Well a lovely big group of us turned up to Urban green-up, some cycling, some running and others walking in sunny weather.

Elaine from Urban green-up explained our previous favourite nettle pulling tasks had now made enough space to plant some robusty plants to hopefully take over the space instead of the stingy aggressive growers!

So we proceeded to layout 140 plants in a natural pattern explained to us 3 same plants together evenly spaced out and one off on its own as the black-sheep making its own new territory. Elaine then expertly checked our layouts and we started to plant away. Some of us still loved the satisfaction of getting hopefully the last of those nettles from their roots! Others also expertly litter picked the garden space to ensure the plants were the centre of attention.

With one of the first tasks where no lights were needed and several thank youse from passers-by, we pow-wowed through the session to: -pick a big pile of nettles to their roots -exterior designer layout 140 plants -proceed to plant said 140 plants -collect 2 bags of litter tightly packed

A perfectly powered up team!

"There ain't no party like a Goodgym Party"

Happy Birthday to us! This March, Goodgym Liverpool turns 7, and we were determined to mark it in style.

We were fortunate to be able to use the fabulous Events Space at DoES Liverpool, which was the perfect setting. We had a brilliant turnout with many members making the effort to come along, and it was so lovely to have some purely social time - a rare treat, without those pesky tasks getting in the way!

It was wonderful to see how absolutely everyone contributed to make the event a success, we really took the can-do energy we bring to tasks and saw it come to fruition at our own event. From the bunting and party hats, to an absolutely fabulous buffet which included home-made: fried chicken, chocolate roulade, goats cheese & caramelised onion tarts, a variety of salads, salt & pepper sausage rolls, oat & raisin cookies, & chocolate brownies! Plus a huge selection of sides, snacks, and sweet treats - not to mention a fabulously decorated and personalised Goodgym birthday cake.

Alas, this celebration also marked the final - and 1001st - task of original Goodgym member Pauline. Pauline was there at the very first session 7 years ago and has been a committed and dedicated core member ever since, taking up Coach sessions as well as tasks and missions. It was very emotional to know this was her last session, but we sent her off in style with flowers, champagne, chocolates, a beautiful memory book with photos and memories of her sessions over the years, and a one-off bespoke personalised blue Goodgym t-shirt, in the colours of her beloved Everton FC. Pauline, it's been an absolute priviledge having you as a member, you've supported GG Liverpool and its members endlessly, and your enthusiasm, calm can-do attitude and easy way socially has been a blessing to literally hundreds of people in the community. It's a real loss to lose you but we wish you nothing but the best as your start a new chapter of your life with wonderful husband Miles. The door is always open to come visit us in the future.

It would have been remiss not to celebrate last-man standing Sophie, our dear and dedicated run leader who is now the only remaining member from that very first Liverpool session 7 years ago. The ever-thoughtful Sallyann presented Sophie with a small gift as a token of our appreciation for all the work Sophie does for us.

Sally Ann also had the wonderful idea of us writing down what Goodgym means to us, and taking a photo of the collection of comments for posterity. Check out the photos to see what we came up with - it was quite emotional seeing the impact GG has on the lives of it's members. It's certainly a two-way street - our wonderful members put so much in to helping their community, and in turn the GG community gives so much back. It was lovely for task owner Vicky from Litter Clear Volunteer join us too, Vicky works tirelessly making the local community a lovely place to be, and it was a treat to see her socially and share this special evening with her.

The "thank you" list for last night is long, but in this case it's worth stating, as everyone put in effort to make the event the huge success it absolutely was. We had the best time and it really re-iterated what makes GG special.

With special thanks to:

• Siân, Lucien, Clara for the homemade food and helping with set up & post-party clean up

• Miriam for the amazing birthday cake and all the hard work on Pauline's beautiful memory book gift

• Sophie, Emma, Eleanor, Jo & Liam for the contributions to party-ware and the buffet (including a very generous bottle of champagne!)

• Steph for the homemade brownies

• Pauline for the lovely cakes

• Dan for the festive bunting and homemade roulade

• Asavari for bravely joining us at a social for only her second session - so lovely to see you again!

• Ema for making a huge effort to join us despite ill-health, and for the fun party hats, banners, and decorations

• Sallyann for her tireless hard-work, effort and thoughtfulness which massively contributed to making the event really special

• Bekah for finding that gem of a venue, and the famous salt and pepper sausage rolls

• And shout out to Heetu who sadly couldn't join us in person but was very much there in spirit and contributed her time and effort so generously to Pauline's leaving gift - Heetu you're an absolute genius

It was a really beautiful night showing just how special Goodgym and it's members are. Thank you all for your phenomenal effort both with our party and throughout the year. We all left on a real high, grateful to have so much to celebrate.

Sunday morning began early, grey and wet, as 8 GoodGymers made their way, on foot and by bike, to Otterspool Prom.

