Tonight was another big night of celebrations as we kicked off with a round of applause for Amy W's 30th Birthday. The applause didn't last long though as it got Fergie the dog over-excited, so we then did a big round of jazz hands for all the weekend runners, especially Rich who completed the Lake District Mountain Trail whilst the rest of us were busy eating sausage rolls and drinking Gin at the Marathon du Malton. But the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Barbara who has been part of GG York since day one and earlier in the week had completed her 600th(!) good deed. What a legend! 🎉

We then numbered off by naming our favourite style of potato featuring hash browns, curly fries and roasties. Then it was off to the task with Ed leading the meaning group, backmarked by Claire. Nikki, Amy W and Tess were the walking group whilst Vicky and Abi run/walked. After a brief pause for some wall squats we arrived at the task to be greeted by Maeve from St Nicks who set us off promptly with scything, raking and digging to spruce up this area of New Walk. Amy H and Tess were having their first scything experience so received a bot of extra tuition from Maeve whilst the old pros were hacking away like there was no tomorrow.

I feel like I should be topless doing this - Rich

The cuttings soon piled up and the dumping area was a fair trek away so we set off some speedy folk to be in charge of shifting the cuttings using a tarp, a wheelbarrow and also a ton bag on top of a plank with some coasters on it. Unfortunately it did mean that there was a bit of hanging around at the end of the task, but that gave us some time to sing happy birthday to Amy W whilst doing some birthday squats. In fact, there was enough time to do it twice so Vicky could record us!

Then it was off to Tower Gardens for tonight's fitness. This time out we played a game of rock, paper, scissors that involved jumping forward when you win or going back to the start if you lost. In classic GoodGym style half the people absolutely nailed it whilst confusion reigned over the over half. After several games (more than enough time to get a handle on the rules) Abigail and the boys were declared the overall winners despite some dubious jumping going on.

Whilst all this was happening Michal had also arrived with a cake delivery to compliment the delicious brownies that Babs had brought along, so there was no shortage of sweet treats available when we got back to CVS. We then said it our goodbyes whilst some people headed off to the pub

we met

we ran in three groups

we got wet

we ate food in the pub

see photos for more details!

Tonight we started by naming and numbering up and stating our favourite exercise, then doing it. Pete demonstrated pilates beautifully (see photo) and no Amy, sleeping lions is not an exercise!

We then welcomed Nate to the group and headed off along the river to Leeman Road. When we arrived we were asked to spread some compacted soil around the grassy area. It looked simple enough but it was pretty solid so took a lot of physical labour to break up!

After 45 minutes we'd flattened one pile and made good headway in the others.

We then headed off to a grassy area for some fitness fun where everyone had to keep collecting tickets with exercises on until they were all gone. We then headed back to base where we celebrated Ed's parkrun PB and some folk headed to the pub.

Tonight we had a bumper turnout to help at the Kings wildflower meadow path.

A select group set off at party pace followed by the main group after naming and numbering off. We were also joined by a few cyclists and some folk joined us at the task.

We had a few unexpected late sign ups so we needed to split into two groups with one taking on the litter pick challenge and the other tackling dock leaves.

The litter pickers had a list of treasure to find in pairs with the tie breaker being a selfie. Mitch and Lyndsay were the only team to collect everything even though they had to climb over the fence to the beck!

Group dock leaves were introduced to a new tool - the lazy fox - which was used to slice dock leaves at their base.

Time quickly passed and we were back off to base via a few hill reps on little Hob Moor.

All our good work was rewarded with Rich's brownies, which were still warm!

On a lovely summer's evening 19 GG Yorkies braved the heat and got stuck into shifting a load of bark chip at Hull Road Park. Before setting off we celebrated remarkable Richard who had recently completed his 200th Good Deed 💪 Give him a big cheer! We then numbered off by revealing pur childhood nicknames. I won't reveal any on here but there were certainly some interesting ones!

Laura set off with a steady group, whilst Ed and the rest of the crew followed shortly after and arrived at the wrong end of the park, so needed a further dash to get to right location. Fortunately Laura's group had already got to work and were showing the rest of the gang what needed doing. The task was straightforward enough; move bags of bark chip from one location to another, then cut them open and spread. Simple!

Whilst most GGers used the classic 'bag on shoulder' method, Max took the initiative and loaded up a wheelbarrow full of bags, working smarter, not harder! We were also accompanied by some very enthusiastic kids who were keen to help shift the bags, before soon losing interest and realising it was more fun to steal them instead.

It wasn't long before all of the bark chip was moved and given a good raking by Martin and Amy. So task owner Kristina was quick to dish out spades, hoes and leafblowers and set us off to work on some edging and general park maintenance. Unfortunately GG were so enthusiastic with their edging that they revealed a bit too much and had to put some grass back to hide the pot holes!

Before long it was time for a team photo and a spot of fitness. This week the team would alternate between being plankers and (downward)doggers, and then having to make a quick dash to a nearby tree, woth varying degrees of enthusiasm. Then it was back to CVS for some quick stretches and some rhubarb courtesy of the Griffs