The famous five made a fab job of harvesting and maintaining the community plot at Gorse Hill Studios allotment this evening.

After a stop-start run from Deansgate, we convened onto the plot in the overcast sunshine, ready to get a good session in. Scott and Ben harvested a surprising number of potatoes 🥔 of many sizes, with more and more being unearthed as we scoured the plot.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev and Fanette were on bean harvesting duty 🫘 with lots of runner beans picked out, while others continued to grow. There were also lots of tomatoes 🍅 harvested from within the polytunnel, with some not quite ready to pick, so plenty more to come.

Peter was lead waterer, planter, planner, and coordinator, making sure plots were seen to and planning ahead for next year.

There was also a lot of corn 🌽 harvested plus any apples 🍎 that were ready to pick.

Very productive session, and we dropped off all the bounty to Gorse Hill Studios for them to use in their community groups.

Afterwards, we had a well earned Wetherspoons tea and beverage, making full use of the Monday night deals, before making our way home in the Manchester rain 🌧

💥 GOODGYM FUTURE LEADER NORTHERN COHORT LAUNCHES

After a brilliant Future Leader southern cohort launch last month in London, this month was the exciting launch of the Future Leader northern cohort in Manchester.

Future Leaders are young people that will be building leadership skills and care about their community, fitness and social impact - so amazing to have you all join!

To launch the Northern cohort of Future Leader we supported May from Plant MCR with the task to remove some stubborn overgrown weeds from the NOMA garden to ensure the rosemary plants, golden privet and cotton lavender can thrive. This contributed to a larger planting project Plant MCR will be doing in the autumn.

🌿 What even is a weed anyway?!
A weed is simply any plant growing where it is not wanted - there were A LOT of these.

Weeds are typically resilient, fast-spreading plants that compete with flowers or vegetables for space, water, sunlight, and nutrients.

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🏃🚶 How we got there
Denzel led a group of runners on a loop of roughly 1.3km with Jack leading the group of walkers, with photographer Ahmani capturing some brilliant shots of our active travel and task (excited to see the photos!).

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🤩 May: "The fastest bed I've ever seen cleared by a group of volunteers"
May was impressed with the groups speedy efforts at removing all the weeds (check those before and afters!) and said it was the fastest bed she'd ever seen cleared by a group of volunteers, we'll take that.

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🙌 Thank you Jane!
We also had a very special guest speaker - we are so appreciative of Jane Dennison, Founder and CEO of MileShy Club who came in to share her inspiring story and provide some really useful insights and advice on the future of community and sport. Thank you so much for coming!

❤ Why this is so important
We supported Plant Co-operative CIC - a multi award-winning not-for-profit urban gardening collective formed in the spring of 2021. They specialise in transforming and managing public spaces in Manchester, bringing the community together through gardening.

They showcase the benefits that can be shared by all involved in community gardening, increased biodiversity, improved social connection and mental health, and ultimately creating a city of gardeners helping to create and maintain more public green spaces.

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👏 Good deeds galore

Huge well done and congrats on your 1st, speedy good deed Muhammad, Nour, Jasmine, Maya, Polly, Shahram, Archer, Evgeniia, Theo, Kaichao and Megan.

Congrats to Amelia on your 17th good deed!

Such great work everyone 🙌🙌🙌

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Both Southern and Northern Future Leader cohorts are now LAUNCHED - this so exciting and it was so great to meet you all in London and Manchester - I'm already inspired by your energy, thoughts and ideas and so excited to see what you all make happen.

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Final thank you to Altogether Collective for hosting us for the day.

Another month, another Manchester Post delivery. This time, we were collecting the newspapers from the local library in Fallowfield, at The Place on Platt Lane, to deliver to nearby streets.

Likely due to lots being picked up from the library by locals, we only had around 100 newspapers 📰 this time between the three GoodGymers.

Sanjeev played the supporting role while Julia was on first name terms with any passers-by or locals who were curious about what we were doing. Very thankful for an ice lolly on a warm day too!

A quick jog home in the evening sun rounded off the task for Ben and Sanjeev, while Julia made her way home with a Manchester Post in hand.

Busy morning as Run Director at Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 309. A couple of incidents and lots of people, including local mayor Bev Craig.

Great big THANK YOU to all 27 volunteers who enabled event number 309 to go ahead!! 🦺👏

This morning, 517 people completed the dusty 5 km route. Welcome to 119 who visited us for the first time, especially the 18 people completing their FIRST EVER parkrun 🌱👏 There were 72 PBs and 11 people both running and volunteering 💪

Julia (and Wojciech) helped out the gang at Shakespearean Gardens for their annual open day.

Initially, they were involved with the set-up, putting up the gazebos around the site for the various activities through the day. Julia hung on to help out on the homemade cake stall, with lots of delicious cake on sale to raise money for charity on a wonderfully sunny day.

Thanks Stefanie for the photos! Super effort from Julia on a long but enjoyable day.

New task location tonight as we went to help out 422 Community Hub based in Longsight. The group carry out a range of community activities including a baby bank, cafe, pantry, meeting space, and local hub.

This evening we loaded our bags with a list of items the pantry was short of, including: tinned tuna, sweetcorn, baby wipes, tea, coffee, squash, and long-life milk. 4 or 5 carrier bags full of food to go towards the pantry over the school holidays.

After placing the items safely in the Keter box at the back of the centre, we used the Clean Up UK litterpicking supplies to clear up discarded litter from the surrounding streets. In just over an hour, we filled up 4 refuse sacks of rubbish, with lots having blown around in the wind. We placed them next to a public bin and reported them to Keep MCR Tidy for collection.

We'll likely be back at the community hub in the future to help with sorting baby bank items and for some painting, so keep an eye out for that.