Robert, Sam, and Ben met up for our winter monthly foodbank run to donate tins, cans, and other non-perishables to Manchester South-Central. With the Easter holidays around the corner, they are always in need for additional items.

With Rob having recently moved and Sam returning from a trip to South America, they picked the smart option to run to ASDA (the drop-off point) to buy items to donate. Ben on the other hand was laden with lots of tins, cans, rice, and UHT milk partially from home and some donated from a recent GoodGym mission. We managed to donate lots of tinned veg, pasta sauce, rice, tinned meat, microwave noodles, rice pudding, plus some toiletries too (the bread and eggs were already there when we arrived...).. The donation of old books and children's books is a nice touch too!

With a lighter load, the run back via Manchester Met University campus was a bit more straightforward. Lots of stories from Sam from his travels abroad, with Rob having done a similar trip last year. We're also counting down to the lighter evenings in a few weeks for some more gardening or other tasks!

Litter pickers were at the ready this morning, as a fab four GoodGym Manchester contingent joined the Withington Civic Society for a March litter pick as part of the Great British Spring Clean. Welcome to Laura for your first GoodGym session!

Lots of bottles, cans, takeaway packaging, and e-cigarettes were picked up (the latter going in a separate waste route) from the side streets in Withington. After a few nights of heavy rain, lots of sodden waste was making the bags extra heavy too, providing a upper body/arm workout as we strolled around the area. The discovery of an area with lots of clear plastic security boxes, an old clock casing, shed roofing (we think), and other odd items provided a book-end to the litter picking power hour.

With hi-vis, bag rings, bags, and litter pickers provided by Keep MCR Tidy, we got some photos as a group with some props, before enjoying the homemade cake and a cup of tea or coffee in the Methodist church. A great way to spend a bit of Saturday.

Great to meet Gill again from GoodGym Luton this morning and a big welcome to Aniedi for your first every GoodGym session AND first parkrun volunteering credit!! Clear, fresh, and crisp morning following a couple of wet evenings in Manchester.

Gill was our expert timekeeper this morning for Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 288. Almost in-sync with the finish tokens (pesky funnel duckers...), alternating hands in and out of gloves seemed to help a little bit on a chilly March morning. Aniedi was marshalling at the river bend (#2) cheering on participants going out and then returning for the final turn of the parkrun. Ben as RD was able to delegate the roles to a well-drilled 16 volunteers who enabled the event to go ahead without a hitch.

394 runners and walkers completed the 5 km with lots of puddles around the course keeping the people on their toes.

Express delivery this evening as we delivered a whopping 250 Manchester Post community newspapers in the Longsight and Rusholme area. Filled with local good news stories to spread positive, community focused highlights, we took just under an hour to get around our patch.

With a short run either side from and to Ardwick, we also got a few more km in to add to the Strava stats.

Good to see the positive reception from locals and maybe we'll have a few more to deliver next time.

Welcome to Jocelyn and Emeka for your first GoodGym Manchester session!!

This evening was our regular start of the month litter pick, with us continuing to remove waste and discarded rubbish from parts of Ardwick. We met up in St Peter's Square, away from the demonstrations taking place, before running the ~1.5 km to Ardwick, near Grosvenor St. On arrival, we met Stella who would be taking photos and videos plus interviewing to get some insight into what GoodGym does for a digital media piece.

In pairs, we tackled the build up of rubbish, with lots of can, drinks bottles, takeaway waste, plus a lot of car parts (mats, bits of bumper, a wheel trim) needing picking up. Using any light from the street lights, plus bike lights, we managed to make the area look a little bit better than it was beforehand.

In all, we collected 9 refuse sacks of rubbish, with some of those double bagged given the weight of the contents, plus plenty of large pieces of rubbish. This was reported to Keep Manchester Tidy for collection soon.

With the Great British Spring Clean later this month, there will be more opportunities to tidy up the local areas of rubbish so check out the upcoming sessions this month.

Super effort today from Tanoshi, Hazel, Fanette, and Ben helping out the allotment group at Albermarle allotments in Withington 🌱

There was a slight change of plan with us now helping clear rubble and rubbish from a plot. There was lots of metal, rotting wood, tyres, and a sofa 🛋 (of course). With wheelbarrows, flat trolleys, and a balancing act along the way, we managed to transport the items from the plot to start filling up the skips.

Using a novel jumping technique, we split up pallets and larger pieces. Bit by bit, the skips filled up and in about 80 minutes, the group along with other plot holders managed to clear the site.

Thankfully, there was a brief respite of tea and cake with the community allotment group, before Tanoshi and Ben cleared some rubbish from the community plot, including a lot of glass, carpet, and broken bricks.

Good workout today 💪