An amazing 37 turned out to help with three tasks in the Groves

We welcomed along three brand new runners; the McAvoy clan of Nichola, Susan and Richard, one new-to-York and ex Norwich GoodGymer, [Rowena] who had met a bunch of the GoodGym crew whilst volunteering at junior parkrun and last but not least, an Adi who we all know from junior parkrun fame and had decided to come along and see what this GoodGym business was all about. Big cheers for all five of them!

Massive kudos to CENTURION CARL who did his 100th good deed tonight and shall run in the Centurion Cape next week.

Sadly our main bulb planting task had been scuppered as the bulbs hadn't arrived but there wasplenty to do and once we arrived at a central location, we split into three groups.

Group ONE headed to the Secret Garden with Jane

It's not that secret, I can see it from the street - Stef

Most of the team busied themselves planting crocus and daffodil bulbs in various flowerbeds whilst others dug up turf to make way for some new raised beds. Ed did the extremely vital role of leaning on a spade and initiating some debate about the plural of 'crocus'.

Group TWO weeded and extended the borders with Sara in the YUMI/Flower Power corner plot, cleared leaves and dug out borders around the trees.

Neatest border EVER (Izzy and Charlotte both LOVE a straight line)

Group THREE ran across the road to meet Vicky and Groundsman Gary in Park Grove Academy where they were tasked with cutting down a lot of willow which will be used by the kids to weave a giant wigwam.

Our walk leader and resident lumberjack Ellie was in her element, clambering amongst the willow and cutting down the biggest branches she could reach. Whilst half the team were sawing and generating a huge pile of willow, the other half dug up saplings and cleared the urban buzz garden so the wild flowers can thrive again next year.

Teams one and two finished a massive ten minutes ahead of schedule and were rewarded with a mini circuit of:

• hurdles
• press-ups
• tricep dips
• squats

...before running across the school field to help move the giant pile of willow. Anyone that stood still for too long ran back for a second circuit whilst the very last willow branch was being cut down. Tim was in charge of the circuit-zone and had added can-can kicks to the regime whilst Leanne added lunges for good measure.

That's the first time I've EVER done a lunge - Adi

We had one last run across the school field and attempted a group photo on the climbing wall before giving up and doing a normal one.

If that isn't enough good for you, there are community missions a-plenty this week so come and get involved!.

A massive 50 GG Yorkies walked and ran for a huge Space Invaders clear-up.

Space Invaders is a very cool project which takes disused spaces and turns them into something for community benefit. In this case, the old York Brewery at the Malthouse is being turned into a souk, an affordable place for the craftspeople, makers and independent food sellers of York to sell their wares.

Space Invaders will be able to continue to use the space, which is destined to become a hotel, until the planning permission comes through.

But before we could go and invade some space, first we had to welcome one brand new runner, Rich, to the gang (go give him a cheer) and then we announced the GG Yorkie of the Month for September..... massive cheers and a big well done to Bec!!

Mitch led a group on a 5k loop to get there whilst the walkers and the rest of the runners took the shorter option which was all of 550m.

'Grubby' is a bit of a gross understatement for the inside of the warehouse. Task owner Emily was at the ready with many huge soapy trugs, bags of rags and a selection of tools and dust masks. She'd also written and sellotaped a list of tasks on the wall of each room.

There was small stuff to move, big stuff to move, carpets to pull up, cobwebs to pull down and nails to extract from beams, but mostly, there were walls and floors to scrub. Very dirty walls and floors.

I've got a big dirty puddle and nowhere to put it - Ellie G

The big downstairs area was well underway when Mitch's running crew arrived so they headed upstairs to pull nails out of beams, help move one gigantic desk, sweep and scrub the staircase and start to clean the large upstairs area.

Only half of the building had power so there were a lot of very dark staircases and side rooms. Beth was lighting the way and keeping everyone safe with the light from her phone on the creepy stairwell.

I'm certain I've seen this place on Most Haunted!

After we had done as much scrubbing as we could do, everybody headed downstairs where we completed a workout involving people having to interpret their own way to complete floor exercises without putting their hands on the floor.

We are back to do more tasks at the Malthouse on Thursday between 6 and 8pm, come and join us!

An amazing crowd of 48 GG Yorkies descended upon the riverside cycle path!!

You just never know how many people are going to come to GoodGym, there's no rhyme or reason to it. Tonight, even with some of our most loyal regulars off on holidays, a huge team gathered for a massive task to cut back overgrowing vegetation on the cycle path between the Clifton Bridge and Rawcliffe.

We welcomed along a swathe of new runners, including Martyn who conscientiously turned up early only to find a small and hardy sub-team completing a hardcore HIIT workout.

Don't worry, this isn't normal!

