GoodGym Stockport

StockportGroup run
Ben FosterLaura Boldison

Letterbox lip balm

Tuesday 10th June

Written by Laura Boldison

Ben and Laura successfully completed another leaflet delivery for Together Trust to advertise their upcoming festival on 5th July.

The 10 mini tropical lip balms in the same bag as the leaflets remains a mystery...we didn't deliver those!

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StockportCommunity mission
Ben Foster

Can't see the wood for the... ah, there's the path!

Friday 6th June

Written by Ben Foster

Ben joined Heaton Mersey Village Conservation Group with a taskforce kind of day down by the river. There were lots of other helpers, including corporate volunteers from Manchester Airport and other engineering companies plus several local residents and members (there are >380!) of the conservation group too.

The conservation group look after 33-ish acres of land around Heaton Mersey alongside the council, and today we were doing some work near Burnage Rugby Club on the river bank. Jo and Janette (?) were in charge.

Before getting started, we had a health & safety briefing and introduced to Mark, one of the Burnage Rugby Club owners, who could provide teas & coffees, bacon butties, or a combination of the two. We were all decked out in high viz and gloves, ready to take on the forthcoming tasks.

Darrell from the council provided a whole host of equipment including spades, litter pickers & bags, loppers, choppers, balsam bashing tools (they looked cool), plus several wheelbarrows to actually carry the items to the work site.

As a large group, we were split into two:

  • A group to litter pick and balsam bash
  • A group to clear the area near a wild pond

I joined the latter, wanting to help clear the weeds, grass, and overgrown brambles for people to enjoy the picnic benches and to access the pond boardwalk and information post. Little did I know how big a task it would be... Beyond the board walk was a WALL OF BRAMBLES that apparently used to be a path! Our mission was to clear this to make a path to the parallel one through the area. With lots and lots of chopping, lopping, clearing, raking, and strimming of the brambles, nettles, blackthorn, all while dodging a bee's nest, we managed to successfully clear a path that can now be used by the general public.

Alas, I didn't get a before shot... and my legs are somewhat stung and cut up due to the low hanging brambles... but it was a fantastic 3 hours with a proactive group of volunteers and look forward to helping out next time. I also missed out on the lunch as I had to get back into the lab to finish a Western blot and add some drugs to cells. Productive day all round.

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StockportGroup run
Hannah WestBen FosterLaura Boldison

100's of mini wine bottles

Tuesday 3rd June

Written by Laura Boldison

Ben, Hannah and Laura returned to Castle Street in Edgeley to complete a litter pick.

Another week of successfully dodging the rain, we filled 3 litter bags (mostly with mini wine bottles!) which we left next to the public bins to be collected by the council.

Another great session!

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StockportGroup run
Ben FosterLaura Boldison

Not jinxing the weather!

Tuesday 27th May

Written by Laura Boldison

Meera, Ben and Laura successfully dodged the rain to complete a leaflet delivery for Together Trust.

Together Trust are holding their "Together Festival" on 5th July so we were spreading the word!

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StockportCommunity mission
Laura BoldisonMuhammad Irfan

Cheering on Beechwood runners

Sunday 18th May

Written by Laura Boldison

Laura and Irfan spent a hot sunny day in Manchester cheering on the runners taking part in the annual Great Manchester Run.

In particular, we had T-shirts and signs to support the runners who were fundraising for Beechwood Cancer Care, a charity based in Stockport who provides support to those affected by cancer.

The crowds were fantastic and we enjoyed looking at all the fancy dress costumes!

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StockportGroup run
Ben FosterMaimoona HussainNicole Wylie

Shed loads of weeding

Tuesday 6th May

Written by Ben Foster

Big welcome to Nicole for their first every GoodGym session! Well done for your first outdoor run in a while and great to have you along for the task with What If? in Stockport. Look forward to meeting you again soon.

Following the warm jog from Life Leisure Avondale, we arrived at What If? with a few different tasks required. After introductions and hearing about the things What If? get up to, we donned gloves and grabbed some gardening tools to remove lots of sticky willy otherwise known as Galium aparine from their community garden.

Once we had filled most of their compost bin and watered some courgette seedlings, we turned our attention indoors to help out with the big shed sort-out to catalog and label all the gardening and decorating tools that had accumulated. Ranging from rakes to spades and forks, plus lots of pots and hand tools, we made a decent dent in the big sort-out, so hopefully things are a bit more organised for future use.

Nicole stayed for a bite to eat and chat with the What If? crew while Maimoona and Ben made their way home. We hope to be back again soon!

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