It’s Not All About the Stickers!

It’s month three of 2026, and our enthusiasm for stickers has not waned—but our monthly parkrun meet-up has always been about so much more.

On this bright spring day, eight GoodGymmers arrived at Princes Park. It was Princes parkrun 15th birthday and the week of Goodgym Liverpool's 8th birthday so plenty to celebrate.

As we gathered at the start line, it was immediately obvious the massive difference Monday’s task had made. It’s a well-attended parkrun, and as overhanging bushes and mud had encroached, there had been less and less space for everyone to gather. Today, the pavements were visible again, the space freed up, and the vegetation looking decidedly healthier after a good prune.

GoodGym got a shout-out at the briefing for the work that had been done, and marshals were calling out their thanks as we made our way around the course. It’s so lovely to reap the benefits ourselves and see just how much it has helped everyone. Kudos to Steph for making the connection with the Friends of Princes Park last month.

The route is two and a half laps. Aatefa flew round as always and despite not being able to come to breakfast ensured that we got the group photos

Huge congratulations Steph on a PB! Steph has been training consistently, and it’s really paying off. With a half marathon on the horizon, she’s more than ready.

Talking of training, Liam is going to do the Run Leader training, which we’re all really pleased about. In true Liam fashion, he arrived after the runners had already started—but still ran strong, overtaking people along the way. Apparently when he passed me, I was chatting (as if!).

Clara continues to inspire —speed-walking the course before launching into a lightning-fast 100m sprint finish. Bekah joined her today and reported she had to skip at times just to keep up… and that final sprint? Phenomenal. And that’s coming from Bekah, who is known for her fast walking—so ............!

Well done to Suren who completed his parkrun beforehand by running across the city from home to the park to cheer everyone on and come for breakfast.

As we gathered for photos, I spotted a GoodGym t-shirt—it was Alex from Hackney/Walthamstow! After a chat (and me delaying her, naturally - have you met our Dan who moved to London? Will you be in our photos? will you come for breakfast?), we had the obligatory photo before she rushed off later than she expected to meet her friends. Lovely to meet you, Alex.

Jo—our parkrun legend with 408 runs and 345 volunteer credits—saved the day when Bekah realised she’d left her bag behind. Jo contacted the team, located it, and arranged for it to be kept safe. Absolute star.

Then it was on to Minna Café, where Eleanor and Steph were waiting with Heetu —who we’ve all missed while she’s been working away. She only got home last night, and yayyy we are so happy to see her back!

Minna was busy as ever, but Ellie had somehow secured a table for ten… and as if by magic, our surprise tenth Goodgymmer arrived—Dike! After a night shift and a short rest, he still made it to join us. Incredible effort.

And huge congratulations to Dike for a phenomenal result at the Liverpool Half Marathon—1 hour 47 minutes! With the Brighton Marathon coming up in April, which he is running to raise funds for Sense we know he’s going to smash it.

So… back to the stickers.

Steph, as always on the ball, handed them out. Liam is already aiming for a full card and was asking if that earns him a holiday in Barbados! As Ellie reminded us, the prizes and categories are top secret—but just in case, don’t go applying for that passport yet…

We meet. We fill our sticker cards. We look for ways to earn more and try to guess the secret categories.

But the truth is—we’ve already won the biggest prize.

A community where each of us is seen, supported, and respected. A space where we come together in unity and friendship. A shared desire to do good, and to give our time to help and support.

We are Liverpool GoodGym.

What’s more exciting than writing your first report? Doing your first task at a new site!

We started by having the running group meet us at the entrance of Princes Park. We were joined by Jess (congratulations on completing the half marathon with a PB 9 minutes faster!), Aatefa, Liam, Tom (who has rejoined us after a hiatus to become a father — congrats!), Bekah, Clara, Tsitsi, and Laura (and me – Leo). The public lighting of the park, or rather the lack thereof, served as a good mood setter once we entered. The total darkness created a sense of wonder and thrill, but it also made our torches and floodlights essential. It felt a bit like a Scooby-Doo episode where you’re going on an adventure that requires everyone to partner up.

Once we found our way to the storage container, we were greeted by Lis and Katy, who guided us through the task of the day. They were delighted to have us and were very keen to distribute jobs, with even more plans in store in case we finished early.

The task was straightforward in theory, but hard work in practice. We had to clear up the entrance to the section where the parkrun starts. We were informed that it was covered in mud and could potentially be a hazard for runners. The trees were also noticeably outgrowing the fences, creating edges that weren’t dangerous but were certainly annoying and could knock your head if you were careless (see pictures for reference).

Not only was this a new site for us, but it’s also the same place where we do our fabulous, amazing, and completely unproblematic (nobody mention stickergate!) social run with parkrun, so this task was particularly close to the GoodGym Liverpool heart.

The task owners gave us the tools to succeed, and we quickly identified the shovelers, the sweepers, the trimmers, and the litter pickers. The shovelers shovelled (shocking, I know) the mud and general grit around the entrance. The sweepers used brushes to direct the mud, and any fallen branches, towards the shovelers. The trimmers took care of the overgrown branches by developing a new technique (yet to be named by Jess and Bekah) where one person would reach a high branch with the loppers and pull the whole thing down while the other did the chopping.

