Today saw a great turnout for our first non headtorch run of the year!

Today was international Victoria day but rather than base our welcome on that we shared what we would do with our bank holiday weekend.

It should really have been Leanne day as she wasn't just crowned goodgymer of the month, but also got to wear the good deed cape for doing an incredible 1300 good deeds!

We also welcomed Ellie and congratulated Nick snd Babs for being married for 35 years!

We then set off to two tasks-

At Rowntree Park we were greeted by Stu who split us into 3 teams. The first team got to grips with a load of soil that we had previously shifted from from the gardens to the back of the lodge. This time we moved it to its final location into the raised beds.

The second group tackled a load of green waste and moved it from across the park over to the table tennis area. With Max particularly enjoying taking a ride in the giant wheelbarrow

Team 3 were instructed to remove the sedge from the garden, and after a quick Google to find out what sedge is, felt competent enough to know what they were doing. However the sedge in Rowntree park was about 50 times bigger than the ones in the photos on Google! Eventually the sedges, Sedgeric and Right Sedge Fred, were moved to their new homes closer to the lake.

All 3 teams finished their jobs with enough time spare to fill a couple of barrows worth of wood chip from the wildlife area and move it to the gardens. We were briefly joined by Jackie who earned her place in the team photo by grabbing a couple of handfuls of wood chip!

The second team stopped off at Southlands church to clear a bed of everything except the Magnolia tree! We pretty much completed the task just in time for team Rowntree to collect us and head to the park for some fun fitness.

Tonight we played heads, shoulders, knees and coins and the team with the most won a creme egg. After much tackling and slightly too much violence for goodgym, it all came down to a deciding game of rock paper scissors.

We then headed back to base and a decent crew stayed on for a drink, possibly to get one of Babs brownies!

A change of tasks saw us head the shorter distance to one of our regular haunts, at New Walk, rather than making the more epic journey to Fulford Green, but we more than made it up for it with our fitness exploits (more on that later).

Tonight we welcomed newcomer Anne Mair who was joining us for the first time as part of a volunteering challenge that she'd set herself. Great to have you with us in 🥳

We also gave a round of applause to the absent Stef and James who had completed the Malta half and the Drop Harrogate respectively. What a fab effort and from them both 💪.

We then numbered off by stating our favourite birds in honour of the anniversary of the US military retiring their last working pigeon on this in 1952. We had everything from Seagulls to Robins, but only when they're perched on top of snow!

It was then off to the New Walk with Babs leading a large walking group, Ed leading run and Pete backmarking. We also had Rich join us on his bike along the way.

At the task we were greeted by Maeve who was armed with scythes, rakes, forks and spades and set us off removing the docks so that other species could prosper. Although, not before Kit had spotted the perfect opportunity to recreate a famous scene from Titanic, with a little help from David (aka Leonardo DiCaprio).

The crew made light work of the task and needed little instruction as the docks were flying left right and centre. This gave Ed a chance to go and check out the course for the fitness session, leaving Leanne briefly in charge, who ensured that everyone was having a much better time without him!

With the bags of docks and weeds filling up, a team of runners were needed to shift them quite a distance further down the path. Unfortunately this meant a little bit of a wait for them to get back once the task had finished, but we duly filled the time with some birthday squats for Claire, who had celebrated her birthday over the weekend 🎉

And then, after a quick group photo, it was time for the fitness session which featured varying lengths of a hill rep depending on which card you drew from Ed's pack. Hearts for the 1st lamp post, diamonds for the 2nd and so on. No surprises that Matt's team ending up winning by completing the most reps, although there may have been a little bit of manipulation of the cards!

It was then back to base with a quick stretch and a pint for those in need of liquid refreshment

Tonight we started the session by sharing something that brought us joy today. We had lots of lovely ideas- hanging washing outside, waking up next to Barbara, daffodils, having leftovers for lunch .... nobody said coming to goodgym but i guess that was just a given!

We then set off to Clementhorpe Community Centre. As it was only 900m away Rich took a running group in a detour while others took the steady option with Vicky.

When we arrived the majority were tasked with scraping and washing walls. Others emptied and helped sort a cupboard and a select group disappeared into the loft! We discovered all sorts of random 'treasure' - a guitar with 4 strings, sunglasses, alcoholics anonymous resources....

By then time time was up we agreed putting 25 sweaty runners in a small enclosed space was not the most pleasant. It was so bad Chatlotte had yo leave with a headache!

We therefore decided to do fitness outside, led by James. He'd created a party conga games, complete with hats and creme egg prizes. We decided to have a wall sit off for the last three. Barbara, Max and Kit outsat everyone! Great work guys.

We were then back to the pub with Rich's slightly smaller group taking a different longer route.

It was back to Holgate Allotments for tonight's task but before we set off we had a fair bit of cheering to do. First off we welcomed newcomer Jody who was joining us for her first ever goodgym session. Welcome Jody! 👋

We also gave a big round of applause to everyone who had taken part in the Snake Lane 10miler over the weekend. There were PBs for Jane, James, Amy and Ed as well as an excellent showing from Neil, Leanne, Nick and Steve. Well done guys 💪

Over the weekend Stef had also completed his 400th parkrun at the York Community Woodland event (or YoCoWo for short). Awesome work Stef!

Finally it was time to set off to the task with Ed leading the run out and Laura backmarking, whilst Nikki led a small walking group and Vicky led a steadier running crew. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Helen who swiftly got one group underway on cutting back some bramble along the side of Holgate beck, whilst the rest of the group were given the very simple instruction of getting everything clear from the shed!

Before too long, there were all sorts of old tools making their way from the shed and down the line of able GoodGymers before being taken back towards the top of the allotments. Sam was our man in the shed, with Vicky coordinating the movements on the outside whilst the rest of the group did an excellent job of running back and forth with various items including an awful lot of spade handles, screws, saws, and what appeared to be a giant corkscrew.

As efficient as ever, the GG crew got the shed completely cleared with time to spare and so as a bonus shifted a few other items from the allotment including a very heavy oil drum which Jamie and Nick duly rolled all the way back to the top of the allotments, much to the delight of Paul Kelly who thought it resembled a barrel from Donkey Kong!

With the shed and brambles all clear and the rain starting to pour down, we stopped for our team photo and a quick but complex fitness sesh that involved holding a squat position and attempting to get out of it without moving at the same time as anyone else. Turns out it's easier to manage with 13 people but significantly harder in a group of 26!

It was then back to the Ackhorne for a quick stretch and a pint for a small group of thirsty volunteers

Today was week 4 of the new York Community Woodlands Parkrun and word has definitely got out given the number that flocked ti hear Laura's first timers briefing!

Our very own Nick was RD and with the help of the new loud speaker set off 550+ runners and walkers off round the 2 lapper 5k course.

We welcomed Kit to the parkrun volunteer family as a marshall. Thank you Kit! We also had goodgymers doing lots of roles- marshal, barcode scanning, funnel managing, car parking and tokens!

Many of us then headed to Dobbies for a nice breakfast with at least three if us showing true commitment by getting a Dobbies loyalty card!

We also need to give Stef a shout if for completing his 400th parkrun!

if you're interested in volunteering we will be listing this again for a few weeks to help get it up and running.