Despite some rather miserable spring weather in Liverpool, 8 dedicated goodgymmers met for our usually Monday night task.

After a quick, 2 mile run, we met lark lane neighbourhood association and headed off down the lane to clear up any and all discarded litter!

We were all quite pleasantly surprised by how clean it appeared and felt like we had to really search for the litter. This meant it was all the more satisfying when we realised we had gathered 7 full bags!

Strangest find goes to Jowho found a fork in the road! (how poetic)

Well done everyone it was clear to see the impact we had!

It may have been wet and dark but that never stops the warmth of a Goodgym Monday night. With the prerogative of report writer I am writing this from my perspective as someone who has been unable to get to a Monday night for a month. This was my first week back and if I'm honest I had been a little sad as the day was going on and the rain was not stopping - little did I realise that I would be so heart warmed and happy by the end of the session.

December can be busy with everyone having lots of demands on their time, however five Goodgymmers arrived at Lark Lane to do a litter pick. What is the collective noun for litter pickers? The Lark Lane Neighbourhood Association (Wombles) are an active group that work hard to keep the Lark Lane area litter free despite the large amount of people at this popular street full of cafes and bars. We met with Helen who provided our litter pickers and who asked that we tackle the main street that runs at the bottom of Lark Lane - this is a busy road which proved to have a lot of litter on it.

As we litter picked we found various items depicting the time of the year - some packets of halloween sweets unopened possibly dropped out of someones trick and treat pot and parts of an artificial Christmas tree which mustn't have made the grade for this years decoration later weer treated to the smell of real Christmas trees as we passed the florist. Further along the street and unrelated Jo had found a rose which she dutifully posed with and Jake found a light saber and needed little encouragement to pose for some action shots.

The great thing about litter picking is the interactions you have with people , we had many thanks from people as we made our way down the road - its always heartwarming to hear and it makes you realise that people appreciate their environment being clean. The great thing about litter picking in our wonderful city is that you never are far from some great banter. We had a lovely greeting from one man booming out to us that we were doing this for the 'looove of litter' he encouraged us to repeat the term several times with such emphasis it was almost like he would burst into song. The great thing about litter picking with Goodgym is you get a chance to chat as you go..... so of course there was chatting too. Im sure it wasnt just me.... or was it?

Before we knew it we had collected five big bags of litter and although we were wet and it was dark the darkness was lit up by the warmth and joy of Five Goodgymers (and a light saber)

This week, after a 2 mile run from Hope Street, 14 of us met at the end of Lark lane to support Lark Lane Neighbourhood association with a litter pick.

We split into 3 teams, going in opposite directions along Aigburth Road and down Lark Lane. Despite the area appearing to be generally tidy, we managed to collect 14 bags of rubbish, plus a full bin of recyling! As well as our resident gardener, Jo managing to deadhead and weed the rather lovely flowerbeds along the lane.

Most weird and wonderful find this week goes to the full bottles or prosecco (yes, plural!)

Brilliant work everyone, it really does have a positive impact on the area - we were even approached by several locals to say thank you!

After that, it was on to the pub, and what better excuse than celebrating Ema's 100th task - an excellent achievement!

On a sunny Monday evening, 7 Goodgymmers met with Lark Lane Neighbourhood Association to help spruce up one of the cities’ liveliest streets. We were tasked with some weeding and a general litter pick.

With memories of Eurovision celebrations fresh in our minds we were expecting to be faced with quite the task! But it was rather a tale of two halves. On the way down the lane we found tonnes of litter; cigarette butts, ice cream spoons, vapes, you name it. Not to mention some rather strange things in the flower beds.

However, we were pleasantly surprised to find the other half of the street to be much cleaner! We still managed to retrieve five whole bags of litter and Pauline did a rather wonderful job of weeding the beds.

Well done everyone, we definitely left the lane in a much better state than we found it and it was lovely to get so many positive comments from the locals. All in all a great way to spend a sunny Monday.

Well what larks we had this evening.

Heetu and Sallyann ran from Lark Lane to the meeting place just in case there was anyone joining us - we then ran back to Lark Lane to meet everyone. Well done Heetu for a week back and a 4 mile run before she picked a piece of litter up.

At Lark Lane the group met Helen who had sent up the Lark Lane Wombles. She provided us with the litter pickers and bags and explainedthat the wombles had been out so once we had cleared any litter from the lane itself we could go into the surrounding streets (underground overground........ anyone remember this?) . Despite Lark Lane being full of cafes, bars and take aways it was remarkably clear - its obvious that the newly formed Wombles are doing a great job - however we still found during an hour we filled 8 bags of rubbish.

It was a lovely atmosphere and we had many kindly and funny comments: people thanking us, one man asking where are capes were (as he thought we were super heroes) the answer back was in the wash.... another laughingly sayingi t was late for community service before thanking us with a broad smile, a shout outofthanks from a seond floor window and roses given by the local florist as a thank you. Very quickly the night was over - 8 litter bags piled up and photos taken (thanks to Carys for the group photo)