The Malthouse was a pop-up venue inside a Victorian former warehouse on The Crescent. GoodGym did a lot of work last year to help transform the space into a vibrant area that hosted a bar, street food stalls, a market, studios and much more. Sadly, all good things come to an end, and so now we were back to help the York Nurturing Community move their things out.

Part 1: The litter pick

Things didn't quite go to plan at first. Fifteen of us arrived promptly, and the van was waiting outside ready to be loaded, but unfortunately, no-one could let us into the building! Luckily, Egg had litterpickers and bags in her car, so we set off on an impromptu litter pick. It's fair to say that we somewhat outnumbered the available litter outside the building, so there was some truly competitive picking at first.

Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! — York GoodGymers

The pickings improved as we worked our way out onto the main street and we soon managed to fill a couple of bags. At this point (about twenty minutes in) we got the call from Egg that the venue was now open, so we all headed back to get started. We did consider logging the litter pick as a separate task, but decided that would probably be a bit on the cheeky side! :-)

Part 2: Dismantle that kitchen!

This is a hard screw! — anon

Our main task now lay before us. We had a kitchen and a metal pagoda to dismantle, many heavy items to shift around and a big van to fill. The kitchen and pagoda were to be reused so needed careful handling. (And yet they asked us?) The only slight issue was that we didn't actually have many tools to do all this. Not to be deterred, everyone got stuck in … armed with about three and a half screwdrivers, a hammer and a pair of pliers. Oh, and we then found out that the sink was still plumbed-in as well!

To me.. to you.. PIVOT! — GGers trying to get a fridge through a too-small door frame

We could just open the front door? — The guys from Space Invaders

It's amazing how much a group of enthusiastic people can get done in a short space of time. People set about finding many creative ways to dismantle (and just occasionally destroy) things, whilst others gave themselves a quick crash course in plumbing. The kitchen soon started to disappear, the van started to fill, and we made neat piles of stuff ready for collection tomorrow.

After just over an hour, we were done. It is a real shame that The Malthouse pop-up had to come to an end so early, but with our help there will hopefully be something like it in York again soon.

Six GoodGym Yorkies (and a Digby dog) braved the heat of the late afternoon and assembled in the car park of the Low Moor allotments just off the Fulford Road. We were met by Josh and Nathan from York Nurturing Community who explained the task ahead and led us along the paths through the allotments.

We arrived at a very overgrown plot which needed clearing so the team started pulling up the weeds and cutting back and removing the very spikey brambles, whilst trying not to completely destroy the membrane that was supposed to be stopping the weeds. However, as the weeds had grown through and become part of the membrane, this was not an easy task.

We were careful not to dig up the herbs that were growing happily - thyme, rosemary and sage - all that was missing was the parsley! After about an hour we had cleared about 2/3 of the plot and created an impressive pile of weeds at the other end. I'm sure we will be back again to help out as there is a lot more work to do, which will probably involve some heavy digging (which we all love!).

On the first warm and sunny evening of 2018, a crazy large group of 51 GG Yorkies ran to a fabulous new project in York

We gave a big round of applause to our new runners and screamed wildly for Tim, who ran outstandingly well at Brighton Marathon yesterday. Not only did he run a marathon but it was also his 50th good deed so make sure you go and give him a massive cheer. Now, I was Bad Egg this week and had completely forgotten the Cape of Good Deeds (Leanne said it must be to do with being a new mum, having 'puppy brain') so I sent an emergency message to have the cape delivered to the pub for afterwards - more on that later.

We had three groups running to Spark: York this evening. A long run group lead by Paul and back-marked by Leanne, a short group run led by me and back-marked by Tim, and a power walking group led by Ellie and back-marked by Christine.

The Spark: York project is a fabulous enterprise using containers to enable small business, charities and community groups to have a space they can use (and afford). One of these brilliant projects is York Nurturing Community, whose café will provide allergy-aware, hot meals prepared with intercepted surplus and donated food on a Pay-As-You-Feel basis. Emily from YNC was the person who asked us along to help out and she had a big old job list for us!

It's my first GoodGym run and I'm the first at the task! - Rosie

The short run and walk group arrived almost together, and once we were hi-vised up we set about the following:

• Clearing a ditch of rubble into a skip
• Painting the ceiling of the YNC container
• Wire brushing pipes ready for painting
• Clearing wood from one container to another
• Sanding down some upcycled furniture
• Clearing out all the rubbish from another container
• Varnishing a mosaic which had been lovingly made by children with disabilities

Phew. Whilst everyone was getting on with those jobs, the second run group turned up and were tasked with cleaning every window and glass door, as well as sweeping everywhere. We also had to move lots of various items to different locations. If you took a moment and just watched the action from above, it was quite a sight. Hi-vis scurrying all over the place like little ants.

Leanne and Tim managed to baggsy the job of fireproofing one of the containers. It involved wearing one rubber glove each, donning a mask and hand-spraying clear liquid all over the wooden surface. Unfortunately, Tim's mask broke so he had to keep going to the door, taking a deep breath and running back in.

It's basically like diving - Tim

The final massive job was to shift two tonne sacks of sand across the site where it would form the foundations of another area. With only one wheelbarrow, people were grabbing buckets, cardboard boxes, pots and pretty much any recepticle they could find to fill with sand and take across. Once the bags were half empty, big teams of super strong GoodGymers were dragging them over and tipping them in. It was a spectacle.

We finished up with a thank you from the team, and I was delighted that they joined in with our workout - a GoodGym version of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.. which - you guessed it - included squats and lunges.

Mel, Ellie and Rob did an amazing job of repacking the hi-vis vests into size order and the heroic Ellie carried them back to base with the walkers.

I'm like hi-vis Santa! - Ellie B

After a team stretch out, some of us headed to the pub and Tim finally got to wear his cape with pride. There was some excellent posing with a pint and he shall run victoriously next week, with the cape blowing in the breeze. Don't miss out on that.. you can sign up here.

I leave you with a terrifying (but real) quote from our own GG Danger Man, Tim.

So, I think I'm probably fireproof too now, after all the spraying. Who's got a lighter?