Dike, Fred, Bekah and I walked together to the task where we met new member Erin - welcome Erin! Today also marked Fred's 5th task - well done Fred! We did introductions and then got more information about the task. The task was to weed and tidy the paving area around the gravestone of Kitty (Catharine) Wilkinson (née Seaward) (1786-1860). Kitty Wilkinson was a pioneer in public hygiene - responsible for developing the first combined public wash house and public baths in the UK (right here in Liverpool) helping to stem the outbreak of cholera during the 19th century. In Liverpool in 1832, she opened up her house so that neighbours could use her boiler (the only one in the neighbourhood) to wash and disinfect their clothes and bedding - this would become the blueprint for the the first official wash house and public baths opened in Liverpool on Frederick Street in 1842. This saved many lives and educated many on public health. Her gravestone reads: “Indefatigable and selfdenying. She was the Widows Friend: the support of the Orphan, the Fearless and Unwearied Nurse of the Sick: the Originator of the Baths and Wash houses for the Poor. It is apt that there are many tributes around the city to Kitty recognising her significant contributions. Some include: - The Faculty of Health, Innovation, Technology and Science at Liverpool John Moores University will soon be housed in the "Kitty Wilkinson Building" - Liverpool Hope University has a halls of residence - There is a marble statue of her in St George's Hall (the first women to be honoured in this way). - Kitty's Laundrette is a not-for-profit community Laundrette in Everton

We split up into two groups. Dike, Fred and Bekah worked on tidying the edges of grass around the pathway leading to Kitty's gravestone while Erin and I weeded the groves in between. Erin made super light work of the main section of the task so we moved outwards to cover wider ground. Dike, Fred and Bekah made the edges very neat and tidy and also supported the sweep up of grass and weeds removed. Well done everyone! We cleared far more than we expected and all before the rain set in!

I believe Kitty would often talk about the importance of supporting her neigbours and community and it was while we were doing this task that we had a lovely visitor from Liverpool City Council say hello and thank Goodgym for all its efforts in the community. Community and connection are always the words that come to mind when I think about goodgym.

The Everton Community Garden Autumn Auction is a GoodGym fixture, and for good reason. Steph was so keen to get to the auction that she arrived on Thursday night mistakenly — a whole day early

GoodGym takes us all over the city, working with lots of different community groups and projects. At Everton Community Garden, we’ve done plenty of work over the years, so it’s lovely to be invited back — this time not to work, but as guests at their annual autumn auction. John and Hilary, have always been incredibly welcoming and supportive of GoodGym. Together with all the volunteers, they’ve created such a special place, and it’s lovely that the relationship we’ve built through doing work there means we’re now able to come along and enjoy evenings like this too.

After attending a number of open evenings strangers have become familiar faces, acquaintances, and friends, and every time we return we seem to know more people. Couple this with Jo unexpectedly meeting an old friend and it gives a sense of the warmth of the atmosphere.

The garden was looking glorious: a lush oasis, bursting with fruit, vegetables and flowers. Although the day had started with rain the evening was dry with a warm breeze bringing a breath of autumn with it. There was music, conversation, burgers and hot dogs being cooked and delicious homemade crumbles made from the fruits of everyone’s labours. Jo became the Crumble Ambassador, on hand to direct everyone towards the delicious offerings.

Bekah discovered a jostaberry a cross between a gooseberry and a blackcurrant and promptly bought some homemade jam made from it. After time for an amble around the garden and lots of chat it was time for the famous auction.

Brio, the auctioneer, swapped his informal shorts and top for a dapper top hat and tails — and kept everyone entertained while the GoodGymers did their bit: getting the bidding started, nudging prices higher and throwing in the occasional extra pound causing some good humoured bidding wars. It’s important to have people willing to get things moving, but it’s equally important to have people who get completely carried away and start enthusiastically bidding for things they perhaps didn’t know they wanted, needed or even realised existed. I may have fallen into that last category.

