It's suddenly starting to feel a bit autumnal in Sheffield! The debate was on this evening - jacket or no jacket. 6 of us set out through the station (always a fun cut through) and took the stairs up the side of the amphitheatre right to the top. We paused at the top for some incline press ups to take in the view as the sun went down across Sheffield. We popped into the Pearl at Park Hill on our way past for a nosy. Then we carried on to meet Simon at the Durham Ox. The pub has been closed for many years and right next to it is a section of cycle path that GoodGym Sheffield has been looking after for years. A developer has bought the building and it seems like Simon's plan to swap the cycle path over to the road side may be executed after all! This would mean a much more accessible section of cycle route but alas much less for us to do!

Did you know that the 'Durham Ox' was a giant Ox from Durham that did the rounds at a touring fair. There are many pubs named after this famous beast across the country.

Stage 1 of our task was litter picking - the biggest haul being a two seater sofa. Stage 2 was lopping and sweeping. After a decent stint, with the light fading, we thanked Simon and headed over to Park Hill, much to Tarj's delight. At the foot of the hill was split into pairs to do a hill sprint / circuit / relay that had us all breathing hard and (hopefully) smiling. All warmed up we ran back down the hill and to the Showroom. The evenings are getting darker which means headtorch season is coming. Thanks for a great evening team!

It was a hot evening down at the Showroom I'm Sheffield! 8 people gathered to run down to Lynwood Gardens where we met up with our friends at Sustrans.

****Big shout out to Linda for being our backmarker and photographer.

Simon and John from sustrans gave us an introduction to the fantastic things they do maintaining active travel routes across the country.

****NB my fact about sustrans including bridleways may be fake news.

Thanks to all the rain (and a the odd sunshine) Lynwood Gardens was looking magnificent and a little overgrown! Our task: to clear the path - lopping, trimming and sweeping. Once we'd started a cyclist arrived on the route - but it was no regular cyclist - it was Annie on a bike coming to join us. That made us 9! Lynwood Gardens is a beautiful space that is partly canopied by greenery and has a lovely little pond.

Tools were handed out and we got to work. After a solid 45 mins of clearing Simon and John were more than satisfied - we did a stellar job clearing the path and making it a safer space to cycle and walk. We even cleared the cycle network signpost that was a little lost in the greenery.

We thanked Simon and headed off up the path we'd just cleared to admire our work.

****We wiggled our way back to Showroom but not before a musical stop outside the Light Cinema - if you've not been yet it's a must!

Great work everyone, looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Monday at 6.45pm 3 of us set off from Showroom to Netherthorpe to our friends at Sustrans. Shoutout Tarj for joining us on his 2nd GoodGym run! 2 more met us there making us the fab 5.

At the Sustrans lockup Steve gave us a (re)introduction to the organisation : not just cycle paths - any kind of sustainable travel, horses included. He set us up with litter pickers, hoops and trashbags and off we went. A solid 30 mins (and a rain shower, rainbow and sunshine) later, we'd filled 4 bags.

We snapped some photos, left the bags for the council to collect and headed back to Steve. He was really chuffed with what we'd done, the area looked really neat and tidy. We said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed back to Showroom - the long way this time!

Thanks for a great evening folks, see you soon!

Last night 6 of us headed out to a brand new task at the Hope Centre.

A brand new task! Lots of excitement was in the air as we headed off winding our way up behind the station through new gennels and stairways to the Hope Centre. At first glance, the building's huge, but we didn't know the half of it! Mark, Hope Centre's maintenance manager met us at the door, along with Cat who met us straight after work (commitment!).

Mark showed us in, including a brief look around their enormous auditorium which can get 500 people on a Sunday morning. Hope Centre is an independent church, with a nursery, community grocers, cafe, office space and much much more.

Our area of work was the cavernous basement. The task? to fill massive trolleys with wood to be taken out to an awaiting van for redistribution. We spent a good 30 mins loading and uploading, until the van literally couldn't fit anything else in it. We could have gone on all night, Hope Centre's basement is ripe for so much super goodgyming.

Finishing up, Mark kindly took us on the grand tour. The space is incredible, with an impressive nursery with a capacity of 57 and a community grocers stocked with fresh produce as well as refrigerated and tinned. Outside the grocers is a cafe open to all.

We thanked Mark and set off home, this way slightly more directly, with some detours for step-running, wall-sitting and press ups along the way. Back to base, we stretched, finished up and went in to warm up. A great night all round!

It was a warm one in Sheffield! What better way to get your Monday started than a GoodGym Group Run?

A group of hardy folk made it to the Showroom tonight to go and help out our friends at Sustrans. We regularly help out Sustrans keeping cycle routes clear and safe for everyone. This time we were headed to a section of the Sheaf Valley walk off Queens Road.

Main heads-up is don't get too close to the river bank - it's a long way down! - Simon (Sustrans)

We took a circuitous route to get some distance in and arrived already hot! Simon was fully prepared as usual and we got to work lopping overhanging plants, litterpicking and clearing the way for cyclists and walkers. After a good 45 minutes we'd got together 5 bags of litter and 4 bags of green waste for the council to collect. Alas there were 3 trolleys and a ladder tantalisingly out of reach!

After making a fuss of Simon's very cool new bike trailer (with holes in it for brooms and everything) that was specially made for him, we snapped some photos and made our way to the Peace Gardens. What's at the Peace Gardens you ask? Sally Squats! But there's a reward - splash around in the fountains afterwards. As you can see from the photos, a few of us had a LOT of fun!

****Goodgyming happening this week On Friday evening there's a community mission to clear the area infront of the library at Newfield green. On Saturday there's a community mission to Abbeyfield Park.