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.

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.

Tonight we met and started by celebrating all the amazing running that went on over the weekend. We then welcomed new runner Ana to her first group session. To name and number off we all said something we were proud of- lots of interesting facts emerged including singing with S Club 7, sand sculptures and being good at chess!

We then split into two groups for the two tasks:

Amy led one group to the Groves where we were met by Tracy and set to work clearing a raised bed and moving a tree. Both jobs were successfully executed in time to return to base for fitness.

Ed's group report-

We split off into 5 pairs to distribute the call out for events leaflets for York International Women's Week. Amy H and Jenna set off on their bikes to Fulford Road. Max and Mitch opted for the longest route out to Bootham and Burton Stone Lane. Ana and Carl headed to Bishy Road. Abigail and Nikki did the Town Centre, whilst David and Ed headed to Monkgate and Layerthorpe.

Max and Mitch did manage to make it back on time despite taking a detour to the pub, although they did have the most leaflets left over so may have had their priorities a bit skewed despite their protests!

Once we were all back, Ed led a session of every minute on the minute fitness including squats, burpees, lunges, stars and sprints. Despite some stiff legs everyone got stuck in and before we knew it, time was up. Some folk headed to the pub, others home.

Remember, remember! The 4th of November, it's the Monday night Group Run slot!

Tonight we headed off to the Groves to help shift a load of bricks, as well as dig out some weeds and re-plant a few bushes. It was a smaller gathering than usual at the Priory Street Centre as a fair few GGers were getting a pre-task good deed in already, but we still had a decent crowd and welcomed back Anne who was returning for her 2nd group run. Give her a big cheer 🎉

Before setting off to the task we warmed up by celebrating the 24th anniversary of the premier of the film 'Dances with Wolves' and naming which animal we would like to dance with and why. There were some very interesting choices including a zebra, a platypus and Siegfried and Roy's white tiger (rather you than me, Graham!). Then it was off to the task ably backmarked by Abigail and Laura.

The other group had already made a good start and helped get the test of us up to speed on what needed doing. So we split off into those shifting bricks and those clearing weeds. Taskowner Tracy also got Ed on hand with a spade to dig out a few bushes that needed to either be shifted elsewhere or just removed entirely. This meant that I'm bot entirely sure what all the various groups were getting up to but excellent progress was obviously made as we managed to complete the task early, meaning we had more time for fitness (aren't we lucky!)

Vicky had created tonight's fireworks-ish themed sesh with people getting into pairs and completing exercises written on a down on a ticket (fit-tix?). The team with the most tickets at the end of the sesh would be declared the winner and tonight's prize went to Mitch and Charlotte who had completed a remarkable 32 tickets! Although anyone who has previously witnessed the speed of Charlotte's burpees won't be surprised in the slightest.

We then made our way back to base and said our goodbyes

The ever hard-working Gary at Park Grove had already dismantled the decking when we arrived so we were able to get stuck straight into the task of shifting it to the skip. Those planks are pretty heavy but we managed to make fairly short work of it and thought we might be in for an early finish. Gary had us covered on that one too though, and quickly unearthed an enormous pile of willow that also needed to go to the skip. The more we shifted, the more willow was unearthed. This kept us busy for a while until the skip could take no more - they don't mean it when they say "level fill only" do they? ;-)

After neatening up the skip to Vicky's satisfaction, we headed off to the next task.