It was the annual Choir With No Name summer concert at the Everyman theatre on Hope Street. Two Goodgymmers Steph and Steph were performing with the choir and our Area Activator Ema, who is also manager of the choir was in attendance which was a real treat for the choir and us Goodgymmers because we have really missed her while she has been ill. Aatefa, Dina, Suren, Liam, Heetu, Sallyann and myself met with Kate from Choir With No Name who explained our role in selling merch, signing people up as fans and collecting donations.

To be honest we were well and truly on it, we love being a part of this event so we knew the drill. The puns on the merch were so fantastic we knicked one for the title of this report. All song lyric puns, you had tea towels ‘Never gonna wash you up’ (Rick Astley) ‘Hate to say I toweled you so’ (The Hives) and tote bags with ‘Bag to life, bag to reality’ (Soul II soul). Sallyann was please that a bag with ‘Bag a do do do’ (Black Lace) sold as it was the last one and she hated for it to be lonely.

The concert was typically phenomenal, our Steph put in a fantastic solo in a Chapel Roan medley and Heetu commented that her favourite song was their rendition of Kate Bush’s ‘Running up that hill’ it was amazing.

A really special part of the concert was special guest, Scouse poet, Joseph Roberts who puts his poems to music. The CWNN provided a haunting backing vocal to his poem about mental health called ‘luggage’. It was stunning. There was a moving testimony from one of the choir members called Skye who spoke about grief and surviving suicidal thoughts and how she had found a home in the choir. It was so moving and definitely moved the audience.

The audience showed incredible generosity in the bucket donations and merch sales. We think that merch sales might be the most successful we’ve ever known with the new tea towels proving particularly popular.

Well done to the Stephs and so wonderful to see Ema, we all left on a high. Special shout out to Aatefa and Sallyann who did the TRIO on this day… parkrun in the morning, Everton Park Games in the afternoon and CWNN concert in the evening, it was an epic day for them.

Goodgym Saturdays are the best!

Picture it: 11.30am, a normal working Wednesday. I'd done my morning workout, got ready for the day, and settled down into work as usual on the laptop at home. Then there was a call out on the Goodgym Liverpool WhatsApp group.

"I need a favour for the Choir With No Name!"

And like Queen Susan's Horn, or the Horn of Boromir, (depending on whether your like your fantasy by C.S. Lewis or Tolkein) it summoned Goodgymmers across the city.

The task? To collect 50 Easter Eggs from MPAC (Merseyside Play Action Council), and safely deliver them to the Quakers Meeting House, ahead of the Choir With No Name's weekly rehearsal this evening. The eggs were lovingly donated by friends of the choir The Liverpool Homeless Football Club.

The challenge? Volume to be moved. Car access to pull up & unload can be tricky in the city centre at the best of times, and whilst it wasn't the weight we were concerned about (as we're all Goodgymmers and therefore dead strong, obviously) it was the logistics of carrying so many. Oh, also - we had less than 2.5 hours to complete the mission, due to venue closing times.

Challenge accepted.

Within 29 minutes of the call for help being put out, FIVE goodgymmers had responded and formed a plan.

We jumped into action and dug out all the oversized bags we could lay our hands on. Cupboard under the stairs filled with bags of bags - time to shine 🌟 It was the moment I'd been hoarding for.

We met right on time outside MPAC and headed inside to collect our precious cargo. We had a wheeled trolley, and wide variety of bags ranging from Primark to Superman. Many hands make light work and we'd quickly packed them all up. Clara showed her strength by immediately deciding the trolley was too noisy to wheel and casually carrying it instead. It was a short walk through the busy city centre and we arrived at Quakers Meeting House, where our Area Activator Ema had arranged for reception to safely store the eggs until the Choir's arrival this evening. After swiftly unloading, and claiming a little egg each which Ema had very kindly arranged to thank us for our time, we were back on our merry way.

The reasons we were able to eggs-ecute this impromptu plan varied: some gave up their lunch breaks, some had a fortuitous window of availability, and some were using the opportunity to procrastinate on tasks they ought to be getting on with (marking and DIY!). But one thing is clear - when a Goodgymmer asks for help, Goodgym Liverpool responds. You'll Never Walk Alone, indeed.

Well done everyone - cracking job. Eggcellent work. You're all good eggs.

The Choir with No Name is an organisation close to Good Gym’s heart as Ema, our Area Activator manages the choir and one of our Good Gymers, Steph sings with them. It’s such a brilliant charity. A weekly meet for people who have been affected by homelessness or who have felt marginalised in any way. This annual concert is a real highlight in the Christmas calendar. Sian, Heetu and Sallyann walked to the Tung Auditorium on this chilly December evening. Miriam walked up from Lime Street station and Ellie joined us a bit later straight from Christmas shopping in town. We were walked through the plan of action by Cat from the choir. We were on donation bucket duty, merch selling and survey promoting. We were across our stations as people arrived, during the interval and at the end but then we got to sit down in our balcony seats and watch the concert. It was amazing. Our very own Steph put in an impressive solo performance during the second song. The choir were joined on stage by the Asylum Link choir who performed a welcome song from Togo amongst others and a beautiful song penned by a local musician called ‘Bridges not Walls’ which had the whole auditorium up on their feet. The choir from Person Shaped Support ‘sing sing sing’ also put in a set that was moving and heartfelt. The Choir with No name sung some amazing festive tunes including Scouse Christmas classic ‘The Power of Love’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood which was rousing. Our Ema had a dedication made to her from the choir, a song called ‘Dominick the Donkey’ for which she had encouraged as much silliness as possible in her absence. The choir spoke of how they missed her so much. The choir gave a special thank you to Good Gym for their fundraising efforts at the recent Santa Dash. The choir talked about how their meets offered a ‘soft landing’ to their members; a place to call home. They talked about the meaning of home, whether it’s a physical place, the people you know or a feeling of belonging and that all of these things were important for a home and I think Good Gym definitely shares this sentiment. Our buckets were full of generous donations by the end of the night and we all felt thoroughly festive. Thank you Choir With no Name for having us.

