After our painting talk in Poppleton was cancelled last minute due to soggy furniture, Barbara identified the perfect spot for a litter pick, in the pretty little village of Knapton. Why perfect? Well...

1) There was a veritable olfactory treasure trove of litter. Highlights included not one but two cans of Impulse body spray ( great for early noughties nostalgia) AND a pyramid- shaped glass aftershave bottle. Those Knapton folk clearly take pride in their smell! (We won’t mention the multiple bottles of suspicious- looking yellow fluid - we'll blame the passing motorists for those.)

2) We just so happened to finish our litter pick just down the road from John and Sally Bourton's house. In fact, John joined us with his impressive state- of- the- art litter picking trolley. He also told us that he’d litter-picked the same area only about a week ago so our 6(!) bags- worth of litter had accumulated since then. Oh, and we also saw Lizzie K who lives locally and told us that the village had been planninga litter pick to address the mass of rubbish that had built up, so we’ve hopefully saved them a job ( or postponed them needing to do it, anyway!) As well as it being lovely that John was able to join us, he also kindly invited us back to his lovely house for coffee and biscuits, despite the fact that he and Sally were expecting visitors later! While there, I picked John and Sally's brains on their bird- feeding set up and got some good squirrel- deterrence tips!

All in all, a lovely afternoon, making the most of a last-minute task cancellation. Thank you Barbara for coming up with a great alternative task so quickly!

We picked litter

see photos for more info!

Kristina met us at West Bank Park with wheelbarrows of tools & a list of tasks. Nine feelgood Friday goodgymers turned out for some fresh air followed by coffee & goodies for some. We chattered whilst picking up logs & twigs & refreshed & replenished the ' dedge' around the pond which Michael dredged of debris with a rake. Some trees were coppiced (branches chopped off at the base) in the orchard & another 'dedge' was magnificently repaired. Finally a low 'dedge' to deter dogs in the bird watching area was refilled with more twigs.

Another fab January turnout saw a whopping 29 GG Yorkies turn out for a trip to Back Park for an epic leaf clearing sesh. Before we set off we welcomed newcomers Jody and Matthew who were completing their first Good Deeds tonight. Give them a big cheer 🥳

We also celebrated all those who had taken part in the Brass Monkey Half Marathon on Sunday. Especially to Paul who was celebrating a new PB. Great stuff Paul Kelly 💪

Our walking group of Nikki, Pete and Debs set off whilst the rest of the gang warmed up. Ed then led the run to Back Park with Abigail and Laura on hand to back mark. At the task we were greeted by Kristina from the City of York Council Environment Team who set us off armed with rakes and brooms with the aim of filling up as many tonne sacks as possible. Newcomer Jody was excited to be left in charge of the leaf blower, but her excitement was short-lived when she realised that battery had died and she wouldn't get use the leaf blower afterall.

A select few GGers armed themselves with secateurs and tackled a few brambles that were growing in amongst the shrubs, whilst the rest of the guys got to work on making piles of leaves and getting them bagged up. In fact they did such a good job that we were soon out of tonne sacks and had to call an early end to the task (or so we thought).

Whilst the team proudly posed for photos in front of the 15 sacks of leaves they had collected, eagle-eyed Kristina noticed that several bags had been over-filled and so more work was needed to decant some leaves from the bigger bags into smaller green bags. Only then could the task be completed and we could reward ourselves with some delicious cupcakes courtesy of Lyndsey

It was then time for our fitness session which required a fair bit of coordination. Basically teams of 4 had to line up and pass a cone to each other whilst lunging in sync. It also required people to make teams of people roughly the same height as themselves so that the synchronized lunging would work. However this also gave the team of 6ft something boys a huge advantage when it came to racing against the other teams. So for the second race we mixed it up and passed the cone over our heads then through our legs. This time the contest was too close to call, but needless to say Team Tall were not victorious!

It was then back to the Priory Street centre where we gave a round of applause to David for being the firssst GGer to complete his January Bingo card. Then it was off to the pub for a well deserved pint or 2!

After a morning doing good in chilly weather at the other end of York, we were glad to get inside and sit down for a good tidy-up of the Council tool shed. We began by repairing the litter-pickers, then the ironmongery came out for a real treat - lots of screws and nails requiring sorting by category. Luckily Michael was on hand with his GCSE resistant materials knowledge to remind us of the difference between "Japanned" and "galvanised". A great afternoon was had by all, and we hope to benefit from excellent equipment next time we help out the Council!

We were met by a cheerful Iain, who showed us to Rosemary Court. After triple checking the location and instructions with his HQ, Lucy, Barbara and Jenna got stuck in to cutting back a border. To be on the safe side we were advised to 'cut down but not out!' Understood! Babs also filled a bag with the litter hiding in the border. We filled 2 big bags with cuttings. Resident Jacky came to thank us for our work and confirm that the plan is to eventually to dig up and replant the whole border. GG promised to come back. Despite a very busy January, 'wood chip cough' (from the previous night's task), too much dog poo and some lost keys, we may have been 'down, but definitely not out!'