The Paper Cup Project works to support people who are sleeping rough or experiencing homelessness in Liverpool. They do incredible work getting food and clothing, medical support and, when possible, accommodation to people who need it most. Their next project is to open a cafe which will provide training and support for people wanting to get back into employment, as well as a safe place to access advice and information.

On a rainy evening eight GoodGymers came together to add a little bit of support to the project by scraping off old wallpaper, painting some walls, and up-cycling some stools. We had walkers, runners and cyclists amongst us, and set to working in the dim light (the cafe doesn't have full lighting yet!) with some of us getting more paint on ourselves than the walls!

A huge welcome back to Grace, everyone loved seeing you again!

We will be going back to the cafe to help again at some point, and most definitely to enjoy a cuppa and slice of cake once they are open.

A sunny Thursday in Anfield saw 9 Goodgymmers meet at Dobsons court.

A huge well done to our very active bunch: Phillip, Sallyann, Pauline and Anne Marie who cycled, Ema who walked and Helena who ran! A really incredible effort!

After a quick introduction and welcome to Leanne for her first ever task with goodgym , the runners set off for a quick 3km loop around the beautiful Newsham park, taking in the wildlife along the way (read 'stopping to pet dogs' ) whilst the walkers did a 1km route in the local area. It was lovely to see Anne Marie back in action!

The task took place at Dobson Court, a sheltered housing scheme who recently put together The Grow it, Plant it, Eat it project with the support of their Scheme Manager Alison Rose and Older Persons Specialist Nicky Rowlands (Onward Homes) The project was awarded funding from The Dutchy of Lancashire and Liverpool Community Environment Fund. Enabling the resident’s group to make a transformation of the gardens, alongside activities such as planting from seed, making window boxes, chillies, and sunflower growing competitions plus much more. They recognised as a group they needed some support with some of the physical tasks of putting up our gardening arches, and thats where goodgym came in, getting right to it, digging holes, leveling the ground, erecting the arches as well as putting up some solar lights.

By the time we left the residents we thrilled with the garden improvements, and even invited us back for tea and cake! We cannot wait to see what the arches look like with plants on and will definitely be keeping in touch to find out and help with any future digging/heavy lifting!

On a lovely warm evening Helena and Matthew from GoodGym joined three others, Chantelle from a local charity and the ever amazing James and Jimmy from Alley Angels, in order to pick in an area of Anfield, nicknamed "The Square" by James because of the amount of litter that is dumped here.

Massive shout out to Helena for coming along, and for running to and from the pick as it is quite a distance from where she lives.

With 5 enthusiastic pickers we managed to clear something like 8 bags in just under an hour and a half and spoke with lots of locals about what we are trying to do. It was great to meet old friends and new ones and to know we are making a small but visible difference in the battle against this horrible blight.

If anyone has a place in Liverpool they would like to have picked and they are reading this, or indeed anywhere that GoodGym has a group, then please contact us and we will surely be able to come and help out at some point.

It was so nice to be back running in a team this week!

On a sunny evening, a group of 13 runners and walkers gathered in my favourite Liverpool park for a session I'd named 'Trail Running 101'. As city dwellers, we don't really have proper trails and Liverpool really lacks hills, but as a fun introduction to non-road running, the lap around the outside of Calderstones Park offers a taste of what fun trail running can be.

A huge GoodGym welcome to lots of newbies including Sean, Natasha and Kate.

As well as a few folks who have only joined in the last few weeks. It is fabulous to see ever more people joining the GoodGym Liverpool crew and having fun, getting fit and doing good together, even in these challenging times.

It was of course, also a great pleasure for me to catch-up with many of the long-standing GoodGym family and to meet new Area Activator Ema properly, following a good few online chats :)

We set off around the trail taking it steady, with everyone chatting away and comfortably completing the first 3km(ish) loop. Those who still had plenty of energy went for a second loop and challenged themselves to run a little fast this time, especially on my favourite downhill section.

Everyone did an amazing job and I'd love to run with you all again. Talking of... there are still 3 places left for my Trail Run: Intermediate Session next month. If you're ready for challenge, make sure you sign-up here.

Happy running!