We safely teetered down the hill on our first snowy-icy session for 2026 with run leader Sallyann showing how to do it with abundant balance!

It still felt Christmassy with...

• a layer of ice under a dash of snow

• zero temperature

• northern light photaes with our crazy head torches (courtesy of our fab photoers Steph & Naser & Leonardo)

• also the Christmas chatterings of course!

It was lovely catching up with each other after the Christmas break.

Also we met some lovely new members Amani and Karen , of the amazing Siân noless.

Welcome, welcome and we hope to see more of you in 2026. We also welcomed our newly stolen member from Islington too Alison - yeah for us!

Elaine arrived and explained we had done such a good job on the nettles and thistles it was now time to tackle some of the floor covering weeds too hopefully to give some of the non-weeds a chance in the spring. Those floor covering weeds also included litter which always a joy to clear up!

Seven bags later we felt we had made a good start to 2026 and put to bed our last days of 2025.

Thank you all for turning up in the cold and giving that good doing warmth and I cannot wait to spend more of my 2026 doing good with you guys and guyettes xxx

After a very enjoyable bike ride, past some of my favourite places, I arrived at the home of Mrs M, who welcomed Heetu and me like old friends.

At almost 87, she is bright, funny and very friendly... and still drives her own car. Having lived for over 40 years in her house, Mrs M and her husband had made a beautiful family home and garden.

For the past twelve months, Mrs M has lived on her own. Being very independent, and with the help of walking sticks and other aids, she has managed most daily  tasks. Sadly, after a fall, Mrs M  realised that she could no longer climb on footstools or keep on top of her gardening.

The spindles on a wooden stool that was used to access cupboards in the kitchen had become loose and dangerous, and the roller blind had become stuck.

The stool was put back together, although we felt it could have used some glue to make it more secure. Heetu and I also managed to take apart the roller blind mechanism, and, with the help of Google and WD40, put it back together again... working!

Mrs M's father-in-law had been a Master Builder! We wondered what he would have thought of our DIY efforts.

An extra little task was to figure out how to remove the plastic caps from an air freshener refill and put it together.

Mrs M was very pleased with our help and promised to call us back if ever she needed a hand with anything else.

Heetu and I felt that we had earned a cuppa and maybe a little treat. Finding a local café with a plethora of pastries, we had a very pleasant catch-up.

A lovely end to a lovely mission.

I have done a few sessions on Mr K’s garden and I’d been looking at the pictures with the pots at the edge of the lawn and thinking what might be nice is to plant some bulbs in them for some spring growth. I went to The Range in the morning and they had daffodil and crocus bulbs reduced so I snapped them up. The weather in the morning was wet and overcast so I was a bit worried it might be a washout. It cleared up at lunch and the sun even came out! I told Mr K about the bulbs and he was very grateful. I set about planting those first then I went to tackle the front paving. Mr K had his usual arsenal of fine tools which were perfect for the job. It was a great workout and Mr K seemed really pleased with the results. I can’t wait to go back in the spring and see if those bulbs have come through.

Princes Park is the Goodgym Liverpool’s Parkrun home ground, and we’ve litter picked the areas around it – Princes Avenue, Kingsley Street – in the past. There’s a little patch of green just off Granby Street, home to the locally beloved Granby Street Market, which previously was very overgrown and unaccessible due to brambles. The green patch has recently been cleared right back, which revealed both the depth of the greenery, but also a lot of collected litter which was crying out to be collected.

The first pre-task task was hunting down the scattered litter pickers, many thanks to Sallyann for going on a little tour of South Liverpool to collect litter pickers from various goodgymmers and taking them to the task so the others could run unencumbered from our usual spot at the Suitcases on Hope Street.

With litter pickers, hoops, and bags, we met at the corner of the green patch for the task briefing. Bekah stressed the importance of remaining in groups of minimum 2, and gave strict instructions no-one was to wander off on their own!

The task was more challenging than expected, as the overgrown site seems to have attracted some fly tipping. Amongst the litter we could collect were larger items such as a mattress, plywood, and larger household items. Jess commented it was like trying to litter pick a tip! We came across an array of items plus quite bizzarely a load of vegetables, including red cabbage, parsnips, and lots of sprouts. We saw a saw and a saucepan, collected a kettle, and passed a plate. Whilst we had to choose our battles on what we could realistically remove, there was a lot of litter and after filling 16 full bin bags, a crate and a bucket, we had to admin defeat when we ran out of bags!

Given the area has recently been cleared right back, we’re hopeful that was the first step in reclaiming the site. Although there’s still a lot of work to do, we’re happy Goodgym had a solid contribution in making it that little bit clearer.

Personal thanks to Steph for being organized enough to have a spare torch and kindly loaning it to me when I foolishly forgot mine! Congratulations to Naser on his 15th task, and welcome to Mohamed, who we met at Parkrun and who joined us for the first time this evening.

Next up: the first ‘Sticker Saturday’ of the year, there’s much excitement for the return of our monthly Parkrun stickers which so captured our imagination in 2025. The listing is live for sign up and you’re welcome to join us for the run, for breakfast, or both to earn one of the prized stickers for your loyalty card. See you Saturday!

