What’s more exciting than writing your first report? Doing your first task at a new site!

We started by having the running group meet us at the entrance of Princes Park. We were joined by Jess (congratulations on completing the half marathon with a PB 9 minutes faster!), Aatefa, Liam, Tom (who has rejoined us after a hiatus to become a father — congrats!), Bekah, Clara, Tsitsi, and Laura (and me – Leo). The public lighting of the park, or rather the lack thereof, served as a good mood setter once we entered. The total darkness created a sense of wonder and thrill, but it also made our torches and floodlights essential. It felt a bit like a Scooby-Doo episode where you’re going on an adventure that requires everyone to partner up.

Once we found our way to the storage container, we were greeted by Lis and Katy, who guided us through the task of the day. They were delighted to have us and were very keen to distribute jobs, with even more plans in store in case we finished early.

The task was straightforward in theory, but hard work in practice. We had to clear up the entrance to the section where the parkrun starts. We were informed that it was covered in mud and could potentially be a hazard for runners. The trees were also noticeably outgrowing the fences, creating edges that weren’t dangerous but were certainly annoying and could knock your head if you were careless (see pictures for reference).

Not only was this a new site for us, but it’s also the same place where we do our fabulous, amazing, and completely unproblematic (nobody mention stickergate!) social run with parkrun, so this task was particularly close to the GoodGym Liverpool heart.

The task owners gave us the tools to succeed, and we quickly identified the shovelers, the sweepers, the trimmers, and the litter pickers. The shovelers shovelled (shocking, I know) the mud and general grit around the entrance. The sweepers used brushes to direct the mud, and any fallen branches, towards the shovelers. The trimmers took care of the overgrown branches by developing a new technique (yet to be named by Jess and Bekah) where one person would reach a high branch with the loppers and pull the whole thing down while the other did the chopping.

Poor Tom was given the opportunity to try unclogging the drain as a welcome-back gift. Alas, the darkness worked against us and we had to leave that job for another time. Regardless, this didn’t put a damper on our spirits as we continued making a significant contribution to improving the starting area of the track.

Eventually, the hour flew by and we had to gather all the tools and head back to the storage container for a quick group photo, announcements, and some surprise cake! (Thanks, Bekah.)

And because GoodGym Liverpool made the grave mistake of allowing me to write the report, here’s a genuine attempt at a poem:

New day, new people, new task

Grab your running shoes and your water flask

Trim those bushes, shovel that patch

Just don’t use the mud as a face mask

The dust has settled, all is done

In the end, we just hope you had some fun

Get some rest, you did your best

Know that to GoodGym Liverpool, you are number one

After a week of dreadful weather, the stars - or rather, our one big closest star, the sun - aligned to make a gorgeous morning. It was bright, and positively mild, such a treat after the wind and the rain. Spring was in the air, as was excitement at Goodgym Liverpool... It was Sticker Saturday, hooray!

12 of us turned up for 9am on a Saturday morning to Princes Park ready to take on the course. Miriam kindly turned up to cheerlead and take pictures, and it's always so nice to see a friendly face waving as you go round the course. Some sprinted, some ran, some jogged, some speed-walked, and we met at the finish line congregate for the group photo.

We then headed to fan favourite cafe Maw on Aigburth road, where we met Ellie and Anjie who joined us for breakfast (always allowed - you still get a sticker for coming to breakfast!) and Steph, who'd had a head start after meeting us earlier and then done her morning walk. Despite the lack of hash browns (not that I'm still going on about it or anything) Maw has an extensive menu ranging from a full vegan fry up to beef quesadillas, so everyone was happy (mostly. I'll get over it 😉).

The nice weather had inspired the runners and talk turned to upcoming runs. Thanks Vicki and Clara for some lovely ideas we might have to explore - watch this space! Whilst there we heard from beloved member Lucian who is undergoing an operation today. In a speedy attempt to catch him before he went in, Liam recorded a group message of support which we hope made him smile - good luck with your recovery Lucian, we're all thinking of you and sending our best wishes.

After much chatter and catching up, we slowly started to drift out to get on with our days after a lovely morning. Ongoing and heartfelt thanks to our fabulous Sally Ann, whose continual efforts with Sticker Saturday meant 15 people got some fresh air, exercise, and social time this morning. It's really captured our imagination, and the enthusiasm shows no signs of letting up!

The cafe for next month will be decided very shortly and the listing is available now to sign up. See you there!

A fabulous group of keen runners met promptly at 6.30 pm on Monday to run to our task! We were all looking forward to our second week at Pagoda Arts Centre, helping them prepare for their Chinese New Year celebrations. We completed a lovely 2km run through the Chinese Arch and recieved some enthusiastic cheers from passers by.

It was the night before the New Year, but unlike the night before Christmas, lots was already stiring at the centre on our arrival.

After being joined by the rest of the group we had some quick introductions and the all important safety briefing!!! The task owner, Zi Lan, gave us our directions along with some education about the three core symbols of the Chinese New Year celebrations; longevity, good fortune, and, prosperity. We were then given free reign in hanging and decorating lots of lovely artwork and decorations including setting up the display on their main feature wall!

We split off into groups, with various people measuring, planning, hammering and decorating and others assisting in moving and organising items that needed to be stored away for the festivities.

After a lot of planning, hanging and organising, we all came together at the end to finalise the main feature wall. It was lovely to see the wall finished by the end of the task and even better to complete it as a team.

I was delighted that most of the runners were happy to go back to the suitcases the long way, resulting in a total of 4 kilometers run together. A great success all round!

11 goodgymers headed to Pagoda Arts Centre on Henry Street on a cool night. It felt like there was a hint of spring in the air. The front of the centre had a snake decoration around the doorway for 2025 and in a couple of weeks the Chinese luna calendar will usher in the year of the fire horse. There were many tasks to take on to get the centre ready for the celebrations. Ellie and Sallyanne cleaned inside the centre, Nasser moved boxes and put up pictures, Liam and Laura cleaned and cleared the entrance, Bekah, Leo and Jess did some up hill gardening and litter picking, me and Sophie cleared the car park of leaves and litter and Steph got to grips with a pile of papers that needed shredding in a temperamental shredder. All while a tai chi class was in progress which we tried hard not to interrupt. We were rewarded after our tasks with Chinese tea and chocolates.

This Monday we were back helping Mulgrave Street Action Group with their Urban Space Community Garden. After our litter picking efforts last week, the area was now nice and clear and ready for the next step - digging up all the pesky weeds! Our first challenge was actually identifying the weeds and minimising unnecessary plant casualties. Khan had far too much faith in our weed spotting abilities and was surprised when further clarification was required. As Bekah rightly pointed out though, the definition of a weed is not set - a poppy could be considered a weed in a field of sunflowers! After decanting all the required equipment from the shed, we were ready to get cracking with the gardening…or so we thought….It turned out the pile of binbags we had formed was merely a collection of plastic aprons! Very handy for a painting task I guess, but not so much for collecting weeds in. Luckily eagle eyed Chris spotted a roll of bags camouflaged amongst the pile and we were able to crack on with the task at hand. Whilst the majority of the group started tackling the weeds, some of the stronger members got to dumping all the litter bags from last week and the contents of a green bin (which unfortunately passersby had been using as a general rubbish disposal place) into the skip. As 8pm approached, the garden was looking much clearer with plenty of space for the new planting planned for our next visit. Khan was very pleased with the result and grateful as always for all our help. After taking the all important group photo we headed on our way, looking forward to returning to the garden in a months time!