We had been asked to help out again at one of Liverpool's most popular running events, the BTR Half Marathon and 10 Mile race. Our job was to help set up and give out water at the Mile 9 water station, and help marshall the runners onto the prom. Of course, we were also there to cheer on all the runners with our famous GoodGym energy and winning smiles!

This event is always a great opportunity to promote GoodGym, and we all wore our T-shirts with pride!

We arrived at 08.30 for set up as the race was to start at 09.00. First finishers were expected around 9.30 (10 mile runners) with the bulk of the runners coming through by 11.00 and the final half-marathoners by 11. 30 ish.

We would then have about an hour to put away the tables, clean up any litter and collect in all of the discarded water bottles!

As always, the GG team worked non-stop: carrying packs of water, filling each of the 5 tables with over 200 bottles, bagging rubbish and dealing with members of the public who were trying to drive through the race area.

As the first runners came through, everyone cheered and waited for them to take a water bottle from one of the tables... all very calm and quite relaxed... that didn't last 😁

Gradually, the numbers coming through increased until we had a constant throng of runners for about an hour... at one point, we could barely keep up with the demand... but no runner was left without access to water 👍

The smiles on the faces of the runners as we cheered them on, and the genuine gratitude and thanks as we kept the tables filled with water, made all the hard work worth it.

Everyone encouraged the runners, but for my money, Siân and Dan take the award for the top cheerleaders... making sure every runner was encouraged and using the runners' name when handing them their water bottle 🌟🌟

After 3 hours, the last of the 12,000+ runners passed through our station...amazing!

We had a brief moment to enjoy the feeling of a job well done... then the clean up began!

Unfortunately, this is the part of the task that is not enjoyable. Thousands of single use plastic bottles... and their lids... are discarded along the route, littering miles of Liverpool's streets, parks and riverfront... a problem that is repeated at many running events in many cities across the world... and an issue that definitely goes against the grain for any GoodGymer. Quite an ethical dilemma for us all.

BTR organisers are obviously aware of this environmental issue and are working towards viable solutions:

**'In recent years we have all become more aware of the high volume of natural resources that go to waste in our daily lives and in many respects the same can be said of waste within race events.

One of the first items to come under BTR scrutiny was single use plastic and in the three years since BTR stopped using plastic Goody Bags at events we have reduced use by around 60,000 bags that would have otherwise have been used.' Alan Rothwell BTR Liverpool Ltd

Other actions that have been/are being introduced by BTR include: 🔸️using paper to protect medals, instead of plastic bags 🔸️providing smaller bottles of water 🔸️at some events, paper cups are used alongside bottles 🔸️at the Wirral Half Marathon, blocking drainage gaps in the sea wall, to prevent polluting the water ways.

We can only hope that these sustainability measures, and more, are adopted at every running event, as soon as possible. BTR seem to be heading in the right direction, and we wish them every success in this regard.

It would be a great shame if BTR and, by association, the many community groups, including GG, who volunteer at their events, were to attract negative press for this single use plastic problem... as this is such a positive, community-based event.

As always, we would like to end on a positive note, and thank our 'extra' helpers today, so: A huge shout-out to Dan's sister and nephew, who came to support Dan and ended up helping out! Well done Esther and Alexander... our star water station volunteer 🌟 Also, Myles who rode into Liverpool with me to make sure I arrived safely, and then helped to carry water bottles to the tables. 😁👍

"Team of Good-Jims tidy & clear the cathedral grounds of our adopted namesake patron saint, St James"

It was a great turnout with "Good-Jimmers" hitting the double digits on Saturday, when we returned to the beautiful St James' Gardens for the first time this year.

Our own GG member Vikky is part of the Friends of St James' Gardens, who we were here to help, so we gathered with the group to receive our instructions. There was plenty to be getting on with and the group split into 3 to get to work: some on bulb planting, some on litter picking, and some on clearing the entrance tunnel to keep it clear and clean for those entering the gardens.

There was a blissful spring warmth in the air and it was a treat to discard big coats and jackets and get to work in lighter clothing. We saw plenty of people heading to the gardens with water bottles to fill up at the famous Chalybeate Spring, said to have magical healing properties, and it was lovely to see the gardens so popular with families, tourists and locals taking a stroll and even enjoying picnics in the shadow of the magnificent Anglican Cathedral.

The team planted an array of bulbs, cleared up the rubbish, and did a fantastic job of stripping and hacking the overgrowth in the tunnel, leaving it super safe and clear. The Friends of St James' Gardens sent GG a huge thank you for making a massive difference, and we're already looking forward to returning next month for one of our weekly Group Runs.

Welcome new Goodgym member Asavari, who dived right in in true GG style - it was lovely to meet you and we hope to see you at another task soon!

A lovely Spring Saturday morning well spent - well done team!