Clara and I arrived at Mrs E’s and she excitedly showed us all that needed to be done. She showed us which plants were weeds and which ones were intentional which we were very relieved about as both of us struggle to tell the difference! There was a patch of grass that looked like overgrown lawn and Mrs E said that this was actually a flower bed and we needed to strip the grass out. She had lots of tools and very helpfully kneeling mats for us to use. We started at the front and worked our way back. I tackled one side while Clara tackled the other. It was one of those tasks where we didn’t know where to stop. So, we stopped when the green bin was full and when we had exposed all the borders that had been hidden under the undergrowth. Luckily we took before and after pictures so we could see what a difference we had made. We pruned the lilac tree and also carefully weeded around the geraniums which we were instructed to keep in tact. During the task we talked about the film Mamma Mia and this started an earworm of ‘Slipping through my fingers’ which we felt could work as a pun because the grass and weeds had been slipping through our fingers too. Slipping through our fingers until we got a grip on them and tugged them out. We swept the path and asked Mrs E to come and inspect. She seemed very pleased about the transformation. She said that it was a great start that would help her to get out and maintain it. This was just the front garden… Mrs E told us about was needed in the back too so we suggested that might be another visit.

On a finally cool summer evening, Goodgym assembled at St James Gardens to get to work giving the park a bit of a spruce up.

We divided into three teams: Bekah and Sallyann on the litter picking, Ellie, Dina and Clara on the weeding and Naser and Vikky on bench varnishing duty.

We were joined by Friends of St James Gardens who provided fun facts (like what a pineapple weed is) and witty jokes (a lorry carrying Strepsils overturned on the motorway; there was no congestion).

We soon got 'into the groove' of the task, quite literally in the case of the weeding, whereby we were digging up weeds between the paving slabs. Likewise the varnishing team successfully varnished two of the newly installed (and very nice looking) benches for years to come by very carefully applying Varnish into all the 'grooves'. Even the litter picking duo conquered the 'grooves' of the park, retrieving litter from some of the nooks and crannies.

All in all, after two benches varnished, two bin bags filled and a good chunk of patio was weeded, we called it a night and said our goodbyes before heading off in our various directions until next week!

I walked to Mr K’s house, it only took half an hour. When I arrived it was clear to see what needed to be done. The path way was swamped by an invasive buddleja bush or butterfly bush as they are also known. The kind that gets planted by bird’s droppings and tries to take over the whole space. I set to work hacking it back. I also cleared brambles and weeds from the side path. Mr K’s social worker arrived and she was impressed by what I had already achieved. She went in to see Mr K and when she came back out the buddleja was gone. She was really kind about goodgym. When I said I admired the work that social workers do she said that services like goodgym are a massive help to her work. I kept weeding and tidying and the front space looked transformed. Mr K was very happy.

This was my second visit to Mr P’s my last one was only last weekend where we had sorted a lot in the back garden. Mostly concentrating on Mr P’s tasks but Mrs P had a few things she wanted sorting so, this week was about doing that. I came armed with my wire brush which I’d managed to travel on public transport across Liverpool with much to Mr P’s amusement. It was totally useless, I think I might have to retire it, so, Mr P suggested I use one of his tools for the job. It worked like a dream but it was a lot of hard graft. I was weeding between the cracks in the flags at the front. Making sure all the paving looked smart and tidy. The soil was mainly sand because of proximity to the sea front and the wind was up so I tried to brush the weeds and soil into the road with the wind circling everything beneath my feet. Mr P helped me by tackling the flower bed to the side of the car but it was a lot for him to do so I tried to insist that he leave the work to me. Together we made a big difference and the path looked spick and span. I treated myself to chips and ice cream on the beach. I had to do it. Being by the seaside calls for it. But, it was very windy so I ate a lot of sand. Shout out to the other goodgymmers who did unofficial good deeds today- Steph who found someone’s make up bag, Sallyann who went shopping and did some yardening for friends and Nasser who offered to fix Sallyann’s bench.

Kensington, affectionately known as Kennie is just a mile away from where I live. It was a lovely sunny day so I walked through Newsham park to get there. Mrs J lives a few streets back from the main road and she answered the door after I knocked loudly. She showed me her lovely back garden. She said she had already started some raking. She clearly loves the garden, it is generally well maintained with a beautiful apple tree and a rose bush. She said the apples were eating apples and that they had white seeds. I mowed the lawn with the lawn mower, raked over the flower beds and weeded the path. I cleared the grass that had grown onto the path, making it neat and tidy. Mrs J was very happy with the work. It was just maintenance really of an already very lovely space.

We were asked to help Ms Y cut back her blackberry bush to maintain her tenancy. When I arrived Miriam and Ms Y were already chatting away, Ms Y was telling Miriam all about the local seagull, Sammy, who comes to visit her twice a day. After short introductions, and a warning it was "a big job", we headed into the back garden where Ms Y announced "Welcome to the jungle!".

The bramble had indeed taken over the majority of the right hand side of the garden. After a super quick pow wow on approach ("I think we just dive in"), we did just that. Miriam took one side of the garden and I took the other. In the distance and mostly hidden by bramble we could see Ms Y's Greenhouse - she wanted to be able to access it again to fix a tear in the roof so it remains waterproof.

I'll be honest, we're generally super efficient at GoodGym but I wasn't holding out much hope for 2 of us being able to get rid of all that bramble in 90 mins. I thought we'd make a really good stab of it, get a good dent gone, but potentially have to report to the referrer that more help was needed. Nonetheless, we cracked on and started to do what we could.

It was slow going work. The brambles were so twisted, gnarly and tough it took a long time to make any headway. We could both completely see how they're apparently carnivorous plants - we were getting battered! They kept attaching themselves to my shirt, shoes, leggings, skin... Miriam's excellent new gardening gloves made her feel invincible and she expertly whipped through the bramble, but as good as the gloves are, they can only help with what they cover, and her upper arms were super scratched.

Ms Y wouldn't even entertain the idea of sitting down and not helping us. Although not steady on her feet, she cut through the parts we'd hacked and made it easier to bag them up, helping us throughout the whole task. As she helped, she chatted, and told us all about the numerous cats who come into her garden (some hers, such as Guinness, who we met, some not hers), the pigeon who she feeds, and all the animals she's looked after over the years. It was lovely to hear how she has such a way with animals. The time flew as we chatted away, and before I knew it - the greenhouse was in reach! Buoyed by the tangible progress we'd made, we were determined to get through the last sections and spent the last half an hour clearing the way to the greenhouse with Miriam singlehandedly raising a forest of brambles over her head to take out to the green waste pile.

I was so glad Miriam remembered to get a 'before' picture to capture the difference. It really felt like a very good job well done and super valuable for Ms Y, who can now access her garden, the greenhouse, and keep on top of the garden before it becomes overgrown again. Ms Y clearly loves her outside areas and puts lots of love and thought into them, this was a good example of a one-off task which is really beneficial to help her get on top of it so she can now continue to maintain it.