On what turned out to be a fabulous evening with a beautiful orangey-red sky, a seven strong team of GoodGym runners assembled at Shaw Lane to socialise, run and volunteer in Barnsley!

We were joined by the lovely Emily from Durham who regularly attends GG York and Newcastle. She is undertaking research into GoodGym for her PHD and wanted to come along to GG Barnsley to join in the fun and see what GG is like in a smaller area! Our other regulars included Sharon, Mairead, James, Anna and Rachael!

We headed off with the sun setting behind us on what is the longest and most challenging run we do in Barnsley. For those who know Barnsley, you'll know it's impossible to run anywhere without a hill or two thrown in, and last night was no exception. The run there was 3.5km with two uphill and two downhill sections, we stayed in a tight group with Mairead bringing up the rear,.

When we got there we were met by Daniel, one of the residents Stuart and a huge bush! The challenge, should we choose to accept it, was to remove the huge bush, branches, leaves, roots and all! Armed with spades, forks, rakes and loppers, the team spread out around the bush and began pulling it apart. There was the added challenge of the bushes roots being covered by a thick layer of shale and slate, but James showed it who was boss by casually dragging up huge root beds! Rachael took the lead on the lopping, removing the bushy part of the bush to reveal the roots below for the others to remove. Anna and Emily worked together to tug some of the stubborn roots out, at one point nearly going flying when a root came up easier than they had expected! Sharon and Mairead focussed on the opposite side of the bush, bashing the roots with spades and tugging them out. It was a real team effort!! There were many bush inuendos to be had and although it was a physically tough task, it was a lot of fun with lots of laughing - exactly what GoodGym is all about!

With 10 minutes left the group worked super fast to ensure every last bit of the bush was removed, and aside for a few root beds, the space looks unrecognisable from when we had arrived! The space was to be kept clear, as Daniel explained the bush attracted lots of rubbish and bush-diving children (odd local sport perhaps!). Stuart and Daniel were extremely grateful for all of our hard work, we said our goodbyes and headed off back to base.

On the way back, the uphill was longer than the downhill, with a spooky wooded area thrown in. With everyone a bit weary from the run there and upper-back workout of the bush removing, we took it steady and stuck together all the way back. It was amazing to see everyone putting in so much effort to get back and helping to encourage each other up the big hill. Seriously good effort from everyone last night, you did yourselves proud! Well done GG Barnsley!

It's a shorter run next week (yay!) Hope to see you all there, sign up here

Six sensational runners ran 4km through 'tarn' to the local carers garden and community space to help Gordon with his list of jobs!

Tonight our team of six included our two favourite GG Sheffield runners Steve and James, Super Sorcha returning after a busy few weeks, Awesome Anna coming back for her second week at GG Barnsley and Marvellous Mairead who made the effort to come even though she was feeling unwell!!

After a steady run through the town, we arrived to the find Gordon waiting for us at the gate, always so happy to see us! He had a list tonight and was certain we'd get through it all in a flash! First was the fruit pickin' which Anna and Sorcha very quickly volunteered to do! Gordon nominated 'the lads' to move the twelves trees he planned to make into 36 benches which left Mairead (&me) with the odd jobs, starting with a huge pile of grass and hay that needed moving!

The fruit pickers worked super speadily shaking the trees and collecting the crop, Sorcha focussed her attention on the raspberries, whilst planning what she would bake with them! Meanwhile the lads set about moving the trees from the woodland closer to the cabin. The trees were WAY bigger than we had expected, which took a lot of effort and definitely worked up a sweat! Steve and James certainly got more of a workout than they signed up for and kept smiling throughout - great work lads! Anna helped moving the trees later too, getting an awesome upper body workout! Mairead, who always loves a chinwag with Gordon, showed her multi-tasking abilities as she shifted grass from the huge pile, into a wheelbarrow, moved it 100m down the path and kept the conversation flowing! Joined by Sorcha later, they destroyed that pile of grass!

For our fitness session tonight I's spotted a pile of tyres we could use! We lined them up in an obstacle course including some hoola hoops we'd found! One by one, each GGer had to run the obstacle course through the tyres, wiggling out the hoola hoops and finishing with some lunges. Meanwhile the others rotated through a sets of planks, squats, burpees (thanks to Sorcha!), press ups and star jumps!

We said our goodbyes and headed back up hill to Shaw Lane, everyone was feeling tyred after tonight so we took it nice and steady. Another great night with a lovely bunch of people, good job team!

Tonight at GoodGym Barnsley a tribe of seven runners ran 3km to Locke Park to help the volunteers tackle their flowerbeds and bushes!

We welcomed a new member tonight Anna show her a warm GoodGym welcome and support here Welcome Anna!!

Also tonight, GoodGym Barnsley veteran and trainer Grace celebrated her 50th good deed! Following on from GoodGym Sheffield traditions, Steve presented a 50 deed bow tie, which was worn with pride all night long!

Tonight we headed off up hill to Barnsley with all runners except James in tow. Steve led the group at a lovely chatty pace all the way to the park gates. Debbie was armed (with tools) and ready to get started, so we headed to the area in question and got to work! There was lots of bush trimming to be done, so Steve, Rachel, Mairead and James got to work giving them all a nice haircut. Meanwhile Sharon and Anna delved straight in to pruning and cutting back the wild flowers and plants. The group enjoyed passing around innuendos, copying Steve's accent and wiggling for the odd Instagram boomerang - what a perfect evening!

The group were in for a treat with the fitness session Grace had planned tonight, and all skipped along merrily to the start. Once paired up, the team picked a 'dog/rock' and a 'jump/crawler'.
As fast as they could, the pairs had to complete 10 sets of downward dog crawls and rock jumps and run 100m to the tree and back. The dog/rocks had to move in and out of downward dog to rock position whilst their partner crawled under and jumped over them, finishing off with a sprint, whilst the partner held a plank. Then they swapped over. Everyone was very much out of puff at the end, fulfilling the aim of the session and having lots of fun in the process!

We headed back down the hill to Shaw Lane, had a quick stretch and said our goodbyes. Another fab night at GoodGym Barnsley, good work team!