This week we were back on Park Lane with Urban GreenUp ahead of the project being judged for a competition.

The initial plan was to cover the sight with mulch to keep the weeds at bay and allow the plants to flourish. However, we arrived to find Elaine with a distinct lack of mulch - it had not arrived in time. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as we were able to weed and litter pick the sight ready for the mulch to go down next week!

It was wonderful to be working in daylight once again and definitely made it easier to identify the weeds!

It didn't take long for us to tackle the bulk of the weeds. Well done everybody. Excited for the mulching next week!

It was our first session of the season with Friends Of Everton Park. John had given us a slightly different venue and task for the first session. The Community Gardens is a hidden haven which is just full of plants. Its an amazing place that feels quite special when you walk in - not least as you know the hard work put in from all the regular people that tend this space week in week out.

The garden uses large raised beds which have been built using large thick substantial wooden planks however as happens the wood is starting to show its age and had started to rot in places.

Our task was to dismantle the raised bed - barrow the soil to the main soil heap and take apart the wooden frame being careful of the large nails that held them together- leaving the space flattened ready to be rebuilt.

As we were so many we had an over flow team working on a second raised bed and of course some friendly competition ensued. Lets just say the first team had more people more wheelbarrows and Jake who was running back and forth with the barrows and the second team had less people less wheelbarrows and a certain report writer who is renowned for chatting a lot.....

Our hour up and we had almost completed two raised beds - or should that be depleted? It was a really satisfying task great fun and company as always and lovely to be back in Everton again. Welcome to Tasha on her first task - look forward to seeing you again.

This week 12 goodgymmers ran, walked and cycled to Sunflowers Cancer Care Centre to lend a hand (or 24!) Their team do amazing work providing support to local people following a diagnosis of cancer or other life-changing illness. On our arrival at 7pm, we found virtually all the rooms full with no doubt invaluable counselling and group support sessions taking place. Our tasks for the evening included some coin counting, mould scrubbing (with appropriate safety gear and windows open of course) and wall painting. Delighted with a rare indoor task as the wind howled outside, we quickly spilt into 2 teams and got to work. With face masks and a need to not lose track of counting reducing our ability to chat somewhat, we finished all the tasks surprisingly quickly! All that was left to do was head to Lark Lane for a drink to celebrate Sallyann reaching the big 100 (deeds, not years…) and Aditya’s last group run with goodgym Liverpool. Aditya has been a very valued member of the group since July 2023 and he will be greatly missed. Tonight also marked Chris’s 40th deed and Jake’s 30th - well done everyone!