Poor Tom was given the opportunity to try unclogging the drain as a welcome-back gift. Alas, the darkness worked against us and we had to leave that job for another time. Regardless, this didn’t put a damper on our spirits as we continued making a significant contribution to improving the starting area of the track.

Eventually, the hour flew by and we had to gather all the tools and head back to the storage container for a quick group photo, announcements, and some surprise cake! (Thanks, Bekah.)

And because GoodGym Liverpool made the grave mistake of allowing me to write the report, here’s a genuine attempt at a poem:

New day, new people, new task

Grab your running shoes and your water flask

Trim those bushes, shovel that patch

Just don’t use the mud as a face mask

The dust has settled, all is done

In the end, we just hope you had some fun

Get some rest, you did your best

Know that to GoodGym Liverpool, you are number one

Spring has finally sprung! Which means only one thing here at GoodGym Liverpool.... we are back at Everton Park! And finally a task which could only have been done in the dark.

The 9 of us met John from Friends of Everton Park at the view point where we were briefed on the task. Our misson? To find every street lamp that wasn't working and make a note of the (often elusive) number. When describing the task John had to take us to no less than three different street lamps before finding one that had a clear number, so we knew this would not be a task for the faint-hearted.

We split into 3 groups and off we went into the night to discover a surprisingly large number of broken street lamps. Thanks to our hard work, the council will now know exactly which lamps will need fixing- well done everybody!

To end the night John treated us to a few historical facts about the park and a rather spectacular view over the city. All in all, a Monday well spent and the perfect night to officially welcome Clara to task force. So glad to have you on board!

The news has been bad this week so it’s always nice to be able to do something good in the world when everything else seems so out of your control. Even if it is just a small corner doing something feels like getting back a bit of control.

It was a bright fresh spring Saturday morning and Vikky, who is both a GoodGymer and a coordinator for Friends of St James's Gardens had booked us for a task to help keep the gardens fresh for the spring.

Stef, Nasser, Ellie and myself went with Vikky onto the St James’s mount side of the beautiful Anglican Cathedral. We all said it was a part of the gardens we hadn’t realised was there and Vikky explained that it was a part that was often overlooked. For this reason it had become overgrown. We set about litterpicking on the mount and Nasser and Ellie got stuck in pruning back the privet hedge. The litterpicking was wild, the mount had attracted some unwanted attention and there was all manner of crazy items to be found in the bushes from tents to saws. The hedge made great progress. It was very satisfying to see.

Once we finished the task. I had a wander back through the main gardens and saw some of the fruits of our labour from last spring in the shape of some snowdrops looking so beautiful beneath the graves. The news at the moment might be deeply troubling but small shoots remind us that we are not helpless in making change.

This Monday we were back again supporting Mulgrave Street Action Group with the Urban Space Community Garden for a weeding task. Not sure how a month has gone by already. Four Goodgymers ran from the suitcases with Jess cheering them all the way! The rest of us met at the task. We were all warmly welcomed by Khan, who as all dearest readers will already know, has far too much faith in our weed identification skills. Each time he gives us a new nugget of information to support with our weeding endeavours and on this occasion, the advice was "do you like it" and "does it bring you joy"?

Now this of course prompted much debate especially as anyone who knows Sallyann will know that anything green and alive brings joy. The humble dandelion got a particular shout out for the joy it can bring. However, Bekah and Jess were on hand with a clear and methodical approach - "it's spikey, it doesn't bring me joy. Get it gone!"

Tonight also marked the inauguration of one of our new Litterpicker Leaders - Clara . Without haste in this new role, a litter pick around the community garden and surrounding area was carried out by Clara and Ellie, both of whom received lovely words of thanks as they went which motivated them further with the task. The task ended against the backdrop of evening prayers from the local mosque. The 4 bags of weeds and 3 bags of rubbish and knowing that we are returning in a month certainly brought us all joy. Speaking of joy - congratulations to Aatefa who has now completed 5 tasks, to Jess who has completed 20 and Ellie who has completed a whopping 70!

Four goodgymers first met for a fitness session led by Sallyann at the suitcases. This primarily centred on some resistance band training and cardio exercises. To support Dike with his own marathon training, he was pushed to lap fellow goodgym runners twice and nearly managed it - Dike we know you'll absolutely smash it and we're cheering you all the way! Then onto some hill drills which Aatefa flew through. The fitness session centred on some resistance band training which led to something resembling a form of crab dance.

Our fab four became five at the Philharmonic where we then spent some time planning potential future goodgym tasks and forging further links in our community. The passion for goodgym could be clearly felt. Upcoming social activities were also shared including the annual goodgym party (celebrating its 8th year!!) with a request for a repeat of Dike's fabulous fried chicken being clearly made. And finally, as we were in the Philharmonic pub, it would have been remiss of us not to see the iconic toilets. The Philharmonic pub was the first purpose-built Victorian pub in England to be given Historic England’s highest honour of a Grade 1 listing and the spectacular loos get a shout out in Bill Bryson's travel book, Notes from a Small Island too. Fired up with new ideas - watch this space for future goodgym tasks