The Friends of Bramhall had successfully planted the 8,000 crocus bulbs so our mission shifted from Hocus Crocus to Balsam Bashing!

And boy did we bash it!

Himalayan Balsam is a weed that grows and spreads extremely rapidly, and while they produce a wonderful vibrant pink flower (and a fun to snap seed) they the bane of the Bramhall gardeners' life! So we learnt ...every day is a school day!

So, how else do you fill a soggy Saturday morning than bashing balsam?

We pulled, we snapped and we slid ... alot!

The weather may have be miserable but our spirits were high!

Welcome back Stockport!

Our first Community Mission since lockdown, and what a mission it was!

We certainly came back with a bang!

10 amazing runners/walkers/bikers all shifting a room full of donated books from the Beechwood Cancer Care Centre, Adswood, into a van, ready for transportation to their Bramhall site.

The van loading was an intricate game of Tetris - for those 1980's gamers!

We saw (and cried a little inside), we moved, and with a shed-load of muscle, we conquered!

...We even had time to peruse some pages!

Massive shout out to some first time GoodGym runners: Sophie Heather Lisa

And fabulous return for so many regular runners!

Roll on Boxfit the sequel, tonight's Community Mission, where the team will be unloading the books at their destination!

Wow, another wonderful winter run right! Despite it being pancake day, our run this evening was far from flat! 6 Goodgymers met at Produce Hall, we ran a mighty 5km to our task, mainly up hill in the wind.

We were met in Woodley by the Canal by the lovely Neil from the Canal and River trust, he met us with some life jackets, lots of energy, some big lights and some tools!! We had 30 minutes to cut back as much over grown foliage as possible, what fun! The weather held out and we had a great time. Tonight the task was to clear up the area in time for Sunday when a volunteer group will be adding to the clean up. We cleared the path way for cyclist, runners and anyone else using the pathway.

We will be back again in around 6 weeks time, this time to set the path again. Its a great community task, ensuring that the canal path is clear and safe everyone in the community to use.

I jinxed the run back, I said it would be like flying back since it was all down hill!!! I was WRONG! It was down hill, it just happened to start hail stoning, and get very windy, and there were a LOT of puddles that were large enough to swim through, it sounds like a awful run, but it was one of those runs, that if you were running on your own it would have been, but because we were all together it was pretty funny (kind of?!)

It was fab to have Debs back with us this week after a 4 week break, thanks for bringing your energy, and well done on the hill climb cycle and the river headstand! your a inspiration. Thank you to all of you that braved the wet weather tonight, you were great.

Have a great week running

Tonight 7 Goodgymers, 8 if we include the lovely and amazing cake maker Hannah! (THANK YOU)

We had the task of running 4km to a new venue for the Heaton Mersey collective. We set off nice and steady as there was a hill involved......once we reached the top we could breath again! After 4km of running we were met by Dorothy and a wonderful light display she had set out for us, it looked very pretty in the hazy mist. Our task this evening was to clear lots of branches from piles to a mulch area of the site, being extra careful as the grounds are home to lots of wildlife. Dorothy is a wonderful part of the community in Heaton Mersey, tirelessly cleaning up the local area and making the most out of spaces that are disused to create lovely spaces for the community. Last time we helped out with the community garden, this time it was the woodland area off the industrial estate, here she is trying to attract more wildlife into the space, clearing it free from litter and encouraging both animals and humans to use the area, and she is doing a great job, however we got a lot done this evening, so now she can have some free time, possibly she could visit the cinema again?? who knows, but this lady deserves a rest, however i dont think that will happen, as she said this was her new IKIGAI : Which is a Japanese concept that means " a reason for being" which is just wonderful, and i think inspired us all tonight. We will be back in few weeks time when the weather changes to help Dorothy further with the lovely areas in Heaton Mersey.

Today it was great to see new member Serin, well done on finding us and getting stuck in with the task, we really appreciate your help.

Also it has to be noted that we celebrated the fact that Anne has now completed over 100 good deeds and her wings are in the post, well done Anne, your a inspiration to us all, and not only that, your a great member of the crew and a awesome technical support, an all round great human, so a massive thank you and well done! And Hannah needs a special mention for the cake, it was seriously delish! thank you, we now need one every week!

Also dont forget that this Sataurday we have 2 things happening, first we have the EXTRA SESSION, at woodband Parkrun, see the website for details, then in the evening a few of us are running the Lyme park National trust night run, if you signed up in time ill see you there.

Until next week you lovely bunch, have a great week running,

Week 2 for the Goodgym Stockport crew and the energy was just as high.

Tonight 7 Goodgymers ran 3km around in loops, up and down, around and round, fast and slow! And it was a last minute change due to mix up of dates, we were surpose to be running to to help Dorothy at the Heaton Mersey collective, but she had booked to go to the cinema, nevermind , we had our woolly master plan back up, in a few weeks we are planning to run to Stepping Hill hospitals neo natal unit to pass on our knitted and crocheted wears so we had plenty to get our hooks into, and we are now planning on running to see Dorothy at the Heaton Mersey collective next week, and hopefully she can tell us which film she watched and if it was any good?!

Tonight our wool game was upped, this was our 3rd attempt at crocheting blankets, and I was like a proud mother as I watched people teach each other, and the blankets are getting bigger and mine and others patience is getting stronger, it must be all the hills and speed work we did? Which was also impressive, some of the hill work was impressivlely fast, ranging from 13-29 seconds! wow guys, it was also great to see everyone work consistantly on the hills and flat, everyone together, chatting and running, really lovely to see our community.

A huge well done to Kirsty who had taken her blanket home and had done a fair bit extra, and well done to Pete for keeping cool until he got the hang of it, he is now the groups crochet leader, any advice needed just give him a shout.

Tonight it was fab to see Pauline over from liverpool, I say this everytime but we will come visit you soon! promise..... It was also fab to see regulars back on form, and great that Rob made a return after his first week.

Thanks everyone for working so hard in the running sessions and at making the blankets, I am sure the neo natal unit will be really pleased with our progress, and our unique style.

Take a look at the website for our additional run this month, we will be running Parkrun on Sat 25th of January at Vernon/Woodbank park, and afterwards we will be doing a little tidy up and then staying on for a coffee in the cafe if anyone wants to join us??

Have a great week running folks,