A crowd of GG Yorkies ran to Applefields School to do all sorts of good!

First of all though, we had some massive cheers to give out:

• New runner Gabby joining us on a big run despite 'not being a runner'
• Barbara gaining her wings having done 100 good deeds
• Veteran Leanne casually slipping in her 200th good deed on a coach run last week
• Another cheer for Carl who got to wear the (delayed) Cape of Good Deeds for 50 good deeds!

At the school we were met by May, who had a clipboard and a plan. In the plan was a photograph, which was our guide of which plants were plants (and needed keeping). May handed the plan to me but I knew this was a terrible plan so I quickly palmed it off to Caped-Carl who did an excellent job of being in charge and making sure the weeds got pulled and the plants stayed safe.

People were saying they didn't think you'd get all this done! - May (little did she know....)

Another group had been tasked with painting a bench. Easy? Well.. no. This group had 12 minutes to paint said bench, which was in the computer room, before the school went into lockdown at 7pm. Not only were there concerns about being trapped in the school overnight, but the bench was on a tiny sheet in a very clean room with very clean carpet. Paint-team member, Mel, does not have the best track record with paint but the challenge was on.

Meanwhile Paul had found himself solo in the sensory garden, emptying all the old pot plants and tubs and thoroughly enjoying himself in amongst the smell of all the rosemary and sage.

BEST TOOL EVER! It's a turbo gripping tool! - Leanne

Leanne had found her happy place with a tool which scraped the ground like no other before it. She gleefully grappled the weeds whilst everyone else was digging some holes for the roses which needed to be planted. We'd made quick work of that job and so it was onto another; digging over a grassy/weedy area to lay compost and plant more plants (and roses) along the edge of a big wire fence.

I feel like I'm looking into a prison of manual labour - Emily

Again, the team made quick progress, even with Tim just constantly trying to throw compost in all the wrong places. Loz and Nick ran off to plant the last rose whilst Norb finished up sprinkling the rest of the compost over both the newly scarified beds.

The painting team had escaped and it was all fine, so we ran back via a celebratory workout.

The 100 workout!

Small teams had a series of exercises to complete and could choose how many of each they did so long as the total added up to 100. Simple. The team log roll was extremely popular and some people did a forward roll for the first time in many, many years.

Becky, Ellie B, Norb and Gabby had gone to our originally planned destination and so stickler Tim ran to them and made sure they did their workout too. Ellie B apparently kicked Becky in the face (but everyone was fine) and Becky had extremely tired legs so opted to pretty much do 100 sit-ups, phew!

Gabby was new so I had to try really hard not to kick her in the face - well done Becky

We came back and ate lots of lovely cake from Huw and brownies from Babs, yay!

An enormous team of GG Yorkies ran to complete three tasks helping out in Scarcroft Green, Glen Gardens and 'The Nose' at St Clements Church

After welcoming our new runners we gave some massive cheers to Carl as it was his 50th Good Deed! Carl has been with us since the very first run and he shall wear the Cape of Good Deeds next week once err.. I've found it in my house move.

We also gave a massive shout out to all the runners who raced at Endure24 over the weekend and turned up all tired and with sore legs, especially Tim and Becky who not only came 2nd in the mixed pairs, running 135 miles, but also both volunteered for the longer run this evening!

Hardcore Endure24 runner, Paul, led out the longer run team to Glen Gardens whilst other hardcore Endure24 runner, Leanne, led out the second longest group to St Clements Church (which was a whole extra 200m past our shortest run of 550m).

At Scarcroft Green we had loads of different tasks going on:

• edging the pathways
• clearing overgrown greenery from the path
• cutting back low branches on trees
• clearing a huge area of overgrown shrubbery
• doing a litter pick

Everyone swiftly split into their teams, grabbed some tools and ran off. Whilst Graham was chuntering away about blisters on his delicate hands, new runner Karen was straight in, scraping the path edges and pulling up the rogue turf and weeds. Everyone on path edging was very amused with the teeny tiny brushes that sort of looked like giant toothbrushes, but they were surprisingly effective.

Whilst John was litter picking he found a painted stone which we gave to Helen to take on an adventure to the Lake District. So thorough with his task, he accidentally found the same stone 5 minutes later!

Maddy managed to find a tiny bicycle on her litter picking adventure and it was taken for a spin before being added to the growing pile of bags. With 3 minutes left on the clock, everyone joined in to frantically sweep and clear the last of the paths before we met the other teams for a group pic and fitness sesh.

Team Nose Weed (written by Leanne)

This super six must have run really fast on the way out as they arrived at St Clement's Church 10 minutes early. While they waited for taskmaster, Lyndall to arrive they located "The Nose" and had a 'nose' around. It's a community garden full of delicious treats: raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, potatoes, courgettes, and much more.

Lyndall asked us to edge the flower beds and get rid of any weeds to make it look more presentable for a forthcoming open day.

It wasn't long before everyone was hard at work. Every so often there was a shout of:

Has this bit been done? (practically everyone at some point)

Despite this, it did look a fair bit neater and most certainly 'done' by the end of the task. At the 30 second call, Mitch quadrupled his productivity in removing some grass from the last flower bed and just managed to finish his patch within the allotted time.

We paused for a quick snack picked freshly from the garden before the long run back round the corner to Scarcroft Green. There we joined the rest of the crew for Egg's fitness session.

FITNESS!!!

Tonight's fitness session involved a bit of push/pull with a partner and I think we have to applaud Katie F who gave a heroic effort in pushing Huw who is at least double her height. Kudos to Barbara also who paired with her own daughter and immediately regretted it, Ellie G is an absolute powerhouse!

After all that we split into four big teams for a planking and commando crawling relay - which everyone definitely completed and there was no cheating, none.

As we gathering for our final group piccie of the night, we were joined by the ward councillor, Jonny Crawshaw, who gave us a big thank you before we ran the whole 550m back to base.