Snow and ice had stopped us in our tracks over the last few weeks. so it was with great delight we donned our summer clothes at a balmy 6 degrees and headed out for our 1st session of the year.

Grant Gardens former site of Liverpool Necropolis is a large green space in the midst of a built up area. it sits nestles into the corner of a busy road junction and only when you walk in the gates you realise that this is a big plot of land. Last time we were here we were head high in swathes of wild flowers. This time we had two tasks bulb planting and litter picking and we set to the tasks with great joy and goodgym vigour.

Some people used a special tool to carve out plug shaped holes to drop the bulbs in (a clod cutter perhaps?) others planted the many many bulbs whilst others picked up the litter to return the space to its natural beauty. as always the time passed quickly as we worked amidst the remnants of snowmen under a clear sky and the rising wolf moon.

This was our Pauline's 975 task.... we look forward to celebrating the big one with her this year.and we can't wait for spring to see all the bulbs flowering a reminder of a warm winters night.... OK so maybe the temperature wasn't that warm but a Monday night with a crowd of Goodgymers makes us all feel a little warm inside.

Beaconsfield Wood is a popular local woodland with open spaces. It is frequented by ramblers, families, dog walkers, and sleders (when we have snow... most of which had finally melted away)

It has long been a special place for me and my family, as our daughter, Kira (then 8) and son Liam (then 2), helped to plant trees at the site just over 30 years ago...

Now, Liam's dogs enjoy the delights It has to offer during their daily walks.

Because of our relationship with the woods, we regularly do a litter pick while walking through the area... and the dogs (Shadow & Domino) often sniff out the rubbish!

Today, we concentrated on two small areas that see a lot of activity from groups of youths who like to congregate there. We found the usual detritus... bottles, cans, fast food wrappers, crisp and chocolate wrappers, along with large, bulky items which were too much for us to carry away.

One major concern was a large number of nitrous oxide canisters that were left on the edge of the woodland area. Again, these were too bulky and heavy to carry away today, so will be tackled on our next litter pick walk (plawk 😁)

A really great start to the new year 2025...Three adventures for the three musketeers on the first parkrun of the year.

1. Puddle trouble - due to bad flooding in Wigan we drove through a drowned roundabout where the car stopped but not the amazing musketeers Afrah and Amina who embraced the cold murky water with some barefeet and pushed the car out to a bus stop while Heetu was at the wheel trying to get it started again so we could make the park run!

2. Mud mask - we made it just in time for the Haigh hall park run where we encountered more pools of muddy puddly terrain but we all managed the slippy mud balancing and splashing through puddles to the end covered in mud but with no trips or falls!

3. Hauled home - The car again was not so lucky to survive the trip as it burst a tyre on the motorway on the way home. The musketeers were not phased and took to the 2 hour recovery wait with funny questions and quizzes to pass the time.

What amazing way to start the new year with 2 amazing AA friends to support you through the haighs and hauls!!! Thank you AAminaA Afrah mustkeeters!

Luckily I had the wind with me as I was running late to run to Mrs D. I also had sunshine and pretty windy waves on a high Mersey river.

Mrs D was preparing for Christmas and we decided to tackle clearing the patio in her front garden as more time would be needed for the front grass which we can tackle next time.

We removed weeds and grass that had decided to make patio panels their home but not for long!

In the time we had made the patio a bit clearer and easier to walk on and Mrs D had got some of her grand children presents sorted too!

On a sunny Thursday evening a group of nine goodgymers met up in Princes Park for a parkrun rehearsal. If you’ve never done a parkrun before the idea of showing up and running alongside hundreds of other people can feel daunting, so Sallyann had the idea of a special goodgym session for us to practise a popular parkrun route just for ourselves without any crowds or pressure.

Sallyann led the group in a really useful warm up routine and then we set off, everyone at their own pace. The group included people who had never done a parkrun and others who were veterans of both running and volunteering at parkruns, a real mix of experience. We all took the route in our stride at our own pace, some people chatted and kept each other company on the run while others just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, but we could all enjoy the sunshine and seeing the birds on the pond as we ran past. At the end we did cool down stretches and celebrated each other’s achievements - well done all!

Mrs J lives alone and has been unable to do many tasks in her home, that she once enjoyed.

For two and a half years, Mrs J has been waiting for a hip replacement, and now struggles with mobility. She recently had a fall at her gate, and spent over three hours on the path waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Mrs J is hoping to have a few jobs completed before Christmas, but has to wait for assistance before she can move forward with sorting out her living room.

My first task was to take down the old curtains and then clean the rail.

Mrs J provided cleaning materials and chatted about how she made her own curtains when she had first moved into her home.

It was clear that she is very creative; she enjoys crafting and is a talented knitter. Mrs J even knitted her own dishcloths, using wool that was over from knitting baby clothes for her niece.

Once the rail was clear and clean, Mrs J and I started putting the hooks onto the new curtains. Unfortunately, there were too few hooks to hang the curtains, so I had an extra task... nipping around to a local chandlers to pick up some more.

Fortunately, I was on Rosie, so cycled there and back quite quickly.

The new curtains went up successfully and we celebrated with a lovely cup of tea.

During our chat, we discovered that we have relatives in common, so shared a few family stories, too...

Mrs J was grateful for the help and has already made a list of other tasks with which GoodGym could help.

On the way home, as a final task for Mrs J, I was able to post off some of her Christmas cards 🤶📮