Jo G

A team of 11 Goodgym walkers and runners set out to brighten up the SANCTUARY Yarden.

Gathering around the Suitcases, the energy was bubbling as new and old Goodgym members met. It was brilliant to have Frances join us, returning to help this brilliant charity. After a top to toe warm up, we headed off. Pauline leading the walking group and the runners taking a scenic route to admire the Wigwam and Giraffe buildings before rendevousing in Crown St Park. Selfies and parading complete the team met the wonderful Maddie who had everything ready to go. A mix of clearing top soil, weeding and emptying soil commenced with the team working slickly. Two planters were completely revived with fresh compost and the rest were weeded and topped. The difference was considerable and left the Yarden looking much more fitting of the place name.

Well done team for the great effort, thanks to Pauline for walk leading and photos and to Steph for the pun!

The Liverpool Half Marathon and 10 Miler are a key date in the city's running calendar, and when a call came up for people to help with support on the day, we were very happy to step in. Our role was to run the 9 mile water station, just as the runners come up to Otterspool Prom to start their route back to the finish at Pier Head in the city centre. Jo was first on scene just before 8am to pick up the van keys from Alan, the race director, shortly afterwards joined by Steph, then Ro, Ema, Pauline and Mat. Among other things, we learned that it is much more efficient to decide on the final position for your tables BEFORE putting all the little water bottles out. However, with a bit of careful lifting we maneouvred the tables without too much drama. Then all we had to do was proudly display our GoodGym banner and wait for the first runners to come through. There was great teamwork today with Steph replenishing one table, Ro and Ema the other, Pauline directing people as they approached the area, Mat clearing away the empties, and Jo doing a bit of everything. By around 11.15 after nearly three hours and a lot of cheering, we were finished and ready to pack up and retreat to the nearby cafe for some well earned refreshment.

A sunny Saturday afternoon, following on from a fab GoodGym turnout at Princes parkrun, saw me cycling to Mrs V's house to get her ground floor windows clean. She was well equipped with bucket and cloths, and it didn't take long to get them sparkling again. We chatted about her lovely front patio garden, which has for many years been admired by neighbours and passers-by - but the back garden, mostly laid to lawn, needs a bit of TLC which she can't manage these days due to multiple disabilities. I hope that we'll be able to make a return visit sometime to help her again.

We began our monthly GoodGym does parkrun tour with eight of us and Penny Flo (furry GoodGymer) at Princes Park parkrun Amongst us were 6 seasoned parkruners and two discovering the joy of all things parkrun for the very first time.

With a mild and dry day it was perfect running weather and the Princes Park team where joyous and supportive as always. 2 and a half laps round the park, taking in the wildflowers and the wildlife, including the birds on the lake, the squirrels hiding in the trees, and all the barkrun dogs (with some more eager to run than others)

Five of us run and three walked, with finishing times ranging from 24:08 to 58:46 as just like GoodGym, parkrun is for everyone!

A huge congratulations to Steph and Phillip for there first parkrun, hopfully of many to come!

The next of our monthly parkruns will be on October 2nd at Crosby

And we will also be starting a GoodGym Volunteer Takover once a quarter to help support the amazing volunteers teams at our local parkruns, so keep an eye on the listings to get involved.

Coming together to do up this miniature railway, none of us stayed Station-ary for very long! Our task was to help in anyway to restore the railway grounds to a usable condition again. Arthur greeted us at the gate and explained how Covid and a fire had impacted operations. With many areas needing TLC (train loving care) we scoped it out, choochoosed a tool and got to work. A bed full of weeds, some tree clearing, pathway weeding, timber flower bed repairs, timber sawing and raking out. We conducted our work with aplomb. Nothing was going to derail us. It was a great way to let off some steam at the end of a week and we’ve a return ticket in the bag.

Well done to Steph and Pauline for their long distance travels to make it. It was great to have Tony back and sawing the logs ready for the fire, Ben getting us from the best angles(check out social media pages soon) , Libby coming up with the best pun whilst tree clearing, Ruth clearing the bed of weeds, Steph raking the soil clear of weeds, Jess and Lee clearing and repairing the timber flower beds, Roz and Emma clearing the walkways, Eimear and Jo clearing the trees and Matt digging.

You made a big impact and we’ve given the miniature railway group further and hope. With a return journey we could bring it closer to …. getting back on track