It was awards night at GG York this week as we celebrated 4 people hitting some pretty chunky milestones. So much so that there wasn't enough capes to go around. But don't worry, everyone had a chance to twirl in the appropriate Cape of Good Deeds at some point.

First up it was the turn of Nick and Nikki who both celebrated their 300th(!) good deeds this evening (or not too long ago, sorry!). Give them a big ol' cheer 👏

Next it was the turn of a very late Abigail who recently completed her 100th good deed. Send some cheers her way 🙌

And since it was the closest group run to valentines day, what better way to name and number off than by naming the thing we love most about GoodGym. Needless to say there were some sickly-sweet answers along with Ed forgetting his wife existed ❤️

Then on to the task sandwiched by the Co-Area Activators where we met by Richard and Martin, who got the biggest cheer of the night for celebrating his 50th good deed. Well done Martin 👏

As for the task itself, there was a very smelly pond, some very squelchy boggy bits, some rapid blackboard painting, some digging and some bark chip spreading. James and Neil spent far too long failing to get some loppers unstuck whilst everyone else got stuck in to the various tasks on offer. So much so that there task was completed with a bit of time to spare 💪

Then it was off to Scarcroft Green for a fitness session that first saw GGers struggle to organise themselves into groups of 4, before having to perform 4 sets of various exercises before a quick dash to drop off a cone (repeat x 4). 4 reps, 4 sets, 4 cones and teams of 4 on a night with 4 milestones celebrated. All that was left to do was head to the pub for a few beers (although I drew the line at 3, not 4. It was a school night after all)

A team of hardy GoodGymers defied Storm Isha to head out for another night of digging and weeding. We started the night by celebrating not one but two people hitting milestones, with Lyndseycompleting her 50th good deed and Martin doing his 100th. Great work guys 💪. There was also a round of applause for Max becoming the first person to complete the January challenge bingo (who'd have thought it!?!?) and for all those who completed the Brass Monkey half at the weekend including a big PB for Paul Kelly

We then split into two groups with Ed leading the run out to Heslington Lane for another night of soil inversion for the long stretch of soon-to-be wildflower verge. I have a feeling we're going to be back to this task quite a bit! Jamie, Anna and Stef started where we'd left off last Monday, whilst Jenna, Mitch Max and Lucy got to work slightly further down. The soil was a lot claggier (is that a word?) than our last outing in sub-zero conditions, so the going was somewhat slower and shoes a fair bit muddier. But we preserved and made good progress regardless.

Michal led the rest of the group out to another session at Holgate Community Garden. Here's what he had to say...

10Goodgymers departed from our meeting location, 12 were at the task and 6 came back. We never leave anyone behind…. I promise. On the way to the task we ran through some back alleys to Laura’s house where husband David was waiting for us with a selection of hoes, forks big and small, brooms and other gardening tools ready for the task in a wheelbarrow. From there it was a short walk to the play area/community garden where the task was to dig out weeds around the wooden play equipment frame in preparation for a layer of bark chippings - our next task.

After about 20min of light weeding and chatting we moved to the swing basked and raised bed for an inpromptu fitness circuit featuring swinging in the basket, pushing the basket swing, broom handling, log lifting, lunges, wide squats, star jumps, triceps dips, bench jump overs and incline push-ups. “Accurately” measured 40sec repetition of each exercise before moving to another was perfectly done by each and every one of the 12 goodgymers present. My watch said 9min50sec when I pressed the stop button making our maths spot on. Right?

After that dose of exercise we made our way back to CVS, had time to stretch, chat about GG badges and if you would re-mary your ex to get a GG badge - that is if there was such a badge, stretch more, more chat before the second group arrived. Apparently they were running late, but what do I know?

Nine of us walked, ran and cycled to Railway Pond, which for some of us was our second task of the morning. Our task was to help remove rings of ivy from around the tree trunks in order to protect the trees whilst leaving some of the ivy as a habitat for insects and other wildlife. We were offered a variety of tools to choose; axes, saws, loppers, bill hooks and secateurs. Unsurprisingly the axes were popular until we realised that apart from the largest stalks the secateurs were more effective! We welcomed Richard to his first Goodgym task.