There were several big achievements to announce tonight:

• Lindsay was running her 50th good deed and was presented with the Cape of Good Deeds
• John was running his 100th good deed and was presented with the Centurion Cape
• Laura was finally presented with the accolade of GG Yorkie of the Month for July (after Katie and Becky completed a secret craft mission last week to create a new frame after the last one went AWOL)

After a little warm up we all headed out en masse, over Scarborough Bridge and along the River Ouse. The shorter run group (distance 2.2km out) stopped at Clifton Bridge were we were met by Beki and her van of tools. Everyone debated whether to stop or whether to carry on along the cycle path to search for Jenny (estimated distance 3.5-3.8km).

The task tonight was to reclaim the cycle path by cutting back overhanging vegetation and getting the path back to it's full width, making life easier for everyone who uses it.

Tim led the longer group and was watching the distance closely as his team ran further and further into Clifton Ings, eagerly looking out for the mysterious Jenny and her wheelbarrow of tools. They mistook a fair few dog walkers and pedestrians for her, but finally after 4.5km of running (sorry for the understimation there!), she was spotted with her stash of loppers!

At first it seemed an insurmountable task at the Rawcliffe end but it turned out that Jenny had started the crew at the hardest bit. Laurence, Pete and Emily dutifully cleared the lopped branches from the path. whilst Ed did his best to fall down a hole whilst carrying a saw.

Add that one to the risk assessment!

Speaking of risk assessments, at my end Beki was asking if we could use powertools but why would anyone want to use a powertool when you could hack with your best muscles?!

The only tool we could allow was a leaf-blower, and everyone was extremely excited about it. Everyone except Caped John who has one at home. John was taking his 100th good deed very seriously indeed, firstly helping Beki get the van down safely onto the path, then taking charge of some complex sawing tasks for the thicker overhanging branches, but then he did end up leaf blowing (after a few others had taken their turn) and had definitely lied about being excited about it.

We all gathered back together along the river for some fitness action of partner exercises including:

• walk out plank high fives
• lean out squats
• sit-up high-tens

...and the finisher, a huge team plank and commando crawl race with the smallest and most agile members doing commando crawl duties. Mitch and Tom did win for their team but we're pretty sure (having reviewed the video footage) that their team had fewer members and therefore less distance to travel. Really everyone was a winner as nobody dropped their plank so there were no burpee forfeits to be had!

On a sunny late summer eve, 38 GG Yorkies ran to St Nicks to continue the huge meadow keeper's project.

We welcomed along a brand new runner, Jane, who has been meaning to come along for ages after hearing about GoodGym at York Beer Runners, welcome Jane!

Tonight it was the turn of MAGNIFICENT MADDY to wear the Centurion Cape as she completed her 101st good deed (her 100th was a mission over the weekend) - make sure you go and give her some huge cheers.

We arrived at St Nicks to a beautiful display of rakes and scythes which Jonathan had lovingly created for us. As well as explaining why we need to scythe and rake (c'mon, you know this now; wildflowers thrive in nitrogen poor soil so grasses/weeds need cutting back and removing so they don't break down and add extra nutrients and stop wildflowers from living their best life), he also gave us a bit of an equality and diversity statement.

We have tiny scythes for the tiny people and massive rakes for massive people. We're very inclusive.

Maria turned up with a 'barrow full of spades for another task in the meadow for those who were feeling like they wanted a bit more of a workout. This task was to basically completely dig up a patch of very thick grass where scything simply wouldn't cut it.

The action kicked off with scythers making quick progress into the long grass, rakers raking up big piles and Gareth learning all about the benefits of a pitchfork.

It's actually amazing how much grass you can pick up with one!

Pete and Tom were the official grass removal crew, dragging bags and tarps full of cut grass to the composting area, whilst Tim was the official grass and soil remover for the digging team.

A bonus extra task came up when Jonathan re-emerged with some metal rakes and got a small team to start scarifying another area ready for more wildflower seeds (scarifying: rake the ground really hard to break up the soil).

This grass is definitely very scared, petrified! (not sure if it was John or Nick with the dad jokes)

In 50 minutes, a huge area of the meadow had been completely cut back. The diggers had finished their patch and enjoyed a little 'seed and stomp' action whilst Rich scythed to the bitter end to make sure he broke through to the 'other side'.

For our fitness session, we enjoyed a little game of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Cones, which involved some fierce cone-grabbing action, forfeit burpees and a winner's game of "pick the exercise". I have to say I felt very proud of Vicky for choosing press-ups and Beth too who made her partner hold a plank - absolute heroes. For future reference (Katie and Mitch), 'rock, paper, scissors' is NOT an exercise.

Next week we're all together again for one massive cycle path clearance along the river, see you then.