Ten GoodgymElfs (Ed, Simon, Mitch, Nick and all the jingle ladies - Katie K, Katie McC, Vicky, Emma, Jenna and Nicky) met up with the good folks from the Rotary club for the second year to go on a sleigh ride around the streets of Woodthorpe bringing Santa to children big and small and raising money for York Mind. Ed has very high 'elf-esteem' and so had agreed to take on the starring role and soon got suited up in red.

But he was looking a bit thin so Nicky kindly asked if he would like to "borrow her belly" - everyone was mystified until it became clear that she meant her bum bag which was creating a nice little paunch in her Santa suit.

Katie K had dressed as a Christmas Tree for the occasion, Katie McC was all elfed up, Emma had the tiniest little Santa hat known to man, Jenna had very sensibly packed biscuits and a flask of something hot for the expedition (there was talk of hipflasks if it was going to this bloomin' cold next year as even Emma, fresh back from Finland, was shivering) and there were several recycled Chase the Pud costumes in evidence.

So, as soon as Ed was loaded up with tins of Quality Street for the kids, it was on with the ear splitting distorted Christmas Carols and off we went. Doors were knocked, dogs were barking, coins were collected, everyone seemed to come to the door in their pyjamas and onesies, some people brought their dogs out to see Santa (!?) and it soon got competitive to see who could nab the biggest note in their collecting tin.

One little girl emptied a whole tin of copper coins out for us and the looks of delight on the faces of all the kids gathered on the street corners was just joyous, making 3 hours in the freezing cold all worthwhile. One very sweet lady gave me a tenner as the only change she had was for her bus fare in the morning, passing motorists wound down their windows to give us cash and we even dropped into the pub to grab a bit more shrapnel and didn't even stay for a quick snifter - no badgym here.

Katie was offered £5 for the collecting tin and "£1 for herself" and Vicky excitedly reported that a very fit young man in a dressing gown had offered her a fiver! All in a good cause!

Meanwhile Santa Ed was up to 'snowgood' and was overheard asking a passing female police officer if she'd "been a good girl this year" - and yet somehow failed to get himself arrested!

The LandRover pulling the sleigh regularly had to do 5 point turns in cul de sacs and at least twice reversed into overhanging trees, Ed was accused of giving out chocolates too generously (but somehow I never got one) and at times the sleigh was pulled at high speed to catch up with the collecting crew causing Ed to have to hold on for 'deer life' but apart from that the whole affair passed off with very little incident and Ed was in his element in the role of Santa Claus - he came, he thawed, he conquered and was absolutely 'Sleighin' It'!

I've run out of puns - that's it now, there's no myrrh.

Lots of York Goodgymers came along to the British Heart Foundation’s annual Chase the Pud run on York Knavesmire. One our very own runners Laurence had caught the pud in the past so his prize was to be the Pud this year!

Weather conditions were perfect for running. After a brief warm up and many photos with the Lord Mayor, the pudding was off with a 30 second head start. After that 200 Santas set off in hot persuit including at least 20 Good gym runners.

After one lap the pudding was still going strong but the gap was closing. He managed to keep ahead though and finished with about 15 seconds to spare. Jenna’s son Charlie was second and Pete not far behind. Next year we’ll be giving him 15 seconds head start! Who coming back then to challenge him?

Great event, lots of fun and everyone is truly in the Christmas spirit now!

Big thanks from the BHF!

28 GG Yorkies ran to complete two different tasks in York!

But before we did that, we gave a massive cheer to taskforcer and run-leader-to-be, Marvellous Mitch who completed his 50th good deed at the weekend and was awarded the Cape of Good Deeds to run in. Go and give him a big cheer, or give him three cheers and get closer to that mythical '3, 2, 1' badge.

We had to skip GG Yorkie of the Month because November's winner was absent.. could it be you?! Find out next week!

Becky led out the Hull Road Park group, our third visit to the park to reinstate the former footpath across the bottom field. The first challenge was carrying five wheelbarrows full of tools down the steps whilst avoiding the puddle, and then the main task was to:

• dig out the turf to find the old wooden path edges (which were hidden)
• dig out a layer of soil and make the path as flat as possible
• put all dug up soil and grass into wheebarrows and dump it at the side
• fill up wheelbarrows with hardcore from the far end of the path
• decant hardcore onto new, wide path
• rake out hardcore into a good camber (higher in the middle, lower at the edges)
• bang down hardcore with a tamper

Before we started all of that, we tried to find the lines that Kristina had made which showed where the edge of the path was supposed to be. It wasn't easy because it was dark and muddy and the lines were made last week.. so we gave up with that and just guessed. There were little squeals of joy when we came across the buried wooden boards and knew we were in the right place.

Of course some people had gotten a bit too carried away and had gone much too wide, so re-turfing was added to the task-list.

Zoe meticulously put the seven floodlights out to give the best possible lighting (after spending a longer than average time figuring out how to unfold them) and was then a wheelbarrow warrior, bringing several loads to the raking and tamping crew.

