Well the Christmas community  spirit was in tremendous force on all three fronts for the good gym Christmas  partae:

1) THE HIGH-Achievements : We celebrated our goodgym park run awards, not just about celebrating runs, stickers, or times but about celebrating people. Especially Sallyann Sallyann who thought of this amazing park run sticker contest and who always encourages with relentless enthusiasm no matter at which level or in what way. But little did Sallyann realise in 2025 she had not only encouraged Bekah to run her first 10K, Heetu for >10K, whole bunch of us to 25K trail, Jess to become runleader but also encouraged the fiesty little sticker monsters in us all!

Here are the standout moments...

🏆 Top Attendance Awards

Lucien Lucien: first place. The heart of the group, showing up every week despite health challenges, keeping stickers and cards ready, and supporting everyone with consistency and warmth (13/13).

BekahBekah: joint second. From non-runner to regular supporter, now running consistently and encouraging new and returning runners (10/13).

Sian Siân: joint second. Balanced PhD studies and family visits while still showing up, running effortlessly and supporting the group (10/13).

Amina: close fourth. Champion of stickers, always checking in on people, and ensuring we had 13 sticker days this year (7/13).

🌟 Special Recognitions

Leo Leonardo: New this year, became an ambassador, spreading the word and even scoring café discounts (6/13).

StephSteph: Validated nerves at the start line, always pulling out strong runs (6/13).

ElileEleanor: Sacrificed her run to secure café tables for the group (5/13).

Jess Jessica: Supportive and knowledgeable, became our new run leader (4/13).

MiriamMiriam: Came to film, ended up running her first parkrun (4/13).

SophieSophie: Offered calm conversation that helped others overcome fears (3/13).

JoJo: Completed parkruns all year across locations, volunteering at junior parkruns (3/13).

LiamLiam: Ran before flying halfway across the world to Costa Rica (3/13).

DikeDike: Fastest runner, always waiting at the end with a smile (3/13).

Dan: Ray of sunshine, excellent runner, now in London (2/13).

HeetuHeetu: Worked abroad most of the year, but brought enthusiasm when present (2/13).

Afrah: Showed up despite a demanding charity job and freezing weather (1/13).

Laura: Returned after two years with family, looking like she’d never been away (1/13).

💖 Spirit of GoodGym

Every award reflects more than running—it’s about friendship, encouragement, and small acts that ripple outwards. Sallyann and Lucien’s dedication, despite not being able to run always, embodies the very essence of GoodGym: consistency, support, and community.

2) THE FAT- The Grub: upon arriving there was a vast array of options to try on our Christmas buffet and drinks cabinet!!!

Variety of from almost all continents Africa, South America, New Zealand, Vietnam ... -Brie and cranberry swirls care of Siân -Salt n peppa sausage rolls care of Bekah -Amazing chicken lickin care of Dike -Most gorgeous perfectly portioned ratios mini mince pies care of Jessica -oh there was so much more to mention but I am just making myself hungry!

But really thank you absolutely everyone for everything you bought to the party it was a lovely collective effort to bring everyone together to catch up on the year over some very tasty bites.

3) THE FUTURE-Aspirations: : we also made a to do list for 2026 from starting the 1st day of 2026 with a run, to attend more GG sessions/missions/runleadering, grow our team/charities we help and of course for all our sticker monster addicts more park-runs/breakfasts/tourism!
In conclusion what a fab partae and the only other thing we can aspire to is better christmas tunes!

So each of you has made this year unforgettable. Whether you ran, volunteered, cheered, finding a café or simply shared a coffee afterwards, you’ve built something connected and special. Every person is a winner so here’s to more miles, more smiles, and more memories together for 2026 where the sticker fanaticism continues!

The Liverpool Goodgym team were lucky this evening, as the rain had just eased off an hour before the task. We met up at Park Lane to complete some much-needed litter picking of the surrounding residential area.

Returning faces gathered and discussed the tradition of naming interesting or compelling items to keep good spirits on a cold night. The group was slowly reminded that Halloween had just passed, and this became a re-occurring theme.

As we put on our gloves and grabbed our litter-pickers, a black cat was spotted running across the street after hiding in the shadows. Notable finds we two mismatching gloves and a missing wallet, which was handed-in to be reunited with its owner.

Under the moonlight, Goodgym Liverpool was thanked multiple times by onlookers heading home or into the city, noting the work was much needed in the area. One such person was Liverpool Council woman Angela Coleman, who kindly asked for a picture to highlight the work Goodgym does.

When coming back together at the end of the task, our member Heetu (give her a cheer!) found the most interesting item of the night, a witch’s hat! This was made all the spookier by counting up 13 bags of rubbish!

What a lovely way to fondly look back at the last season’s festivities before we make our way into the Christmas Holidays. Thank you to all the members who attended and those who cheered us on as they walked by.

I can't quite believe that it's a year ago since we made our way through the snow to The Arts Bar to make paper chain starter packs for children and young people who are going to be staying in hospital over the Christmas period. Yet the calendar says it is a year and the temperature drop this morning meant although we had no snow it did feel seasonally cold enough to get together with Christmas paper, pens, Christmas stamps and the ever present cheesy Christmas jokes.

Ellie did tell us that last year she had learnt a lot of the jokes and told them at all her christmas dinners and parties. She is a little concerned that she has less invites this year.... were the jokes really that cheesy or was it the way she told them?

Whilst some were saddened by the white hot chocolate being off the menu this year we all managed to find warming drinks to help us through the task plus cheesy jokes, and talks of our own Christmas party coming up on 11th December. Before we knew it we had to start to clear up there was a last minute scramble to get to 300 strips completed (and ever enthusiastic Pauline is going to do more tomorrow before the send off deadline).

We finished just in time to hand the space over for the open mic session.. despite encouragement we couldn't persuade Jess to stay on and get on stage.... we all left with no one taking to the stage this time.

Out into the cold night all feeling a little more festive thanks to the paperchain project.

Lovely dark dry night we headed off to a new spot, with Urban Grow Liverpool. Several runners from the suitcases, some from home, couple of cyclists and others met us at the urban growing space. It was a great turn out and also so lovely to have our smiley Laura Laura back!

We sadly needed to help dismantle Urban Grow’s raised beds as they were being moved out of their current home trying to find a new one.

So we all got into the task immediately all our hands like little piranha teeth removing all the “mattress-meat” in the raised beds leaving only the springs and frame carcass behind!

The original planters better described as a hugglekultur beds with logs and wood at the bottom with all the soil around them were swiftly turned into 15 plus a car full of compost bags (full of very huggly cultured soil).

We could not believe we devoured the task in less than 40 minutes which was very satisfying plus being likened to efficiency of piranhas made our day!

We can’t wait to hear where the huggly cultured soil ends up and wish Urban Grow lots of luck in finding their next new home!