This Saturday was a truly special and uplifting gathering as nine enthusiastic GoodGym members came together, bringing energy, positivity, and a shared spirit of community and wellbeing. The morning began with many of us taking part in the fantastic park run, where everyone showed determination, encouragement, and great team spirit. It was wonderful to see members reaching milestones, improving their running achievements, and supporting one another throughout the event.

The day became even more memorable as we celebrated Jo’s fabulous birthday. In true GoodGym style, Jo spent part of her special day volunteering by helping with token scanning for the parkrun, showing once again the kindness and dedication that make our community so special. And of course, the theme of the day had to be:

“Go, Jo, for Six-Zero!”

Turning 60 was celebrated with smiles, laughter, and appreciation for Jo’s amazing energy and contribution. After the run, the team gathered for a lovely breakfast at Coffee Lodge, where everyone enjoyed great food, meaningful conversations, and time together. The atmosphere was warm, cheerful, and filled with friendship. Good luck to Steph, who wisely skipped the run in preparation of her first half marathon on Sunday, and joined us for breakfast. Good luck Steph, you'll smash it!

A special highlight of the morning was receiving the charming golden star stickers, thoughtfully given by the kind-hearted Steph. These small tokens brought big smiles and perfectly reflected the supportive spirit within the group.

The gathering ended on a high note after breakfast, with plenty of chatting, socialising, and celebrating our shared achievements. The day beautifully represented what GoodGym is all about: physical activity, volunteering, friendship, and promoting both physical and mental wellbeing. It was a memorable Saturday filled with movement, celebration, kindness, and community spirit.

Happy Birthday, Jo, and here’s to “Go, Jo, for Six-Zero (60)!”

Monday evening brought another brilliant GoodGym Liverpool session, this time on the Mount at the beautiful St James’ Gardens by the Anglican Cathedral. As always, the evening started with movement and good company, with part of the group meeting near famous Suitcases for a run before heading down to the task location together. After a warm-up and an easy run through the city, we arrived ready to get stuck in.

The gardens were waiting for a bit of love and it didn’t take long before everyone found a job to tackle. Armed with tools, gloves and plenty of energy, we spread out across the space to help tidy and refresh the area. Some of us focused on clearing overgrown sections, cutting back vegetation to help reopen parts of the pathways and make the gardens easier to enjoy. Others got busy cleaning, litter picking and generally sprucing things up to bring a bit of order back to the space.

Bit by bit, the area started to transform. Paths became clearer, corners looked brighter and the gardens felt more open and cared for. After plenty of teamwork, laughs and muddy hands, we wrapped up the session feeling accomplished before heading back, knowing we’d made a real difference to a much-loved local space.

Another fine Monday evening, and we were back again at the Mulgrave street community garden. The garden has been growing away over the winter, and we were back on the scene to clear out all the weeds which had built up, and make space for the flowers to flourish properly. With no time to lose we got down to business and made swift progress, tallying up four hefty bags of weeds by the end of the session.

It was a classic Goodgym Monday, if you'll forgive a little sentimentality from the writer, it was a much needed boost for me. I've been recovering for much of this year from a major operation and a lot of work stress, and this session was my first day back in the wider world after my surgery. The community of Goodgym and our wider collaborators has become such a pillar of support for me and so many others, and I couldn't imagine a more welcoming community for faces old and new.

Liverpool put on a lovely clear night for my last task with Good Gym Liverpool. I met Liam, Aatefa, Sophie and Steph at the suitcases. Steph, who is in the midst of half marathon training, was even mid long run. We cannot wait to hear how the race goes!

We enjoyed a lovely nearly 2km run to Princes park to meet the rest of the group. We were so impressed to see Dike who did not let running back to back marathons put him off joining the regular Monday night task! Well done Dike! 👏

Before we got started, Bekah said a lovely goodbye and I was given some very generous gifts from the team. I may have shed a few tears and had many bittersweet goodbye hugs.

Katy and Liz then gave us the briefing. Our goal was to revitalize a very muddy and slightly overgrown area of path near to the island. Armed with wheelbarrows, shovels and loppers, we headed down to get stuck in to the task, in true Good Gym form. Highlights included debating the difference between a shovel and a spade and seeing a frog! By the end of the hour we had cleared a whole lot of mud from the path and filled this in with overgrowth that others had cleared from nearby.

At the end of the task, some walked and some ran back to the suitcases where after a quick stretch, we headed to the pub. What followed was a lovely time catching up and chatting about how lovely it is to be a part of Good Gym Liverpool!

Thanks again to everyone for being a part of my journey and for the excellent send off!