Tonight we returned to Park Grove to give the willow its annual haircut.

We welcomed newcomers Leticia, Matt and David to their first group sessions then headed through town to the school.

When we arrived we split into three teams - loppers, runners and weavers. Within no time the willow was cut down and transported to the dome, where the team added to the structure.

We then finished off with heart shaped strava art fitness for York Cares. The heart shapes were questionable but we spread lots of love and were rewarded with a chocolate heart.

We then headed back to base to round off another fun Monday evening.

Tonight was a very exciting night!

We had a great turnout for the last group run of January and smashed our January Challenge target.

We had two tasks going on. Rich led a group to St Chad’s scout hut with Clair bringing up the rear. This is what they got up to-

10 intrepid GGs, less hungry for fame, headed a little further over to St Chad's Scout Hut where they were set to work by Christine and Aidan clearing brambles. David pointed to a patch he'd cleared 18 months earlier that had run wild again. Clearly the task that keeps on giving. Nevertheless with a few secateurs and a couple of barrows we'd made a bit of a dent in the undergrowth and a sizable pile of prickles for the unwary. We then headed over to Millthorpe School to meet the others and the film crew for the fitness session.

The other group headed over to Wild Things Forest School where we were met by ITN news who wanted to do a piece about goodgym. We were kept busy shifting logs, big and small, spreading woodchip and breaking up stuff. This was all filmed along with interviews with Ed, Amy,Nick and Leanne from goodgym, and Emma from Wild Things Forest School, who all talked about how wonderful goodgym York is.

At the end of the session both groups joined up for a tabata session - 20 seconds of hard work with 10 second rest. This included the usual exercises but was adapted so the group got to can can, as requested!

We finished by running back to base waving at the camera as we passed. When we arrived back we were well rewarded for our 700m run with not one, not two, but three lots of baking, courtesy of Babs, Carl and Paul Kelly.

We now need to wait a few weeks until the ITN news is aired and we will all be famous!

Another fab January turnout saw a whopping 29 GG Yorkies turn out for a trip to Back Park for an epic leaf clearing sesh. Before we set off we welcomed newcomers Jody and Matthew who were completing their first Good Deeds tonight. Give them a big cheer 🥳

We also celebrated all those who had taken part in the Brass Monkey Half Marathon on Sunday. Especially to Paul who was celebrating a new PB. Great stuff Paul Kelly 💪

Our walking group of Nikki, Pete and Debs set off whilst the rest of the gang warmed up. Ed then led the run to Back Park with Abigail and Laura on hand to back mark. At the task we were greeted by Kristina from the City of York Council Environment Team who set us off armed with rakes and brooms with the aim of filling up as many tonne sacks as possible. Newcomer Jody was excited to be left in charge of the leaf blower, but her excitement was short-lived when she realised that battery had died and she wouldn't get use the leaf blower afterall.

A select few GGers armed themselves with secateurs and tackled a few brambles that were growing in amongst the shrubs, whilst the rest of the guys got to work on making piles of leaves and getting them bagged up. In fact they did such a good job that we were soon out of tonne sacks and had to call an early end to the task (or so we thought).

Whilst the team proudly posed for photos in front of the 15 sacks of leaves they had collected, eagle-eyed Kristina noticed that several bags had been over-filled and so more work was needed to decant some leaves from the bigger bags into smaller green bags. Only then could the task be completed and we could reward ourselves with some delicious cupcakes courtesy of Lyndsey

It was then time for our fitness session which required a fair bit of coordination. Basically teams of 4 had to line up and pass a cone to each other whilst lunging in sync. It also required people to make teams of people roughly the same height as themselves so that the synchronized lunging would work. However this also gave the team of 6ft something boys a huge advantage when it came to racing against the other teams. So for the second race we mixed it up and passed the cone over our heads then through our legs. This time the contest was too close to call, but needless to say Team Tall were not victorious!

It was then back to the Priory Street centre where we gave a round of applause to David for being the firssst GGer to complete his January Bingo card. Then it was off to the pub for a well deserved pint or 2!

Tonight we had another bumper turnout to help at Holgate Allotments.

We started by welcoming new comers Denis and Janeto their first group session. We then celebrated Debs 300th good deed by adorning her with the fabulous cape of good deeds. Great work Debs

Debs, Pete and Nikki then set off in a walking group whilst the rest of us warmed up. We then headed off with Ed at the front and Vicky back marking.

When we arrived we were faced with a huge pile of woodchip to be spread on the paths. Containers and wheelbarrows were scarce so a few folk went off to find other vessels, returning with buckets, crates, bags and even traffic cones! With enough to keep everyone busy and some very enthusiastic running we quickly reduced the pile, and Helen from the allotments was delighted!

We then ended with a fun game of grab the tea towel then a run home via some hill reps.

And thank you to Jenna and Nick for the delicious home make treats back at base!

Great buzz tonight! Well done everyone!