All you need is gloves...

Earlier this year, a group of Bootle residents transformed the alley between their terraces from a forlorn dumping ground to an alley garden, with a little help from Sefton Council to clear away dumped rubbish and support from the Taking Root network. Now they are up for the 'Bootle in Bloom' award and, with a couple of the original 'Fab Four' gardeners being out of action (one with a broken leg!), called on GoodGym to lend a hand. So a warm Monday evening found a different Fab Four - Pauline, Jo, Steph and Roz - donning the gardening gloves and sweeping, weeding and generally tidying to get the space ready for inspection later this week. Liz, the ringleader of the project, her husband, and others welcomed us and were justifiably proud to show us round. The garden has a Beatles theme and the group have imaginatively repurposed and upcycled all sorts of materials to create it - it was a lovely space to spend time in and to contribute to. A special welcome to Steph on attending your first GoodGym task - it was great to meet you and hope to see you again soon. After about 90 minutes of work to give a final tidy to this Long and (not) Winding Road, we had a very welcome snack and cold drink and went on our way, with fingers crossed for the competition. So much hard work and creativity has gone into this space and we wish them all the best.