🌞 28 lovely people gathered at the end of a warm day for tonight's group run. We were thrilled to see Andy for the first time in a while 👋 We cheered everyone who ran the Fountains 10k yesterday, especially Claire who came first in her age category in her very first race - incredible 🏆 Already warm, we warmed up further before running/walking the short distance to Southlands Church⛪

🌿 We were there to continue the work that we started a few weeks ago, including weeding paths and beds and untangling bind-weed. Steve Rice worked so hard that he broke the (possibly antique) fork that he was using. Meanwhile, Kit and Michael were working equally hard removing a sadly-collapsed tree and replacing it with another 🌳

🐈 Lots more people were working very hard around the side and back of the church, unhelpfully impeded by the little tabby cat (pictured) who decided to do (both types) of its business in the flower beds. (Sorry for the over-share, and the terrible pun.) Anyway, in positive news, we (hopefully) managed to stop the cat eating the dragonfly it was trying to hunt, without the use of the extra-long watering hose 🐲 (Turns out there's no dragonfly emoji so a dragon will have to do)

📸 In no time at all, it was time to stop and spend an appropriately long amount of time "organising" (faffing about) the group photo. And we still didn't manage to get everyone looking the same way but never mind!

💪 We headed to Scarcroft playing fields for our relay-based fitness session. Again, time was spent clarifying the direction we should all be facing. But once we got that, away we went! We all got the chance to plank, squat and lunge, and then we did it twice more, just to make sure that every team was following the rules correctly.

⌚ After that, it was time to head back to base for our cool-down stretches and to hear about what's going on this week. And then it was time for the pub, a perfect way to end the evening 🍻

Tonight's bumper turnout came with its own challenges as Ed turned from run leader to shepherd in order to keep things going as smoothly as you've come to expect from Monday night group run. With newcomer Nathan yet to appear we were stuck celebrating Chris's brunch at the weekend, before Charlotte saved the day with something actually worth applauding having climbed a particularly difficult climb! But just in the nick of time Nathan arrived and received a warm welcome, before we set off. Give him a big cheer 🎉

Laura set off first with a walking group, before Ed led out the run with Amy backmarking. After a short run out we met taskowner Maeve on New Walk and split the group into 2 with Pete leading the breakaway team to Millennium Fields (more from him later).

At New Walk the team got to work, armed with scythes and spades, removing the docks to make way for less invasive species. James S, Katy, Martin and Kit made light work of the big clump of docks with some epic scything, whilst the rest of the team got stuck in digging up the roots and getting them into sacks ready to be moved down to Millennium fields to meet the others later on.

We picked up a few extra bodies as Pete's crew completed their job, which made for a mad flurry of activity towards the end before we started the short walk down to meet the other group. This is what they had been up to...

After dropping the scythers and dandelion pullers off a group of 10 were led by Pete to Millennium Fields, a place of many a task. After finding the hidden stash of tools it was not hard to find the big pile of woodchip. Getting stuck in we soon realised that one barrow was not enough and while some managed to cup some in their hands Charlotte did a quick dash to her allotment for an extra spade and a very big drag bag. That allowed us to very quickly shovel, rake and stamp the path until the pile had miraculous disappeared. Nice to see Holly return after joining us for her first task in Jan and proceedings were scrutinised throughout by the part carbon fibre, part hero that is Vicky. Soon after we were joined by Ed's crew for fitness fun.

Fitness tonight involved trying to keep a "pizza" on your hand whilst running around and being chased. All perfectly normal stuff and not in the least bit confusing for onlookers from Millennium bridge!

The first group run of April also brought first really nice evening of the year weather-wise as the majority of GG Yorkies ditched the long sleeves and leggings for shorts and baseball caps. Tonight we celebrated a couple of epic recent PBs; one for Matt at the Berlin half last weekend and another for James at yesterday's tricky Helmsley 10k. Epic running chaps 💪

Tonight we also celebrated Hannah completing her 50th good deed! Although there was to be no cape tonight as she signed up too late for Ed to realise he needed to pack one. We'll get you next time!

Tonight we headed off to the Groves for some leafleting and a few odd tasks around the communal gardens. Laura set off promptly with a walking group, which was a good job as they decided to take the long way round, whilst Rich led a walk/run crew. The rest of the group set off with Ed at the front and Pete backmarking, but not before they'd had a stab at guessing the world's most popular chocolate bar (a question that proved to be a bit too much for Mitch as he struggled to muster an answer). Leanne was the only one who guessed correctly which got her out of 10 seconds of fast feet!

Over at the task 16 leafleters (not sure that's a word) paired up and set off delivering flyers for the Groves Association. The remaining team got to grips with various tasks including shifting bricks (careful), putting up some fairy lights, and a spot of composting

We all then met back up at 7:15 sharp for a quick team photo before a very appropriate fitness session from James who organised an epic sack race and even brought along some chocolate for the winning team. Cue lots of talk about James' sack for the remainder of the evening!