Friday 25th January 2019
Find out about GoodGym TaskForce
Report written by Nicola Gover
A merry band of 9 GoodGymers joined forces with the good people of St Nick's for a mass litter pick of Tang Hall Beck. But first we had to kit out a couple of people with waders. "What size are you?" asks Jonathan. 6 for Christine and 7 for Mel, what about you Mitch? "I don't know what size I am". Cue shocked faces, until we explained this was shoe size, not a special wader sizing system (or Mitch still gets his mum to buy his shoes).
After setting out to Heworth Holme we split into two teams, one heading further up the beck, the other moving swiftly on to litter pick further along. It was a beautiful morning to be out in the woods, with the birds tweeting away and the sun shining. Even a kingfisher and some watervoles were spotted (sadly not by me).
As well as the usual plastic packets, bottles and general detritus, we found a huge variety of random items, including a tyre, chair, piece of toilet, helium bottle, various shoes, a bucket, a lacy pair of pants (ripped and dangling from a branch) and a headless He-man! I told Katie she could have her pick of the items as a birthday present (yes she was out doing good on her birthday and day off! Extra good points!)
After a quick tea break we headed back out for a final pick, finding a big stash of charity bags that someone clearly couldn't be bothered delivering! Our journey back was slowed as we were now unable to walk along not looking intensely at the ground. Some of us then headed straight out to task 2 of the day!
York
You know it's winter when we're back at Glen Gardens for some leaf clearing