The Santa Dash has been a regular fixture in the Goodgym Liverpool Christmas calendar, and this time we were participants and fundraisers. This event grows and grows - we heard over the tannoy that with over 11,000 Santas, this is the largest Dash in the world!

Steph, Clara, Miriam, Dike, Rachel and Bekah donned the red suits to run, and Pauline and Steph showed their colours with blue suits to walk the route with friends and family. Leonardo was intrigued by the idea of thousands of Santas running around the city centre, and came out to support the runners and see it for himself - yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. We passed pubs already full of Santas, and Leo was surprised at how early the Santas had started on the beer. Those of us more familiar with the dash - less so.

We were fundraising for The Choir With No Name, a choir for those impacted by homelessness or otherwise marginalised by society. Each week the choir meet for a cuppa and a catch up, choir practice, then sit down to share a hot meal. With a budget of less than £40 to feed up to 55 people (!) this type of fundraising makes a real difference. At the time of writing, the Goodgym Liverpool team have collectively raised over £775, a fantastic amount which will go directly to the Liverpool chapter we've volunteered with before.

It was a pleasure to meet Rachel for the first time, who was instrumental in the fundraising and contributed some very generous donations. Lovely to meet you Rachel - we hope to see you at a Goodgym task soon.

The Santas worked their way around the route through the city centre, and even the rain couldn't dampen the festive spirit and the streets were lined with people cheering us on. We were serenaded by a choir, treated to live music, joined by stilt walkers and the running Santas even struck up their own songs as they ran (no mean feat). Due to terrible planning, this was Bekah's third 5k in 26 hours (with Sally Ann partly to blame for making those stickers so damn appealing at yesterday's Goodgym monthly parkrun), but this was the big one, and with the thought of all those generous donations pushing her on, she was able to dash the dash and finish the third and final run of the weekend. Several of our runners were either new to 5ks or getting back into it gradually, and everyone put in a fantastic effort and exceeded their own expectations - we came away with some well deserved medals!

It's a lovely event, super fun to see the Santas all over the city and such wonderful community spirit. See you next year!

P.S. many thanks to Clara for the winning pun!

Goodgym Liverpool are frequent supporters of The Choir with No Name, mainly due to the support given to both by our fabulous area activator Ema.

Today was the CWNN fundraising Abseil at Liverpool Cathedral. Around 17 brave souls took the plunge - so to speak - including two Goodgymmers Steph and Steph! The event is so lovely that two bystanders were inspired to join, and took on the abseil there and then for a donation to the charity (shout out to Charlie & Terri!)

The choir serenaded the 'danglers' with themed classics such as Rod Stewart's "We're Abseiling" and Enya's "Abseil Away (abseil away abseil away)", and were supported by the Bebbington Bitterman who kindly took over during the choir's well earned break.

It was positively blustery, but that didn't stop our abseilers, nor the crowd from forming to watch and admire. We saved several critical pieces of paperwork from blowing into the ether, and frankly I doubted the MC's claims that due to a micro-climate, it was completely calm and still at the top of the drop. Lucien was proactive in abseil registration, gift giving and furniture moving, and I was on photographer duty making sure I captured the moment the abseilers gratefully reached dry land.

Well done to everyone who took part in this fabulous event and raised money for such a great cause, and huge round of applause and respect to the abseilers who braved the drop, it really is no mean feat.

Same time next year!

On a rainy Friday evening, the Everyman Theatre on Hope Street was filled with warmth and good vibes for The Spring Big Gig with the Choir with No Name and Friends! It was a fantastic night, and the GoodGym Liverpool crew were right there in the thick of it, helping to make it all happen.

Huge thanks to Liam, Bekah, Lucien & Siân for their awesome work setting up and running the T-shirt and bags stall, as well as collecting donations. They were busy bees before the gig and during the interval, helping to raise some much-needed funds for the Choir with No Name. It was brilliant to see such a great turnout for the event, and everyone's efforts certainly paid off!

The Choir with No Name were, as always, absolutely incredible and had everyone buzzing. They were joined in the first half by the wonderful Rek41 Choir from the Wirral, and then by the super talented artist Zoe West from Newcastle in the second half. What a line-up! Everyone had an amazing time, and there was a real buzz in the air. We also heard lots of people giving special thanks to Ema and saying how much they missed her – clearly, she's still very much in everyone's hearts!

It was a truly memorable evening filled with fantastic music and community spirit. Events like these really highlight the power of coming together, and GoodGym was proud to be a part of it. Well done to everyone involved!