In the beautiful winter sun, five if us returned to Danesmead Wood to barrow and rake woodchip to improve the paths through the wood.

Despite only being a small group, we were able to shift the whole pile within the hour, giving us enough time to eat the delicious chocolate and coffee traybake Jude had made.

The first clothes swap of the year was busy. Clearly, the residents of York had been fruitfully clearing out their wardrobes during Twixmas as over 130 attended by the end.

It was out with the Christmas jumpers (all boxed up by the team until November) and party dresses (as tastefully modelled by Ed) and in with jumpers and coats.

With the main floor slightly chaotic, we both took turns in the kitchen for the more relaxing task of serving teas and coffees.

The time flew by and the indoor task was the perfect antidote to the cold of parkrun this morning.

People say that you get that warm fuzzy feeling after volunteering, but what I got today was frozen fingers... Seriously now, a group of us went to the Knavesmire first thing this morning to help with delivery of Parkrun York. Not deterred by sub zero temperatures just under 800 people turned up to run, or walk seeking that endorphin boost. GoodGym volunteers busied themselfes with roles such as the Race Director, pacer, funnel manager, barcode scanner and finish tokens handler. Many "thank you" , "well done" and "Happy New Year" wishes were shared and exchanged and from my perspective 99.9% participants had a good time, even if that wasn't their initial thought at the 3km mark. After the task the bravest of us went to another stint of volunteering on Holgate Allotments, while others went to seek some warmth at home and a cup of tea.

A great goodgym turnout for New Year's Day double whammy task. The memorial wood close by was looking rather sad, with a number of gaps where saplings planted directly into the clay earth had struggled. So as there was an excess of gifted trees at the Tiny Forest these could be used to fill in some spaces whilst in their dormant period. Today's task was to give the new trees a better start. Some clay was removed, a heavy bar & pickaxe used to break through the clay layer, fresh Tiny Forest compost and feed added, tree planted, recycled stake and rabbit guard applied and finally a blanket of woodchip mulch to suppress weeds and retain moisture in the summer. We look forward to seeing the green shoots in spring. In order to make the trees cosy the efforts of the brave and tough goodgymers working in a chilling Northerly breeze must be recognised. Well done & thank you. Fortunately there were hot drinks and cakes afterwards in the sheltered Tiny Forest. January challenge bingo baked goods ticked off by 3 😋

A whopping massive turnout on New Year's day for the Tiny Forest despite the whopping massive hangovers. You're a hardy lot! Everyone quickly got to work to stay warm. The list of jobs was hammered. Compost bin emptied, bagged and barrowed over to the memorial forest. Hay piles from the meadow area, rotten apples and leaves put into compost bin to start the process over again. Mulch piles weeded and topped up. Those pesky creeping weeds removed from the edge of the Tiny Forest trees and cardboard suppression laid. Clay topsoil gathered from memorial forest, barrowed to Tiny Forest and used as bath infill. Bugs given more warm bedding and treats for their hotel.