Clara and I arrived at Mrs E’s and she excitedly showed us all that needed to be done. She showed us which plants were weeds and which ones were intentional which we were very relieved about as both of us struggle to tell the difference! There was a patch of grass that looked like overgrown lawn and Mrs E said that this was actually a flower bed and we needed to strip the grass out. She had lots of tools and very helpfully kneeling mats for us to use. We started at the front and worked our way back. I tackled one side while Clara tackled the other. It was one of those tasks where we didn’t know where to stop. So, we stopped when the green bin was full and when we had exposed all the borders that had been hidden under the undergrowth. Luckily we took before and after pictures so we could see what a difference we had made. We pruned the lilac tree and also carefully weeded around the geraniums which we were instructed to keep in tact. During the task we talked about the film Mamma Mia and this started an earworm of ‘Slipping through my fingers’ which we felt could work as a pun because the grass and weeds had been slipping through our fingers too. Slipping through our fingers until we got a grip on them and tugged them out. We swept the path and asked Mrs E to come and inspect. She seemed very pleased about the transformation. She said that it was a great start that would help her to get out and maintain it. This was just the front garden… Mrs E told us about was needed in the back too so we suggested that might be another visit.

On a finally cool summer evening, Goodgym assembled at St James Gardens to get to work giving the park a bit of a spruce up.

We divided into three teams: Bekah and Sallyann on the litter picking, Ellie, Dina and Clara on the weeding and Naser and Vikky on bench varnishing duty.

We were joined by Friends of St James Gardens who provided fun facts (like what a pineapple weed is) and witty jokes (a lorry carrying Strepsils overturned on the motorway; there was no congestion).

We soon got 'into the groove' of the task, quite literally in the case of the weeding, whereby we were digging up weeds between the paving slabs. Likewise the varnishing team successfully varnished two of the newly installed (and very nice looking) benches for years to come by very carefully applying Varnish into all the 'grooves'. Even the litter picking duo conquered the 'grooves' of the park, retrieving litter from some of the nooks and crannies.

All in all, after two benches varnished, two bin bags filled and a good chunk of patio was weeded, we called it a night and said our goodbyes before heading off in our various directions until next week!

This Monday's task was to help deliver the latest edition of the local community newsletter. Calling it a newsletter doesn't really do it justice – it's a hefty booklet packed with stories, events and all the good news happening across the community.

We were joined by Peter, who was born in the area and followed on from John leading The Shewsy Youth Centre and has a long history with it, having first attended as an eight-year-old. Peter and John clearly go back a long way, and their banter was one of the many highlights of the the evening.

Before we set off, Clara did a brilliant job making sure everyone knew which streets they were covering, keeping us organised so there was no doubling up and no roads missed.

Clara teamed up with Dina, and a big congratulations were in order for Dina, who quietly completed her fifth Goodgym task over the weekend. . It already feels like you've been part of the group for much longer Dina.

Aatefa and Heetu had run to the task before heading off to cover their patch. Heetu enthusiastically grabbed a huge bag of newsletters, apparently running to the task wasn't enough exercise for her – she decided to fit in a bit of weight training too.

As we all drew to the end of our paper rounds we waved to Naser and Peter who were just a few houses down. But they stood for a long time ... what was wrong? Nothing! they were just continuing their conversation and as they said 'putting the world's to rights'. Naser never fails to make fabulous connections with people wherever we go so I dont know why I hadn't realised.

The paper round complete, we all headed home, another Monday night task ticked off.

I'll finish with an indulgent reflection, seeing as I'm the one writing the report! It struck me that over the course of this weekend I'd spent time with every single Goodgymmer who was on tonight's task. I'd also been in Everton on Saturday's task with John, our task owner. Moments like that remind me why Goodgym means so much to me. Spending time together, doing something positive for our communities, doesn't just benefit the places we visit – it nourishes and nurtures me. I'm incredibly grateful to be part of it