Longley Woods are looking a little lovelier following GoodGym Huddersfield's efforts last night. It was great to see eight Huddersfield GoodGymmers up for the task, and also perhaps appreciating a slightly shorter and flatter run than usual.

It's always good to do a task for a fellow GoodGymmer, so it was great that Louise Galvin, who has been involved with GoodGym Huddersfield from the start, was able to come up with some jobs for GoodGym to do in the woods. Louise met us on site, well prepared with a car load of tools, black bags and gloves for us to use. As well as a spot of litter picking, which is fast becoming a regular feature of our tasks, there was also some woodland vegetation to cut back and special mission for those brave enough to accept it.

Chris Green and myself were well up for this latter option and willing rose to the challenge of a run up Dog Kennel Bank to clean the Longley Woods Nature Reserve sign which has become quite green over the years since it was installed. Louise had provided all we needed in a little cleaning kit, water, vinegar solution, cloths, and even a couple of hi-viz jackets. Anyway 20 minutes of spraying and scrubbing later the sign was almost as good as new, and definitely pretty than it had been previously....have a look at the "before" and "after" shots above if you don't believe us!

Chris and I enjoyed the run back down Dog Kennel Bank to join the others picking, poking, cutting and chopping deep in the woods. Kati Law was definitely finding the litter picking strangely addictive, "just one more" she kept saying as I was trying to to drag her away at the end of the task! When it comes to litter it seems that Lambrini bottles are highly prized, and Pauline Williamson was becoming particularly adept at finding them in the undergrowth. Andrew Cooper was also well into the litter picking, venturing far and wide, returning with a bulging black bag. Meanwhile, Louise, Ben Godfrey and first time GoodGymmer Chris Shaw were busy lopping limbs from trees and banishing brambles to ensure the woodland pathways remained clear.

Following forty minutes of frenetic work it was time to move on. The shorter run left plenty of time for a fitness session, so after saying farewell to Louise we headed off to the university campus for fifteen minutes of outdoor bodyweight exercise. Step-ups, press-ups, tricep dips and jumping jacks were enough to almost finish us all off, and for once the Huddersfield GoodGymmers were uncharacteristically quite quiet as we ran back to the Stadium!

By the time we'd had a good stretch and a bit of recovery, we had enough energy to chat, and the consensus was that once again GoodGym Huddersfield got a good job done well. Thanks to everyone for their efforts once again, and also to Chris Shaw for this week's title.

After weeks of planning and arranging it was simply superb to finally get out and get GoodGym Huddersfield running. And what a stunning night it was!

With sunshine to start and a full moon to finish, even the weather gods were supporting GoodGym Huddersfield last night! Needless to say, they weren’t to only ones, 26 eager runners and a number other guests (including the Mayor of Kirklees) turned out for the launch at the Stadium Health and Fitness Club. We made the most of the late September sunshine, doing the launch speeches and photographs outside before heading off on the 2.5K run to Dalton for our first ever task.

Growing works are a small Huddersfield charity who promote wellbeing by providing opportunities for local people to get outside and grow stuff on their various allotment plots. Their Dalton site has been expanding rapidly, and the Huddersfield GoodGymmers were very happy to help out there. Rachel and Sue of Growing works had been busy setting up loads of interesting tasks for us to do in the 45 minute work window. Sawing firewood, trimming back edges, sifting soil, preparing growing beds, and shifting compost all ensured the GoodGymmers stayed active, kept moving and remained warm as the sun went down and the headtorches came out. There was even time to check out Growing works' brand new allotment loo (of which they are rightly proud!)

I'm informed by Sue that the there is always plenty of stuff to do on the Growing works allotments and I am sure GoodGym Huddersfield will be returning to help out again in the future. If you would like to find out more about the fantastic work Growing works does in the local community take a look at http://www.growingworks.org.uk/

Buzzing from a bit of hard labour the run back was even quicker than the run there. Another 2.5K but this time with a hill effort up Ridgeway, just prior to the final downhill of the night back to our start point at the Stadium.

Well done and thanks to all the GoodGymmers who have helped make Huddersfield’s inaugural task such a success, especially those who were attending a GoodGym group run for the first time, including Karen Redgewick, Chris Green, Louise Galvin, Jenn Flaherty, Pauline, Andy Loyd, Natalie Sampson and Andrew Cooper. Special thanks also to our GoodGym friends from Barnsley and Sheffield who popped over the hills to help support GoodGym Huddersfield’s first run.

Last night’s activity goes to prove that Growing works….and so does GoodGym!