James is a volunteer at the All Saints Pavement Church and he had a big leaf problem.

Fortuitously, this request came on the first Thursday of the month which coincidentally is Beer Runner night!

Now we at GoodGym have an excellent relationship with the York Beer Runners, there are many dual members amongst the two groups and Beer Runners was co-founded by our very own run leader, Nick.

We put out a call to action and received an excellent response. Within one hour there were 9 keen runners signed up, most of whom had at some point been to a GG session.

I arrived with 9 pairs of gloves to a warm welcome from James and his lovely wife.

Lizzie set about with the leaf blower, under strict but simple instructions.

Make sure it is set to blow, not suck

Out of the darkness appeared not one, not two, but NINE EXTRA Beer Runners who had heard all about the task and wanted to join in. They were swarming in!

It was an absolute hive of activity as everybody gathered literally every single leaf in that churchyard, much to the delight of James.

Many hands make light work and it didn't take 18 people very long at all to fill all those bags of leaves. Massive thanks to York Beer Runners!

On our biggest ever bank holiday turnout, we ran to St Aidan's Church for a whole bunch of tasks!

There was a whole lot to celebrate including an engagement (Congratulations Ellie and Ben) and a big birthday too (birthday squats for Babs). We also celebrated having a fantastic FIVE new runners joining us, so give your best cheers to:

• Anya
• Lindsay E
• Tristan W
• Claire
• Alistair

On arrival at St Aidan's, Church Warden Rachel was armed (with tools) and ready for us. People were being sent off in all different directions for weeding, sweeping, a huge edging task, bagging up scrap wood and hedge cuttings, trimming the hedge, litter picking and more. Probably the toughest task of the evening was scraping all the moss and debris off the footpaths using spades and hand tools.

You need ear defenders for this! - Nick

One of the more unusual tasks was err.. washing the car park? I wasn't entirely sure why to begin with but all became clear as the mud and dirt came away and all the old car parking lines were revealed, ready to be repainted.

On the footpath, nobody was sure that they were making any difference because it was a lot of hard graft. But one of the church helpers was very reassuring and said how fantastic it looked.

It's just that you can't see straight because of all the running!

Seems reasonable. The edging teams were going strong and making the external perimeter of the church grounds absolutely pristine. Ben didn't know, but Ellie was having a secret competition of who was edging the straightest lines and had already declared herself the winner.

With five minutes to go and the hard bristled brush making an appearance, the footpath was transformed and all that hard graft was definitely worthwhile. Tonne bags full of wood and cuttings were dragged to the front and piled up. There was just enough time for a group pic before we ran to Acomb Green for a very exciting fitness session.

It's Cha Cha Slide, but with squats!

I was very impressed with everyone's coordination, especially Leanne who had taken a leading role despite only seeing a ten second snippet of my choreography. It was so good that I think we may make this the official dance of GoodGym York.

As soon as the song was over, Mitch led the charge into the park for a play on the slide and I gave everyone ten seconds to get up the bank before the run back to base. After a stretch out, I invited those who were feeling brave to join the Cha-Cha Slide plank challenge and a surprising number were up for it. Kudos to Becky and Aidan for hanging on in there but it was Aoife 'abs of steel' Burke who definitely won!