Who says Tuesday evenings have to be ordinary? Certainly not at WhatIf, where another glorious summer gathering served up all the ingredients for a perfect community evening: delicious homemade pies 🥧, mountains of pasta 🍝, cakes that mysteriously disappeared at an alarming rate 🍰😋, plenty of refreshments ☕🥤, live music 🎶, creative workshops 🎨, and enough neighbourliness ❤️ to warm even the least summery of British evenings.

Melanie and Laura rolled up their sleeves for the upcycling workshop, transforming old vinyl banners into mini grow bags. 🌱♻️ It's safe to say those banners have had quite the career change—from advertising to agriculture! 😂

There was another reason to celebrate too. 🎉 Melanie has finally found a volunteering community that feels like home, bringing together friendly faces 🤗, meaningful projects 💚, and a welcome boost for mental wellbeing. We couldn't be happier for her! 💙

For those of us who remember the winter months ❄️ (Mandy), it was amazing to see just how much the site has flourished. Back then, it was our cosy indoor refuge for GoodGym sessions 🏃‍♀️; now it's a thriving community food park bursting with colour 🌸, conversation 💬, music 🎵, workshops 🛠️, and growing things everywhere you look. The only thing growing faster than the vegetables 🥬🍅 seems to be the sense of community. ❤️

Good turnout this morning, with 467 participants at event number 304 at Fletcher Moss parkrun. 97 completing their first parkrun here, with 16 completing their first ever parkrun 👏

Hazel, Laura, and Ben joined 19 others to volunteer for the event. Hazel marshalled at point 7 to keep runners on track to the finish. Laura was on hand with Flo for handing out finish tokens at the extended finish funnel. Ben ran the show as RD with thankfully no incidents or problems with the results, so plain sailing.

Great to have sign language support for the briefings (even with a temperamental speaker...) and lots of parkwalkers!

The official final batch of Together Trust leaflets (more than 200pcs) has now been successfully homed across the Cale Green area! 🎉

The mission took around two hours in total—one hour for each round—with Mithra joining for the second lap. Hazel's carefully crafted delivery strategy was simple but effective: tiptoe past the houses to avoid alarming the neighbourhood's canine security teams, and whatever you do, don't put your fingers all the way through the letterbox!

Apart from the occasional chorus of enthusiastic barking, the evening soundtrack also featured cheers, groans, and the odd celebratory shout drifting from homes as England played their football match. It certainly sounded like there was plenty of drama both on the pitch and behind front doors!

With the streets unusually quiet, cooler temperatures, and—best of all—no rain, it turned into a wonderfully easy, breezy leaflet delivery session.

Now that every leaflet has found its new home, here's hoping Together Trust enjoys a fantastic turnout for this Saturday's event! 🤞💙🎈

Sometimes, the weather has other plans.

The team hadn't quite bargained for the evening's biblical downpour, and with the forecast threatening more rain well beyond 8pm, it was decided that tonight's Together Trust leaflet drop would be postponed to another day. Even GoodGym can't deliver leaflets that have turned into papier-mâché! 📬➡️🫠

But what a turnout! Despite being thoroughly soaked, everyone arrived with determination, big smiles, and surprisingly high spirits. 💪😊 A quick catch-up and team updates were definitely drier than the streets.

Lucy was proudly showing off her brand-new GoodGym red t-shirt❤️, which received an immediate and rather comprehensive waterproofness test. Meanwhile, Gabriele joined for her very first session—welcome! It seems the weather likes to baptise new members with a proper GoodGym initiation. Thankfully, they also came dressed in red and took it all in good humour. There was also a pleasant surprise as Mandy joined the session, much to Hazel's delight.

The good news is that everyone's keen to return on another evening to get those Together Trust leaflets delivered ahead of Saturday's event. Rain: 1. GoodGym: To be continued...

During the chat, Mandy also mentioned that her allotment area could do with a helping hand, so watch this space for a future community mission involving less rain (hopefully) and more gardening.🌱🥕

It was another reminder that GoodGymers don't let the seasons dampen their enthusiasm—only occasionally their socks. 🧦😂