Monday 31st October 2022
Report written by Nicky Woodall (she/her)
๐ฆ A small but perfectly formed band of GoodGymmers dodged the trick or treaters to head to our Halloween group run this evening. A last minute cancellation of our second task due to the potential of rain (which didn't actually materialise until we were almost back at base at the end of the evening) meant that we were all headed to West Bank Park ๐ฆ๏ธ
๐ First up though, we warmed up by chatting about our favourite things about autumn. There was a lot of love for autumnal colours, but also an appreciation for mushrooms and the extra hour's sleep we enjoyed at the weekend ๐ด
๐ Mitch led us on a route specifically designed to avoid the hoards of trick or treaters amassing on the streets. This generally worked very effectively, apart from when we were nearly run into by one over-zealous trick or treaters. There was appreciation for the route over the little railway bridge so a big thank you to Mitch ๐
๐ช On arrival, we were greeted by Kristina who split us into two groups - Team Dig and Team Leaf. Again, Leanne was keen to volunteer, this time for Team Dig. Others followed in her footsteps and there quickly assembled a worthy group of keen diggers, working around the new pond. There was a pile of soil to be dug out and re-distributed around the area, with the help of spades, wheelbarrows and even rakes to smooth over the ground. Ingenious. And only a few accusations of standing around as Pete had a chat with Kristina (he also did lots of hard work, honest). We heard from Kristina about the ongoing plans for the new pond area, which sound very exciting ๐ธ
๐ Meanwhile, Team Leaf headed up (with great enthusiasm from Mitch in particular) to the other end of the park and split into three teams to tackle the autumnal deluge of leaves that has fallen recently. There was particular delight at the prospect of using the leaf clappers and only minor disappointment that the leaf blowers weren't available. Many leaves were collected and transported to the big compost bins, protecting the grass and hopefully making the paths less slippy too ๐
๐ท๏ธ It was soon time to pack up and do our Halloween-inspired fitness session. From spider kicks, to guillotine chops with zombie kicks in between, it was quite the spectacle to watch and hopefully deterred any wannabe ghouls who may have been working. Thank you for your enthusiasm everyone, and being willing to get involved in this "novel" fitness approach ๐๏ธโโ๏ธ๐๏ธโโ๏ธ
๐๐ผโโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธAfter our final zombie sprint, we headed back to base, still attempting to avoid the final trick or treaters who were lurking. Sadly, we didn't manage to avoid the rain but after a quick cool down and chat about what we've got coming up this week, we were ready to dry off and warm up โ
๐ธ๏ธ Thank you everyone, spooktakular stuff ๐ป
York
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