Welcome to Victor for your first GoodGym session! 👏

After clearing the space 2 weeks ago, we now needed to remove the old rotting raised beds to install new ones, allowing the school to use the space as an educational growing area.

Some wooden beds were very rotten and came apart easily, with Ben and Victor carrying the pieces to the waste disposal area a short walk away. Others were less rotten, making the pieces heavy and took a while to saw in half!

Fanette and Hazel saved the strawberries for future use, while the mattock, hammer, and saw got a good workout to pull apart the old beds.

As we were dismantling, Peter from the school started piecing together the pre-cut pieces to produce 1.2 m x 2.4 m beds. With fingers crossed the drill batteries would hold and a spirit level, the beds were made, stabilisers were used to stop bowing, and waterproof sheeting used to try and reduce the speed of the beds rotting down.

With as many shovels as we could fine and lots of elbow grease, we managed to build and fill 2 new raises beds, in the 2 h session, with all the deadwood taken for disposal - the wheelbarrow flat tyre didn't hold up for this and meant we only got a small layer of fresh top soil too.

Top effort to get it done this evening! 💪 Certainly earned some food and the water/biscuits after a heavy workout.

With potential rain clouds circling, Fanette, Hazel, and Ben met up in Cringle Park to tackle a slightly extended version of Route #1 of the Manchester Green Trail. A quick coffee from Grounded MCR and introductions for Juno provided some preparation time as we waited for other walkers to possibly join, with the walk advertised as part of the GM Walking Festival.

From Cringle Park, we took in the sights and smells of Levenshulme to reach Chapel St Park, next to the Blue Bell Inn, before entering Greenbank playing fields, with no cricket being played today. In Greenbank Park, we bumped into Maria from MCR Library of Things before circling through a side street to Nutsford Vale (note, not Knutsford...). We made a note for a potential litter pick here due to the volume of fly tipping before going through Annie Lees Park, and then towards Sunny Brow Park after crossing over the railway, again passing a few potential litter picking hotspots.

Juno was unable to resist the cooling stream in Sunny Brow Park and entered on several occasions, and as we approached the Waggon & Horses we encountered a surprise cemetery in the woodland, presumably associated with Brookfield Church. After crossing a busy Hyde Road, we skirted past another pub before finding a route through the Fallowfield Loop and found Gorton Lower Reservoir and Debdale Outdoor Centre, leading us past McDonald's (for a quick toilet stop) and Debdale Park. Debdale Park was surprisingly big, clean, tidy, and full of activities including community gardens, Men's Shed location, a cycling practice circuit for youngsters, tennis courts, bowling greens, a workout station, kids playground, and a Heroes Wood Memorial with trees and landscaping to remember locals from World War I and onwards.

We walked a path separating the lower and upper reservoirs before stumbling upon Gorton Reservoir Allotments, a large area of allotment plots with lots of plant sales and events advertised for the coming months, plus plenty of signs for selling horse manure. Following this, we joined the yellow brick road (previously the Stockport Canal) north past King George V playing fields before entering the 2 final parks in Lees Street Park and Delamere Park, the latter having a newly constructed bike park, Max Trax that has some story behind it!

In all, we encountered 11 parks and covered over 10 km while thankfully the rain generally stayed away. Juno had a blast and fell asleep as soon as we got home!

Welcome to Ruth for your first GoodGym session! Great to meet you.

This evening, we were asked by Peter from Acacias Community Primary School to help clear an area for a growing/gardening site, accessible for the pupils and parents to use for growing herbs, fruit, and veg. Before that, a lot of weeds and rubble needed taking out, which is where we came in.

With a variety of tools, including a pickaxe and smaller hand tools, Ruth, Fanette, and Ben made their way around the the site removing anything that shouldn't be there, including lots of Galium aparine (otherwise known as sticky weed or sticky willy). In the process, we unearthed a few self-seeded trees and old compost bins, the latter we used for some of the green waste, while an extendable saw was used to chop overhanging branches from the neighbours.

Peter, fresh from the Manchester marathon (congrats) as a long-distance memory now, joined to chop the branches into smaller chunks and tried to remove as much of the underlying membrane as possible.

Given the speed of the weeding, we even managed to clear the raised beds, leaving the healthy-looking strawberry plants to keep growing. We also potted up some smaller horse-chestnuts that had sprouted, possibly to use for a science class to show the seed and parts of the plant. We also found a cat scarer/deterrant, mistaken for a garden meter (?), that thankfully isn't now in use.

All in all, a productive evening and we even managed to stay relatively dry despite the circling rain clouds. We will be back in 2 weeks to help dismantle the rotting beds and re-build new ones so the pupils and parents can make full use for the plot.

Solid workout and well done for persevering to remove as much of the wall frames as possible! 💪

The Plastic Shed refurb of 2026 has kicked off this week, with the previous shelving space used by Shuropody needing to be dismantled and removed to install murals, actual shelving, and other arty paraphernalia.

With a wide array of screwdrivers 🪛 drills, GoodGym elbow grease, and a handy crowbar, we managed to remove as much as possible, with some clinging on as a future problem. At times it felt like a rage room, with banging and drilling filling the air along with the resulting dust.

With the health and safety book firmly out of reach, the Treatment Room 2 upstairs is now filled with wall panels, wood planks (some with screws still attached...), and after some scraping and sanding from Sophie, Caitlin seemed happy with the progress made.

Top effort and teamwork from Hazel, Mandy, Fanette, Tanoshi, Sophie, and Ben!

Super effort today from Tanoshi, Hazel, Fanette, and Ben helping out the allotment group at Albermarle allotments in Withington 🌱

There was a slight change of plan with us now helping clear rubble and rubbish from a plot. There was lots of metal, rotting wood, tyres, and a sofa 🛋 (of course). With wheelbarrows, flat trolleys, and a balancing act along the way, we managed to transport the items from the plot to start filling up the skips.

Using a novel jumping technique, we split up pallets and larger pieces. Bit by bit, the skips filled up and in about 80 minutes, the group along with other plot holders managed to clear the site.

Thankfully, there was a brief respite of tea and cake with the community allotment group, before Tanoshi and Ben cleared some rubbish from the community plot, including a lot of glass, carpet, and broken bricks.

Good workout today 💪