Today we were back to see Pat at one of our favourite regular task sites, the wonderful Greenhouse Project on Lodge Lane, which is a multi-cultural early years education centre focused on play, arts and nature. We have helped out there in a variety of ways over the years including mulching, cleaning, litterpicking, pruning, weeding, and even sticking leaves to a hedge, but tonight was our lovely annual task of gift wrapping presents for the local children who attend the Greenhouse. As it usually is, this was our last task of the year, and a treat to be indoors at this time of year for a cosy, festive evening fuelled by mince pies and full of chatter and good cheer.

With such lovely vibes the gift wrapping is always a very popular task, and this year we outdid ourselves with nineteen attendees including not one, not two but three new members turning out for their first task - welcome Craig, Tsitsi and Saoirse! We weren't even sure if we would all fit into the one room but luckily everyone managed to squeeze in to find a big pile of toys, games, craft sets and art supplies waiting to be wrapped. With so many keen volunteers we had all of the gifts wrapped and labelled super quickly, leaving plenty of time for chatting and catching up before the end of the session. Steph H showed us a video of her performing her excellent solo at the wonderful Choir With No Name Christmas gig a few days ago. Lucien and I will be leaving Liverpool at Christmas time and although we will definitely be back to visit - and hopefully soon - we aren't sure when or even if we will be back to live, so the group gave us a lovely send-off at what could be our last task for a while with a very thoughtful card and present, and a beautiful speech given by Sallyann. We will miss you all so much!

On this bittersweet note we all said our goodbyes, wishing everyone a happy holiday, and set off into the cold outside, warmed from the inside by the happy glow of another year of doing great things as part of an amazing community.

Well the Christmas community  spirit was in tremendous force on all three fronts for the good gym Christmas  partae:

1) THE HIGH-Achievements : We celebrated our goodgym park run awards, not just about celebrating runs, stickers, or times but about celebrating people. Especially Sallyann Sallyann who thought of this amazing park run sticker contest and who always encourages with relentless enthusiasm no matter at which level or in what way. But little did Sallyann realise in 2025 she had not only encouraged Bekah to run her first 10K, Heetu for >10K, whole bunch of us to 25K trail, Jess to become runleader but also encouraged the fiesty little sticker monsters in us all!

Here are the standout moments...

🏆 Top Attendance Awards

Lucien Lucien: first place. The heart of the group, showing up every week despite health challenges, keeping stickers and cards ready, and supporting everyone with consistency and warmth (13/13).

BekahBekah: joint second. From non-runner to regular supporter, now running consistently and encouraging new and returning runners (10/13).

Sian Siân: joint second. Balanced PhD studies and family visits while still showing up, running effortlessly and supporting the group (10/13).

Amina: close fourth. Champion of stickers, always checking in on people, and ensuring we had 13 sticker days this year (7/13).

🌟 Special Recognitions

Leo Leonardo: New this year, became an ambassador, spreading the word and even scoring café discounts (6/13).

StephSteph: Validated nerves at the start line, always pulling out strong runs (6/13).

ElileEleanor: Sacrificed her run to secure café tables for the group (5/13).

Jess Jessica: Supportive and knowledgeable, became our new run leader (4/13).

MiriamMiriam: Came to film, ended up running her first parkrun (4/13).

SophieSophie: Offered calm conversation that helped others overcome fears (3/13).

JoJo: Completed parkruns all year across locations, volunteering at junior parkruns (3/13).

LiamLiam: Ran before flying halfway across the world to Costa Rica (3/13).

DikeDike: Fastest runner, always waiting at the end with a smile (3/13).

Dan: Ray of sunshine, excellent runner, now in London (2/13).

HeetuHeetu: Worked abroad most of the year, but brought enthusiasm when present (2/13).

Afrah: Showed up despite a demanding charity job and freezing weather (1/13).

Laura: Returned after two years with family, looking like she’d never been away (1/13).

💖 Spirit of GoodGym

Every award reflects more than running—it’s about friendship, encouragement, and small acts that ripple outwards. Sallyann and Lucien’s dedication, despite not being able to run always, embodies the very essence of GoodGym: consistency, support, and community.

2) THE FAT- The Grub: upon arriving there was a vast array of options to try on our Christmas buffet and drinks cabinet!!!

Variety of from almost all continents Africa, South America, New Zealand, Vietnam ... -Brie and cranberry swirls care of Siân -Salt n peppa sausage rolls care of Bekah -Amazing chicken lickin care of Dike -Most gorgeous perfectly portioned ratios mini mince pies care of Jessica -oh there was so much more to mention but I am just making myself hungry!

But really thank you absolutely everyone for everything you bought to the party it was a lovely collective effort to bring everyone together to catch up on the year over some very tasty bites.

3) THE FUTURE-Aspirations: : we also made a to do list for 2026 from starting the 1st day of 2026 with a run, to attend more GG sessions/missions/runleadering, grow our team/charities we help and of course for all our sticker monster addicts more park-runs/breakfasts/tourism!
In conclusion what a fab partae and the only other thing we can aspire to is better christmas tunes!

So each of you has made this year unforgettable. Whether you ran, volunteered, cheered, finding a café or simply shared a coffee afterwards, you’ve built something connected and special. Every person is a winner so here’s to more miles, more smiles, and more memories together for 2026 where the sticker fanaticism continues!