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!

Mr D would like to spend time in his garden, but weeds and brambles make it unsafe. Registered blind, Mr D needs clear access around the side and through to the back of his property.

Bekah and I arrived armed with our own hand tools and Mr D provided a brand new hoe and yard brush.

We set to, cutting back brambles, clearing the weeds from between the paving flags, clearing litter and sweeping the pathways.

It was also a great opportunity for Bekah and me to catch up and the time went quickly.

It was good to see Mr D again and he was very grateful for our help.

GoodGym’s Sticker Saturday 2026 started on a cold January morning. Undeterred by the chilly weather the GoodGym crew gathered at Prince’s Park. We welcomed newcomers Suren and Fahad. Welcome to you both. Well done Fahad for volunteering for parkrun.

Jessica arrived having already run 12km ran the parkrun and ran back... i think my maths adds that up to a whopping 29km... well done Jess we are lucky to have you as a run leader. Talking of run leadersSophie flew round the course before joining Eleanorwho was holding a lovely table space for us all at Squash our chosen cafe this month.

Steph celebrated a major milestone by completing her very first parkrun—huge congrats, Steph! Heetuand Sallyannwalked with Steph and brandished the Goodgym flag which gave rise to a lot of shout outs. Liamfinished his run and came to join us for the final lap whilst Bekah, Laura Mo and Suren were at the finish line to cheer us in.

Claraand Stephcompleted their parkrun but sadly couldn't join us for breakfast I hope they both had warm brews waiting for them when they got home it was a cold day.

This year, we also introduced a brand-new loyalty card, designed by our very own Steph! Everyone eagerly awaited their first sticker of the year, and we can’t wait to see who fills up their card first! Let’s see who can fill those loyalty cards first!

Join us in February for Sticker Saturday where we will be going to Maw on Aigburth Road for breakfast after parkrun

GoodGym - Do Good, Get Fit | Sticker Saturday - Goodgym does parkrun and breakfast - GoodGym Liverpool https://share.google/E5JQGZDBCrEU4lcZS

We have two sessions booked in in February and March at the Mulgrave Street community garden, for weeding, maintenance and planting. Ahead of these sessions, task owner Khan had asked us to come down as the litter was 'ripe for the picking' so we could get the area nice, clean and clear ahead of digging in the week after.

12 Goodgymmers turned out on what was a freezing cold January night. After introductions, admiring Chris's shiny new '50 Deeds' black Goodgym t-shirt - well earned, congratulations Chris! - and the usual litter picking safety briefing from Bekah ("please no wandering off in the dark on your own!") we got to work. With a good sized group we'd soon cleared the lovely garden Khan has created, and set our sights further afield to the surrounding streets, planters and bushes.

The hedges just next to the garden are so thick, it was like a crystal maze challenge trying to maneuver the litter pickers through the railings, between the trunks and stems, grab the litter and maneuver it back through the undergrowth without dropping it. At some point several of us were actually in the bushes, reaching and stretching in very elegant positions.

We found quite an array of items, including a golf club (which was in very good condition, actually...), a tyre (much worse condition), a left shoe and a right boot, a table tennis bat, and a table leg. Plus we managed to fill 13 bin bags full of litter. It was cold - oh, so very cold - and absolutely no-one was dramatic about the freezing temperature ;) However the amount we collected made it all worthwhile and after an hour we called time and gathered to dispose of the bags and take the group photo.

Khan closed the session with huge thanks to the group, sharing that Goodgym is a massive part of maintaining this garden and the litter picking makes such a difference to the local community. We were all glad to head home to the warmth and pleased with a good job well done.

Next week - we head back to Mulgrave Street for weeding and maintenance, prepping the site ahead of our March session when we'll be planting. See you there!

It has been well over three years since GoodGym Liverpool had a task at the Old Baths site on Lodge Lane! Some of our group had noticed it really needed some GoodGym litter pick love, and thus a task was arranged.

I was excited to meet Aatefa for her first task at the suitcases along with Laura and Mohamed. After a short introduction and warm up, we headed up to the Lodge Lane site in record time (if I do say so myself!).

We were shortly joined by the rest of the crew, 11 in total! Sallyann did a fabulous job bringing all the litter pickers and hoops. She had walked all the way from Lark Lane and was glad to have been joined by others along the way who helped carry the load.

Bekah provided her classic warm welcome before we got started. We were delighted to hear that this was to be Chris 50th task! What an amazing contribution he has made. Black T-shirt incoming!!

We split into a few pairs and groups and set out litter picking the grassy area. We were dissapointed to discover a lot of fly tipping, which Jo has kindly offered to report to the council. We discovered pots, plates, washing up bowls, a vacuum cleaner, a broom.. the list goes on! Along with the household items, there was a large amount of rubbish to be picked. We ended up with 22 bags!! There was a very noticeable improvement at the end of the task.

Satisfied with our efforts, most headed off towards home. Aatefa, Mohamed and I finished off our run with a quick warm down and heartfelt congratulations on Aatefa's first task completion!

We safely teetered down the hill on our first snowy-icy session for 2026 with run leader Sallyann showing how to do it with abundant balance!

It still felt Christmassy with...

• a layer of ice under a dash of snow

• zero temperature

• northern light photaes with our crazy head torches (courtesy of our fab photoers Steph & Naser & Leonardo)

• also the Christmas chatterings of course!

It was lovely catching up with each other after the Christmas break.

Also we met some lovely new members Amani and Karen , of the amazing Siân noless.

Welcome, welcome and we hope to see more of you in 2026. We also welcomed our newly stolen member from Islington too Alison - yeah for us!

Elaine arrived and explained we had done such a good job on the nettles and thistles it was now time to tackle some of the floor covering weeds too hopefully to give some of the non-weeds a chance in the spring. Those floor covering weeds also included litter which always a joy to clear up!

Seven bags later we felt we had made a good start to 2026 and put to bed our last days of 2025.

Thank you all for turning up in the cold and giving that good doing warmth and I cannot wait to spend more of my 2026 doing good with you guys and guyettes xxx