Gaspar, Leo and I attended a briefing at the Liverpool African Caribbean Centre to prepare for the fireworks night event that we will be helping out with tomorrow. The very capable Maleka, who is in charge of the event, talked us through what to expect on the night and the various volunteer roles as well as what to do in potential worst case scenarios - which can be quite bad when it's a fireworks event! - but also reassured us that in the six years that they have run the event there has never been an injury or an accident, so fingers crossed we'll extend that run to seven. We did a walk around the site in the pouring rain to make sure that we all understood where everything is and where we will be stationed on the night, with the rain doing little to dampen our enthusiasm.

What a way to make a living…

‘Remember remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot’.

It’s the annual anti-establishment celebration that lights up the sky and at the Carribean centre in Liverpool, Goodgymers went to lend a hand. In the briefing room there were pictures of other anti-establishment heroes like Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali. Maleka briefed us all and designated us spots on the site with various different tasks, queue control, contraband checks, sparkler selling, donation collecting and general high-vis wearing, torch shining approachability. We were so approachable that one punter randomly left his two children with Bekah as he went back to his car to get some cash. A bit put on the spot in a less than desirable situation Bekah improvised with a game of statues… misheard by the kids as a game of musical statues so Bekah had to sing a tune and judge their statue-ness at intervals until their guardian returned.

Leo also excelled in his role. A shout went out on the group Whatsapp that someone had sneaked in some fireworks and was refusing to relinquish them; Leo stepped in and through some diplomacy managed to relieve the punters of their shop bought bangers. Meanwhile Miriam was on car watch and queue management, keeping the pedestrians safe by turning away cars attempting to breach the barrier, and keeping a clear thoroughfare. This week was Gasper's last in Liverpool, and we were privileged he spent two of those nights on tasks with us! You're welcome back anytime Gasper, we hope to see you again.

The firework display was spectacular: a wall to wall twenty minutes of explosive chemistry that impressed everyone. We were told that the display had £3,500 worth of fireworks with some funding from the council but mostly subsidised by the Caribbean Community Centre. Despite the generous donations that we took, the centre says that the event is run at a loss but it is so worth it to see the community coming together for something joyful. The food was incredible. Everyone was in good spirits. Sian was the one who organised this session and we were grateful that she did as we all agreed we would go back again.

It was a dark but thankfully clear Monday night that saw a good group of Good Gymmers meet at Mulgrave Street for our weekly task! We were excited to welcome Gaspar to his first task after meeting him last week in Everton Park! After a round of introductions, Khan arrived to set the brief. We set out weeding and litter picking the garden with a lot of the classic question "is this a weed?" being asked amongst the group. We all enjoyed chatting together as we tackled different parts of the garden. It was lovely to see some of the fabulous planting efforts of a recent Good Gym task.
Khan thanked the group with hot tea and Bueno treats which was much appreciated in the cold. Tea in hand, we all headed off into the night towards home. Another good gym task success!!

It was dark and wet and Mr K thought I was mad to tackle his front garden with my wire brush and head torch but I said that I was looking forward to it! He asked me if I had swum the Channel and I thought he was alluding to the fact that I was dripping wet but he actually thought that I was someone, also called Miriam that had made the swim! Mr K showed me a photograph of how the front garden looked when he first had it done. It looked fantastic and I said I would try my best to get it looking tidy again. I brushed and scraped and I pruned the over grown bush. I got soaked and the brushing was particularly hard work. Mr K took pity on me and invited me in for a cup of tea. We had a lovely chat and Mr K showed me his school photo… in the photo was Paul McCartney and George Harrison!! I couldn’t believe it! I bid farewell to Mr K and said I would be back in the dry weather and in the daylight to get the rest of the moss scraped from the front and mow the grass in the back garden. I waited for the bus and ‘In My Life’, my favourite Beatles song was stuck in my head :)

(with thanks to Bekah and Claire for pun inspiration)

It was a classic GoodGym Liverpool winter session, cold, dark and raining, but a determined group of us were not going to be put off just by weather when we had pruning to do and milestones to hit - tonight we celebrated Amina's 20th task, Leo's 10th task, and welcomed Colin back for his second session - a huge well done to all three. Amina, Sallyann, Colin and Bekah met at the suitcases and ran through the rain to meet the rest of the group (Sian, Leo, Lucien and Jess) and Adam from Friends of Everton Park at the gorgeous Prince Edwin Street community gardens to receive our briefing and tools. We carefully counted out all our loppers and saws so that we could be sure to count them in again and not leave any unattended blades behind! Our mission today was to cut down the poplar saplings that had sprung up on the grassy banks of Everton Park. For many GoodGymmers it feels really wrong at first to be cutting trees down in the name of environmentalism, but as you visit Everton Park over a longer span of time it becomes apparent that it's important to prune back some growth to allow others to flourish, and also that the saplings pop back up again whenever you turn around!! The rain had made the bank muddy and slippy so we had to move very cautiously especially carrying our tools and cuttings.

A passerby stopped to talk to us who was learning English and natively spoke Brazilian Portuguese - well in a beautiful moment of serendipity, Leo who shares the same mother tongue was at the task tonight and able to lead the conversation and help interpret. The man was really keen to join in with us on the spot and in the GoodGym ethos of nobody being left behind we really wanted him to be able to, but after some consideration and discussion Bekah made the excellent call that it wasn't a good idea on this particular task as it would mean handing a saw to a passerby and sending them up a slippery bank in the dark! We did encourage him to come along in the future so hopefully we will see him again.

The poplars were all cut down with such speed and efficiency we still had plenty of time to start on the brambles in front of the wall with LOVE painted on it. This had at one time been completely covered up but a previous GoodGym session had, aptly enough, revealed the LOVE, meaning that it was a much more manageable task today to prune back the new growth and we just reached the end of the sign at the end of the session. In homage to Dan's penchant for creating a playlist for each task, my suggestion for this one is Dance (Prune) Me to the End of (the) Love (Sign at Everton Park) by the Civil Wars! We returned our tools and said goodbye to Everton Park for the rest of the year. We will look forward to returning next spring, hopefully to meet a fit and healthy John. We send John our love and best wishes for a full recovery.

I began today feeling a deep sense of connection with the world, inspired by Goodgym's woodland adventures of yesternight. Then, I reflected again.

Our clearance of clumps of young trees was requested, as necessary to open up the space for park users and the nearby Shrewsbury House Youth Club. But tis sometimes a struggle, being cruel, sustained only by the hope that our actions are understood as simple kindness. Thus, for this Goodgym mission of sensible park management, we kept our hearts somewhat hidden, satisfying the remit of the task, however slightly ruthless it might have felt.

As the sun sank, we switched on the stark glare of our night lights, illuminating the forest staring back at us, with its meek foliage fluttering in the evening breeze. We proceeded with the merciless grinding of our saws against hard wood, backed with the sharp bite of our loppers severing through sapling branches. We then neatly piled up the spoils of our lumberjacking, anticipating the season of crackling bonfires ahead.

Nearby skateboarders were said to have heard the occasional roar of destructive pleasure sounding from amongst the falling trees.

To express this conflicted medley of emotion, in a neat, comic pun, I searched and found the title of a dreamy, sentimental love song, so it, too, could be crushed, by simply remembering the brutal efficiency of our seemingly innocent, rustic garden implements. Delivering tough love, for the greater good(gym).

Pun (drawing on the lyrics of a song by Briony Greenhill):

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PeonN3AeWNE&si=LPpFIY0EQY0Qm94B