'You feel connected to your city and get fit at the same time'

Members of a community fitness group say they are looking for charities to support as they commit to carrying out as many volunteering tasks as possible during January, as well as running, walking or cycling as many miles as they can.

The GoodGym York group has about 200 members with about 30 volunteers meeting every Monday to take part in a community task followed by a fitness session and then running, walking or cycling.

Ed Woollard, the group's area activator, has been involved since 2018 and has gone from driving to events to running ultra marathons - and he even met his future wife at GoodGym.

Mr Woollard says he joined the group after he moved to York some years ago and had struggled to meet people.

"I saw a Facebook advert for GoodGym and I thought the volunteering side sounds really cool, I can get involved in that and I can meet people. So I went along," he says.

"I worked away a lot and you look at ways of meeting people and it's often join a running group, but I wasn't fit so I wanted something with a bit of a difference.

"I drove to my first session, which is naughty, but I run and walk everywhere now."

Mr Woollard says he "never thought of myself as a runner", but since he started he goes along to parkrun every week.

He says he has "got so much" out of both the volunteering and the fitness side of the group's activities, "and I feel super connected to the city I live in".

The York group is part of national scheme with teams of volunteers across the UK.

It started in London in 2007 when Ivo Gormley, a regular runner, combined his daily run with dropping off a newspaper to a housebound man he knew.

In York, the team has worked on lots of the city's parks, is involved in York Pride and runs a water station at the York 10K and Yorkshire Marathon events.

It has a main group on a Monday and less regular Friday night projects are popular, after which the team's volunteers go to the pub.

"We volunteer all over York," Mr Woollard explains.

"We've been to places like Holgate Community Allotments recently, helping to dig over old allotments and get them ready for a community space.

"We started digging a patch at the allotments about two years ago and now if you visit, it's a beautiful green garden space with raised planters and grass and it looks amazing. When we went for the first time, it was a barren wasteland.

"We help the council at various parks - so, Rowntree Park, West Bank Park. We've done painting tasks across a couple of schools. Any not-for-profit or charity can reach out to us for our support."

Mr Woollard says the group is now looking for more organisations to support so it can complete its January challenge.

"We're always looking for more people we can work with and support.

"We can descend en masse. There's a good number of us and we'll come and sort you out.

"It's a really good way to feel connected to the place you live and get fit at the same time."

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