Malcolm gave us clear instructions to shovel out all the grit down to the blue membrane, along two parking bays, where a new path will be lain. The three of us got cracking! Luckily the ground was not too compacted and we could heave it into barrows. Wet soil and gravel made for some heavy loads that were to be piled up, a way off, down the slope. This would be recycled later on the project. This was a thorough work out for quads, glutes, core and upper body! Who needs an expensive gym?! As we began to peak the blue plastic sheeting, we were encouraged that we could complete the task, which we did! All that was left to do was to neaten up the edges and then consume tea and cake in the club house! The club could not have been more grateful to Goodgym. Huge thanks to Andrea and Hannah for showing true Northern Female Grit to get this worthwhile task done! PS The stone walling of a previous task looks champion too!

On a freezing Saturday, 9 GoodGymers continued their weekend of good deeding. We went back to the York Railway Bowls and Social Club and helped with their ongoing project to maintain their raised beds. We were tasked with moving large bits of brick and mortar from a levelled site and used them to fill in a gap underneath a fence. That way we could stop rubbish being shoved onto the plants.

We got to work with lifting, digging and moving. Some people approached it like a puzzle, where each piece was painstakingly chosen and slotted correctly...some of us roughly shoved bricks in and called it a day. Regardless after 45 minutes of hard graft, and plenty of innuendo's which I shan't repeat here, we were able to seal up most of the gap in the fence.

We were treated afterwards to tea and cake...now that is great service!!

A great chance to help continue the good work from a week ago. 3 of us met on a chilly but sunny saturday and were quickly put to our paces revamping part of the border. A combination of digging, laying bricks and playing lego - just with much heavier bricks that didnt fit together quite so well. However, we were quite effective and quickly rebuilt the wall and back filled the soil. No NVQs for dry stone were awarded but the home made cake and tea was much more appreciated !

Four goodgymers met at the bowls and social club on Saturday afternoon for a quick game of… no, not bowls!

We met Malcolm who explained that the old rock borders were falling apart and needed rebuilding. He asked for our suggestions and we quickly explained that we didn’t actually have any skill, just manpower and enthusiasm.

We split into pairs (because who doesn’t love a bit of friendly competition) and got to work demolishing the old rock borders, shovelling out the soil that had fallen in and then packing in the bottom with a layer of hardcore.

Then came the fun part - pretending we were drystone wall experts and playing jigsaw puzzle with rocks to create beautiful, and sturdy, new rock borders.

There was a lot of discussion, debate and some sharing (or stealing) of rocks but after a swift 30 minutes we had created two beautiful rock borders. As the task leader, I crowned my team ( Jane and I) the winners. No bias there of course.

Then we all headed off inside to check out the ghouly decorations for the children’s party that was to follow and enjoy a delicious slice of home baked cake.