One of the best things about goodgym is discovering new parts of the city. When I walked to Mr G’s I noticed how peaceful the area was. I met Tsitsi at the property and Mr G was ready to greet us. He showed us what needed to be done and at first sight we thought the little garden was quite tidy but when we got stuck in we realised that the big conifer had monopolised the space and an overhanging thorn bush had encroached upon the garden too. As we cut them back we could see the garden getting bigger. The finished result was a much bigger space for Mr and Mrs G. While pruning the conifer I found TWO pigeon nests, they were old so we weren’t disturbing any families. The nests contained cherry pips where the pigeons had been feeding on the cherries from a nearby tree. The other fantastic thing about goodgym is that sometimes you get to enjoy a cup of tea and a chat with the person you are helping and this mission was no exception. Mrs G was so welcoming and hospitable, she baked us a cake especially! It was a delicious carrot cake, fresh from the oven. She also made us delicious mint tea from mint that was growing in the garden and she gave us some mint and sage so that we could make the tea ourselves at home. We chatted about all sorts from AI to animals, it was thoroughly pleasant and Tsitsi and I left with a warm glow.

This Friday, GoodGym volunteers swapped gardening gloves for burgers and hot dogs as we joined the Friends of Everton Park for their Community Garden Open Evening.

The event was a great opportunity to celebrate the hard work that goes into maintaining this fantastic community space throughout the year. We spent the evening enjoying delicious food, chatting with local residents and catching up with fellow volunteers in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

One of the highlights was meeting people from the neighbourhood and hearing their stories about the park and garden. The friendly conversations reminded us how important community spaces are for bringing people together and creating lasting connections.

Goodgym got a special shout out from John, the Gardens Lead, who recognised us for all our hard work throughout the year in helping their team to maintain this valued community space. John's speech included some lovely words about welcoming those seeking safety, and the importance of inclusivity and community.

A huge thank you to the Friends of Everton Park for inviting us along and for all the work they do to keep the park and garden thriving. It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the space and sharing a genuine sense of community spirit.

We're already looking forward to our next visit!

It's Your World Liverpool are a group of very dedicated neighbours, who clean up the streets and public spaces of L8. We received a request from good friend of Goodgym, Kirsty, to help It's Your World Liverpool to clear all the weeds from a pathway used by a local school. 3 Goodgymers answered the call and each made their own way to the task. We were well-equipped with a range of gardening tools, green bins, litter pickers and a very large bin bag for any rubbish. We had been told to expect rain but it was actually a dry, slightly humid evening so the coats we'd all brought were not actually needed (thankfully!). Weeds lined the whole wall of the pathway. Some were easier to pull up, but others required some significant effort and a mix of chopping and pruning. However, as Kirsty noted, there was a brilliant system in place to remove these swiftly. There were also several overhanging branches starting to affect the walk down the pathway - Naser made light work of these. All in all, lots of trips to the green bins were made. As the weeds started to clear, it became evident that the leaves were literally littered with litter so a thorough litter pick was also needed. With a litter pick and the biggest bin bag I think I've ever seen in hand, a thorough litter pick began down the pathway and along the wall. At first, I caught glimpses of blue but I just thought they were probably part of a plastic bag that had ripped so carried on and got distracted by the other items along the way including an umbrella. However, small blue pieces kept appearing and seemed to multiply and then we suddenly realised they were actually confetti. Now there were lots of hypotheses for why this was there but the most likely seemed to be a baby shower from one of the neighbouring houses. Needless to say, clearing up confetti with a litter pick proved an interesting challenge. Well done to everyone involved. The pathway was de-weeded throughly and the confetti cleared - Kirsty was made up with the results!

On Tuesday, 3 goodgymers headed out to Miss J’s home for a mission that had us working hard from the very first moment. Miss J had been expecting us and the excitement was clear — the tools were handed over and we got started immediately, with not a second wasted.Craig acted as the master trimmer, working the lawn mower and clippers with amazing precision. On the other hand, me and Clara kept things organised , gathering diligently every little bit of waste into bin bags. We also put to use, the spade , clippers and small secatuers, as we worked through the weeds and snipping the overgrown Ivy.Between the three of us, we worked like a well-oiled machine. By the end, we had a grand total of ten bags of garden waste to show for it!We gave Miss J's garden everything we had right through to the final minute.Miss J’s warmth and gratitude made every snip of the trimmer, every pulled weed, and every filled bag completely worth it.Her contagious smile told of all the joy she could not hide.

