Thursday 4th November 2021
Find out about GoodGym TaskForce
Report written by Ema Quinn (She/her)
A dark cold evening in Bootle soon felt a lot more inviting when we arrived at an amazing new centre in Bootle supporting activities and therapy for men's mental health, with the offer of a cuppa and a chocolate biscuit!
Sean's Place started two years ago in one room in a building on the Strand, it was set up by Debbie in the name of her brother who took his own life after struggling and finding very little support on offer. This amazing charity has grown so much in the past two years that they have just got the keys to their new premises, a huge and amazing building on Linacre Lane.
There's a real sense of possibility and hope in the building, looking at all the fabulous spaces and hearing Debbie talk about their plans to keep growing and helping men of all ages from across Liverpool.
And to begin with, the plain and rather clinical looking corridors needed painting with the charity's brand colour Teal!
So after some of us managing to walk or cycle to the center (Bravo Steph, Chris and Pauline) we set to carefully masking the areas to paint with meticulous attention to detail (I was very impressed with everyone!) Accompanied by some great 80's tunes on the radio (Salt n Pepper's paint it...paint it good a particular favourite) we painted, chatted and danced a little too!
With the last section of corridor still to complete we ran out of masking tape, but that didn't pose too much of a problem as the wisdom and careful dexterity of Pauline, Heetu, Ruth and Steph made short work of recycling some from the areas we had already painted (again, very impressive!)
From bland and clinical to a warm and welcoming glow the difference was immensely satisfying to see so clearly. Well done all on a great job! Sean's Place has a lot more to do to get the centre ready so we are looking forward to returning to help out again.
And if you would benefit from some support or know anyone who would, Sean's place is there for all men.
Liverpool
Cleaning up the streets while having some active fun.