After a spell of hot weather, Peter and Ben went along to Gorse Hill Studios allotments to help with some of the maintenance on the community plot there.

We weeded a lot of the polytunnel, footpaths, beds, and trimmed back the grass growing around the edges in some parts. With the ground very dry, we watered as much as we could to save the currently growing sweetcorn, carrots, chives, salad, and vast collection of beans that had taken root in some of the raised beds. It was hot work running in the late April sunshine!

On the way, there wasn't much litter near Deansgate, and the canal towpath was generally pretty tidy. On the way home, there was some litter picking close to Rusholme and Longsight that was reported to Keep MCR Tidy.

Welcome to Ruth for your first GoodGym session! Great to meet you.

This evening, we were asked by Peter from Acacias Community Primary School to help clear an area for a growing/gardening site, accessible for the pupils and parents to use for growing herbs, fruit, and veg. Before that, a lot of weeds and rubble needed taking out, which is where we came in.

With a variety of tools, including a pickaxe and smaller hand tools, Ruth, Fanette, and Ben made their way around the the site removing anything that shouldn't be there, including lots of Galium aparine (otherwise known as sticky weed or sticky willy). In the process, we unearthed a few self-seeded trees and old compost bins, the latter we used for some of the green waste, while an extendable saw was used to chop overhanging branches from the neighbours.

Peter, fresh from the Manchester marathon (congrats) as a long-distance memory now, joined to chop the branches into smaller chunks and tried to remove as much of the underlying membrane as possible.

Given the speed of the weeding, we even managed to clear the raised beds, leaving the healthy-looking strawberry plants to keep growing. We also potted up some smaller horse-chestnuts that had sprouted, possibly to use for a science class to show the seed and parts of the plant. We also found a cat scarer/deterrant, mistaken for a garden meter (?), that thankfully isn't now in use.

All in all, a productive evening and we even managed to stay relatively dry despite the circling rain clouds. We will be back in 2 weeks to help dismantle the rotting beds and re-build new ones so the pupils and parents can make full use for the plot.

Welcome to David for your first GoodGym task!

After a ~4 km run along the canal from the city centre for Peter and Ben, we collected the key from Gorse Hill Studios and met with Katie to see what seeds could be planted out. They had some potted up and boxes of seeds so we took what was ready and able to be planted outside in late March and met up with David in the allotment.

With 2 project managers and a biochemist, we set to work. Weeds were pulled, tarpaulin was pulled up, and we managed to make another 3 or 4 new beds ready for the volunteers in the studios to plant things out of the coming months. We planted some lettuce and rocket in the salad beds, planted carrots, onions, peas, and broad beans from last year, with space made for footpaths and the future potential shed to go in. We shifted bags of compost and emptied some out.

All in all, a productive session and we hope to be back before too long to help with planting, maintenance/weeding, and shed building. All things GoodGymers are specialists in.

Express delivery this evening as we delivered a whopping 250 Manchester Post community newspapers in the Longsight and Rusholme area. Filled with local good news stories to spread positive, community focused highlights, we took just under an hour to get around our patch.

With a short run either side from and to Ardwick, we also got a few more km in to add to the Strava stats.

Good to see the positive reception from locals and maybe we'll have a few more to deliver next time.

Welcome to Robert for your first GoodGym Manchester session 👏 Great to meet you.

This evening was a bit different. After being approached by Natalie Kate Moss Trust, a charity raising funds and awareness for the treatment and prevention of brain haemorrhages, we combined GoodGym with their Brain Gym resources to get us thinking about our brain health and lifestyle. As part of that, we covered ~4.5 km from St Peter's Square around via Hulme, University of Manchester, Ardwick, and circling back to Sandbar. The combination of a brisk jog and social interaction both forming a significant aspect of the Brain Gym suggestions 🧠

We had bumper numbers this evening, with Scott fresh from a speedy Media City Half Marathon, Hazel joining from Stockport, Peter back from Sri Lanka, Tanoshi and Fanette joining for their 1st Monday night group run, Robert, a journeyman of Bath and Merton GoodGym groups, and regulars Sam and Ben.

We self-quizzed ourselves on the Brain Gym recommendations, including taking small steps, keeping a record or journal, having a support network, "colouring our plate" for food, and keeping a good sleeping routine. All this while enjoying refreshments and tasty pizza at Sandbar (some were more colourful than others) and discussing a potential Mam Tor litter pick in the spring... watch this space 💪