Among the goods being bid for were crock pots, wooden bench and planters and the Goodgym famous tromboncino a ridiculous shaped squash that resembles a trombone a swan or a question mark dependent on how you hold it. But, as Jo pointed out, tromboncinos are 'so last year.'. The Turk’s Turban squash absolutely outran it in the beauty stakes. Of course both had to be gained by someone.... not to be named

Once the auction was over, there was still plenty to enjoy. Aatefa picked grapes straight from the vine — 20p a bunch. How much fresher can you get? Steph and I went trombocino spotting, Bekah was busy organising a social diary date and Jo talking to old friends and new.

How quickly the night went. Aatefa left with her grapes, Sally-Anne had her auction haul safely escorted home by Bekah via Uber yes there was that much, Jo cycled off into the night and Steph retraced her journey home from yesterday's unexpected dry run

What a lovely way to spend an evening. And that’s what GoodGym is all about: turning up, getting stuck in, building relationships with communities across the city, and becoming part of something bigger than ourselves.

If you’ve never joined us, come along. You might arrive feeling like a stranger, but that feeling doesn’t last for long. And you never know, you might even get to play a trombocino.

To complement our parkrun super Sticker Saturday, GoodGym Liverpool has taken to the occasional "Parkrun on Holiday". This time, we were ticking off "C" on the Parkrun alphabet and heading to the coast for the Crosby Parkrun.

This extra run was arranged by Clara, and Clara's phenomenal organisational skills soothe my soul. She'd ascertained attendees, sorted a WhatsApp group so we could stay in touch without spamming the main group, and shared all the important information including public transport options, parking, amenities, and event schedule in advance so we all knew exactly what we were doing. As a fairly organised person myself, it's an absolute pleasure to attend a session Clara has arranged so thank you Clara for all your hard work in keeping us all together ♥️

The weather forecast was looking, shall we say temperamental, and Clara and I met early at the leisure centre and sheltered under the cover. We were soon joined by Liam and Aatefa and headed to the briefing point, where we were given the first-timers brief including the turnaround point at the iron man statue the Parkrun Crosby team have affectionately named Bing (get it?).

We were soon joined by Amina and got the all important group photo. Liam was nearly in hot water for not sporting his GoodGym t-shirt, but when it transpired he'd recently completed his 25th Parkrun, and was debuting the much sought after 25th purple t shirt on this, his 26th parkrun, all was forgiven.

It was then time for the general brief and GoodGym got a shout out welcome as parkrun tourists. One of the volunteers was celebrating her 400th time volunteering, a phenomenal achievement.

And off we went! The weather was kinder to us than expected, there was a little light drizzle mid-run but nowhere near the expected downpours ⛈️. It's quite a challenging course, running first on the sand (the 'out' was fine as the sand was quite firm, the 'back' much harder as the sand was more clay-like and sticky). We were all glad to reach solid ground for the section along the prom, up to the lifeguard station and back. Along the prom, one of the friendly volunteers was high-fiving us with Sweep, a beloved puppet from the children's show Sooty & Sweep. Then came the most challenging section of all - grass!

We all regrouped at the finish line, 25km completed between us. Amina had done well to make the run and had to get back for her bank holiday weekend plans, the rest of us headed for a Goodgym-style breakfast at a local cafe 🍳

Somehow despite the super challenging course, Aatefa had STILL managed to maintain her new sub-30 minute streak with an amazing time of 29:18. And I learnt it had actually been my 25th Parkrun! Might look into that purple t-shirt...

I certainly wouldn't have so many under my belt without the Goodgym Sticker Saturdays, so thank you GG Liverpool for endless motivation to get out running on a Saturday morning, and thank you Clara, Aatefa, Amina and Liam for a lovely morning of seaside fresh air, exercise, and a lovely cafe (particularly one that serves an iced matcha latte with coconut milk 💚).

We said goodbye and Aatefa and Liam made their way back to the city centre for ANOTHER Goodgym session, this time volunteering at the Savera march and festival. Well done guys what an amazing effort 🌟 But that's another report...