On a sunny morning, Jenna, James and I met for a litter pick at Glen Gardens, joining in one of the Council sessions for the Great British Spring Clean. The park itself was relatively tidy, thanks to the efforts of the friends group, but we spread out to cover some of the surrounding streets and left everything a bit brighter and cleaner than before.

On a beautiful sunny day, Amy and Vicky were met by Mel from CYC for a wander around King's meadow for a litter pick.

There wasn't too much around do in 45 mins we'd cleaned the area. Amy was rewarded with her very own litter picker as she'd done such a good job!

Three of us met Becky from York Council on a lovely sunny Monday morning to join in with the first of their Great British Spring Clean sessions.

After 45 minutes strolling around Westfield Marsh (which I didn't know existed) we'd each collected a good bagful of litter and made the area look a lot better. GoodGym is great for discovering new green spaces!

At dusk they wake, no time yet for cake. Laces tight, keep up with Jake (aka Rich). Through mist and chill, no backache shows. Their steady rhythm swiftly flows.

Each footstep sends a gentle quake. As they quickly start to rake the lake. Leaves and twigs the currents take. Drawn from depths they can't forsake.

Vicky laughs aloud 'we'll take a break'. But not just yet, no breath to take. The lake now clear, their work complete. A runner's task, both tough and sweet .

But before they're done, a photo to take. Do good, get fit, have a shake. Finally finished, trot back to base. They have done good and shall now eat cake.

p.s well done to all the Tibthorpe runner, to Paul Kelly for doing his 400th deed and to Rich for being February's awesome goodgymer of the month

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!