It's like crunchy cake icing!

Ellie B never stops thinking about cake, ever.

With five minutes left on the clock we shut down the digging operations and put everyone onto gathering hardcore or raking it in, and we finished with another good chunk of footpath completed.

Going back, Becky developed some sort of superhero strength and just casually picked up a wheelbarrow full of spades and single-handedly carried it up the stairs like it was nothing. Then we celebrated another good deed with a mini-step rep circuit with squats, single leg squats, split squats and walking lunges, yay!

Split squat!? This is just another lunge! - Furious Ellie B

Leanne's group of nine nimble GG Yorkies, ran to Clifton to meet Kay who had a barrow-full of daffodil bulbs for us to plant on some steep grassy banks.

We were a few tools short for the size of the group, not helped by the fact that Max immediately broke a trowel... even so, everyone quickly found something to do when Leanne offered the possibility of step reps for anyone who was at a loose end. Within 10 minutes, Kay had managed to borrow a few spades from a neighbour so we could increase our productivity.

When Kay got her phone out to take a photo for her newsletter, Tristan offered to turn around so she wasn't taking a photo of his bottom.

No, I like it like that! - Kay

40 minutes later, with most of the bulbs in the ground, we gathered for our group photo and fitness session. Except for Max who seemed have far too much energy to stick around and listen to instructions.

The group were asked to do a relay in pairs with one partner doing step reps while the other completed a loop, taking in the hill leading up to the top of the steps, then swapping over. As Max sprinted off into the distance, he shouted:

Whoever hasn't got a partner is with me!

Then it was back to base where Tim tested his new Leadership in Running Fitness qualification by leading the cool down.

32 GG Yorkies split into two teams for a mass of mostly raking activities across the city!

After welcoming one brand new runner to the gang (give Issy a cheer!), we made a very exciting announcement.

GG Yorkie of the Month!

This new monthly prize will go to someone who has made a big impact at GoodGym; whether it's through participation, reaching a goal, organising an amazing event or something we deem special that needs recognising.

Our first ever monthly winner, October 2018's GG Yorkie of the Month goes to...... Katie Kelly!

Katie has been a member for a while but has become very involved in the last month, racking up loads of good deeds across group runs and missions. She didn't let being late from work stop her at a mission, lifting chairs and tables in a super smart skirt. Katie has also been one of our chief walkers, helping to make our group sessions friendly and accessible for everyone. She also took one walking group on a very extended walk to one task, not because she was lost of course but because they needed lots of exercise...well done Katie.

My group of leaf gatherers at Clarence Gardens

We had a simple task to bag up as many leaves as possible in 40 minutes. The bagged leaves were to be taken to Greenfields Garden (half a kilometre down the road) where they were to be mulched and used as compost.

Armed with big green scoopers and rakes, the group split into four teams and started bagging. Everyone quickly learned not to attempt to drop a full double scoop into the bags because inevitably the leaves will just go everywhere and be back on the floor.

Iain suggested we load up the van with bags and race him up there to unload, instead of running individual bags up the road. This was a much better plan since the bags were both spiky and numerous.

We had to tie little knots in the bags before loading them into the van but there were definitely a few instances where an untied bag got passed over the fence and only one person knew it was untied...

With the van absolutely full to the brim, we raced Iain down the road and formed a human chain ready to count the bags out. The human chain was slightly more spread out at the van end as Ellie and Jenny ran tiny shuttles to keep the flow going.

50 bags exactly!

It was a good haul.

Becky's report from her debut as run leader!

We had an 'exciting' journey there, as we witnessed the aftermath of a bike accident. 3 fantastic GG Yorkies (Bec, Mel and Tim) volunteered for an extra bit of good, walking the injured party home and making sure she was safe and looked after, before racing on to join the rest of us at the task. She was very grateful.

Where do you work? I want to buy you flowers!

Meanwhile Mitch aimed to speed up the journey for the rest of us, by switching his head light to green and causing minor chaos at traffic lights.

Eventually the rest of us arrived at the task, and having waiting for Mitch to test out the slide (obviously it needs checking for safety, very kind of him), got started.

We began by raking up grass cuttings on to tarps, then dragging them down to the bottom of the field to spread. Cue 20 minutes of frantic raking, hauling tarps and distribution (frantic to stop us from freezing rather than because there was too much to keep up with).

Finally with sighs of relief (or chattering from cold, it was hard to tell) we downed tools and finished with a game of'Follow my Leader, leading winding paths round the grass with each leader picking a form of motion, e.g. doing lunges, skips, duck walks, etc.

We began to head home, ably aided by our back markers, who decided to proactively sprint past us, presumably on the basis that then everyone would have to get home faster.

We're fast back marking group, we're not here to get left behind - Tim

Finishing with our usual sprint up Micklegate, we arrived, tired but proud, back at base - and got to scoff loads of chocolate given to us by a mission recipient!