Tonight we had a bumper turnout for one of the favourite festive tasks of the year - present wrapping. Maybe it was also the rare treat of being indoors!

Rich led out the group to Park Grove, with Ed in the middle and Laura and Barbara back marking.

Once we arrived we celebrated James' 50th good deed, then set to work wrapping. As some gifts hadn't arrived some of the taller members of the group offered to help put up some decorations instead. Once we all finished, we packed up and fueled up with a mince pie ready for fun fitness.

We decided to make use of the gym and had a few games of dodgeball. The idea was to hit members of the opposite team to get them out. Turns out some goodgymers have quite a competitive streak!

After a few rounds we headed back to base for a stretch and run through of the tasks for the week ahead. We also asked claire to pass on congratulations to Alistair for doing 50 good deeds.

In the aftermath of storm Bert, 16 GoodGym Yorkies breezed in to clear up the leaves in Glen Gardens. We started tonight's session with a round of applause for all those running at the weekend, particularly the brave souls (fools?) that made it to parkrun in the sideways rain on Saturday morning. You're all mad/legends.

We numbered off by saying the one thing that could tempt you to part with your money on Buy Nothing Day, and no surprises to learn that we are almost entirely motivated by food. Mostly chocolate and pizza! We then set off to Glen Gardens with Ed leading the way and Abigail and Laura backmarking.

At the task we were greeted by Ian from the Council's environment team who set us straight off to work on clearing leaves from the paths. There was only leaf blower though, so that job went to a very eager Abigail who was got her hands on the tool for the first time!

The rest of the gang made use of shovels, forks, rakes and leaf grabbers, collecting them up in ton sacks and shifting them to the composting area. Unfortunately it was only towards the end of the task that Amy finally discovered how to hold the leaf grabbers properly. Every day is a school day!

Before long it was time to wrap up the task and line up for Vicky's Mexican wave themed fitness session, pitting two teams against each other to see who could complete exercises the fastest. Ed and Rich's competitive spirit was on full show as the teams were neck and neck going into the final exercise. Unfortunately for Team Ed, Rich's team had a trump card up their sleeve in the fact that Martin is a ridiculously quick skipper (who knew?) and were awarded the victory by umpire Laura

Don't forget to get yourselves signed up for our upcoming sessions at the Groves this Thursday and the Santa Sleigh on Fri 6th

6 hardy GoodGymers braved the freezing temperatures to shift soil into new raised beds at Woodthorpe School. It was so cold the soil was solid when we arrived but it was nothing we couldn't handle with some overly enthusiastic bashing with spades! After an hour we'd managed to empty both both big sacks and fill 4 beds which we were told the students are very excited about planting - and we'd even managed to warm up a bit too!

An impressive turnout tonight in very cold conditions!

We started by celebrating some phenomenal running at the weekend with Michal doing some Bob Graham training, then Ed and Rich escaping from Meridan and covering 75 and 121 km respectively!

Max then led the group out to Holgate allotments and Rich led a walking group.

Once we arrived Helen provided us with a barrow full of tools and we quickly got to work clearing a plot ready to be let. Despite the cold the ground was soft and we soon had the area clear.

After a quick photo we headed off to do some sprints to warm up. Everytime Ed shouted whistle, we ran faster. He decided this was better than blowing a whistle so rival whistles couldn't interfere with proceedings.

We then headed back to base where we sung happy birthday to Paul Kelly and were treated to some of Jenna's fruity flapjack.