip and were all delighted to get the whole space done in the time we had. Great work team! 💪

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6 runners braced the chill and ran to the YMCA Barnsley to help with a painting task.

This week, 6 runners made their way to the YMCA Barnsley to help with freshening up their indoor space. The changing rooms next to the sports hall were in need of a good lick of paint and we were happy to get stuck in.

After a lovely welcome and quick brief from Jeff, we divided up into twos and split ourselves between two cubicles and the main washroom, rotating between using the ladder and using rollers and brushes.

It got slightly crowded at one point so Sarah and Clair stepped out to make some space, they were tasked with some squats, push-ups, mountain climbers and burpees - let's trust that the circuit was completed...

A good coating of magnolia later and we were ready to say goodbye to Jeff and make our way back out into the evening.

Everyone pushed themselves hard on the hill segment that is Fitzwilliam Street and we all made it to the top without stopping, a really great effort from everybody.

Back at base and there was a special celebration in order... tonight was our member James's 200th good deed, a truly fantastic achievement and amazing effort. We thanked James for coming all the way from Sheffield and making the effort he does every week, it is recognised and truly appreciated. Thank you James and well done! 🎉🎉🎉🎂

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3 runners met up to help the YMCA with tidying up their allotment.

It was a brisk but clear and dry evening for the GoodGym Barnsley crew, where 3 of our runners met up to exercise those green fingers at the YMCA Allotment.

Our first challenge of the evening was actually getting into the lock-up to reach the tools. The 3 of us eventually managed to figure out how to get the padlock off, so thankfully we were able to access the tools. It would have been a slow evening picking up leaves by hand otherwise.

There were a variety of tasks for us to be getting on with, so we armed ourselves with hand shovels and sweeping brushes and set about:

• 🌱 weeding the paths;
• 🍁 sweeping up the leaves;
• 🍏 collecting all the fallen apples;
• 🗑️ and tidying everything away.

Our last challenge of the evening was remembering how to get the padlock back onto the lockup... Lessons were learned.

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Next week, we'll be helping to sort donations for The Rucksack Project. Sign up here!