It was a breezy day, with a brilliant team,and a job well done to put a smile on someone's face. Thanks to GoodGym ! Until the next mission-👋

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect evening for our latest session in Princes Park, with the temperature thankfully dropping from the highs earlier in the afternoon. The park was buzzing with people enjoying the warm evening sun as our group gathered. Liam and Chris ran from the Suitcases, and we had a great turnout, especially from those in the group doing their second task of the day!

Our mission was to make sure the park's youngest resident trees stayed hydrated in the warm weather. This meant filling up a giant water tank from the lake to water the newly planted baby trees. Because the tank was so large, the team set up a brilliant, fast-paced relay operation using watering cans and buckets to bridge the gap between the lake and the tank, which would have worked brilliantly if one of the buckets hadn't been full of holes!

Once the giant tank was full, the team walked it over to the lakeside, making sure all the young trees got the deep drink they needed to thrive in the summer heat.

While the watering crew was busy by the lake, another hard-working group tackled the lakeside path. They focused on clearing away weeds and litter from the sides of the paths, which has made the whole area look much tidier and far more accessible for everyone visiting the park.

It was a beautiful, productive evening that showed just what can be achieved with a bit of coordination and a lot of team spirit. A massive thank you to everyone who came along, especially those who doubled up on tasks today—your energy and effort are hugely appreciated! See you all at the next run!

We were so excited for our first task with Park Palace Ponies as our Group Run this week. Although the plan was to clear out the office, and not actually play with the ponies, we were hoping to sneak a peek as we galloped in for our task. Alas, the best laid plans... An hour before we were due to meet for our run, disaster struck, and Park Palace Ponies contacted us to regretfully cancel due to a safety issue - the roof had leaked and impacted the electrics. Everyone (and the ponies!) were fine, but they had to close the centre and the task wouldn't be able to go ahead at all.

Now as gutted as I was, even I recognised water + electricity = not safe, so regretfully we had to concede defeat and agree to reschedule when the office is back up and running.

That left the big question - what DO we do? Options varied from cancelling (not really the Goodgym way), an impromptu social, or a litter pick. The litter pick won out.

And so after swift organisation and collection of the litter picking kits, we headed to Smithdown Road where we'd heard there was some litter which needed clearing up. Thank you to Sally Ann for whipping up the litter pickers, and to Laura for savvily intercepting Sally Ann en route to carry the litter pickers whilst Sally Ann headed to the group run meeting point to capture anyone who hadn't got our messages.

Clara was fresh from organising her first GG Parkrun tourist trip to Worsley Woods over the weekend, and met Naser, who was proud to wear his red Goodgym shirt for the first time.

I was sulking about missing out on the promised ponies and reluctantly dragged myself along, finding litter little solace in this no-horse race. But the spirit of the team soon cheered me up. The group was such good company as we walked along, clearing as we went. We found no less than 3 x complete pairs of shoes, a little flashing blue light, and a Santa which was well overdue a clear up. Our wandering took us past a little green area on Smithdown Road, which happened to be the site of Naser's first ever task with us. We reminisced about that lovely task - Laura has been so good with the children who were 'helping' with painting the benches, and the fire brigade had arrived to check there was no anti-social activity going on - in fact it was quite the opposite!

Before we knew it, an hour had passed and we had 4 bags of litter to dispose of in the council bins. Despite the grey skies, the rain, and the distinct lack of ponies, we were all glad we'd turned out to do our little bit to contribute to the community.

Well done guys for the speedy change of plans and dedication to doing a little something to help out, even if it wasn't our 'mane' task. You can sleep easy when you 'hit the hay' tonight, knowing you've kept our contributions 'stable' and 'trotted' around the local area 'champing at the bit' to help (I really should save some of these for when we reschedule...)