Peter and Ben shrugged off Blue Monday to set out and donate some much needed items for Manchester South-Central foodbank.

With lights and fresh GoodGym t-shirts, we set off, laden with bags of donations.

In all, there was several kilos of items mostly cans and non-perishables, including:

• peanut butter 🥜
• tinned veg 🥕🫛🥔🌽
• tinned fruit 🍑
• tinned fish 🐟 & meat 🍖
• rice pudding 🍮
• UHT milk 🥛

Much easier and lighter run on the way back 🏃‍♂️ hope the food donations go to good use 💪

Big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who helped out at their local parkrun today! Well done for getting out to facilitate the events in what has become a rare public health success (according to The Times)!

Maimoona was timekeeping at Woodbank parkrun along with Hazel who helped with the pre-event set up and marshalled one of the corners. 263 runners and walkers completed the 5 km route for event number 768.

Juno and Ben did the course check and marshalled at a muddy Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 280. 537 participants completed the course.

Plenty of steps and plenty of moving this evening with Rebecca and team at Restocked CIC!

After a quick jog to the task for Mandy, Hazel, and Ben, we were informed of our task: move lots of wood and equipment from one room to another before clearing out the "Monica" cupboard to tidy up and make use of the shelving inside.

Using the trolleys, dolly trolleys, and some GoodGym grit, we shifted a few...

• table saws
• drill stands
• cupboard units
• wood
• paint tins

The foam storage contained a whole array of foam pieces of different sizes and types plus some cushions and pillows. After clearing that, we moved the shelves to the new carpentry room to make use of the boxes and shelving. The foam storage certainly looks more tidy now, even when using a door as a makeshift shelf...

Fuelled by tea, we managed to complete the task and get some info on the upcycled furniture, chairs, headboards, and other activities. Mandy also made the link for a potential collaboration of unused furniture from her place of work to be passed on, so fingers crossed for that!

Good session all round 💪

An astounding 610 people ran or walked at Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 279! Beating last week's course record of 595, there was a lot of new faces who braved the cold and frosty morning ❄️

Big thank you to the 20 volunteers who made sure the event could go ahead safely. Juno and I did an early morning course check to make sure it was safe and clear to go ahead. A broken tree had been cleared and there were minimal icy puddles to cause issues. We helped with prying the padlock open with de-icer, pulled the cart to the start area, and marshalled at Old Bedians marshal point 5.

We ran back home, where Juno got some well earned rest.

Happy new year!

Despite the plummeting temperatures, ice, snow, and a touch of frost ❄️ Stefanie, Sam, and Ben wrapped up to litterpick in the city centre.

With a demonstration ongoing outside the Central Library, we met on the benches to prepare refuse sacks and divvy out litterpickers. We made our way to the Bridgewater Hall and along some of the canal, picking up discarded bottles, frozen cans, McDonald's waste, and a few ear buds too.

Following that, we headed towards the footbridge to Hulme, stumbling across a site near an unused warehouse, where lots of cans, bottles, laughing gas canisters, and a couple of umbrellas 🌂 had been discarded.

In just 70 minutes, we collected 11 full refuse sacks plus a carrier, a couple of brollies, and a flowery pillow. Good workout in the cold. All reported to Keep MCR Tidy to be collected from near a public bin nearby.

With ice and frost ❄️ all around, many local parkruns were cancelled but with the tree cover, lack of puddles, and earthy/stony ground, we went ahead for event number 278 at Fletcher Moss.

Early start to check some of the course and help set up with Mike and Ayeesha, before marshalling at Cheat's Corner. A whopping 595 runners and walkers completed the 5 km course, aided by 25 willing volunteers.

Good start to 2026! 🏃‍♂️🏃🏼‍♀️🐾👟❄️🎉