"There ain't no party like a Goodgym Party"

Happy Birthday to us! This March, Goodgym Liverpool turns 7, and we were determined to mark it in style.

We were fortunate to be able to use the fabulous Events Space at DoES Liverpool, which was the perfect setting. We had a brilliant turnout with many members making the effort to come along, and it was so lovely to have some purely social time - a rare treat, without those pesky tasks getting in the way!

It was wonderful to see how absolutely everyone contributed to make the event a success, we really took the can-do energy we bring to tasks and saw it come to fruition at our own event. From the bunting and party hats, to an absolutely fabulous buffet which included home-made: fried chicken, chocolate roulade, goats cheese & caramelised onion tarts, a variety of salads, salt & pepper sausage rolls, oat & raisin cookies, & chocolate brownies! Plus a huge selection of sides, snacks, and sweet treats - not to mention a fabulously decorated and personalised Goodgym birthday cake.

Alas, this celebration also marked the final - and 1001st - task of original Goodgym member Pauline. Pauline was there at the very first session 7 years ago and has been a committed and dedicated core member ever since, taking up Coach sessions as well as tasks and missions. It was very emotional to know this was her last session, but we sent her off in style with flowers, champagne, chocolates, a beautiful memory book with photos and memories of her sessions over the years, and a one-off bespoke personalised blue Goodgym t-shirt, in the colours of her beloved Everton FC. Pauline, it's been an absolute priviledge having you as a member, you've supported GG Liverpool and its members endlessly, and your enthusiasm, calm can-do attitude and easy way socially has been a blessing to literally hundreds of people in the community. It's a real loss to lose you but we wish you nothing but the best as your start a new chapter of your life with wonderful husband Miles. The door is always open to come visit us in the future.

It would have been remiss not to celebrate last-man standing Sophie, our dear and dedicated run leader who is now the only remaining member from that very first Liverpool session 7 years ago. The ever-thoughtful Sallyann presented Sophie with a small gift as a token of our appreciation for all the work Sophie does for us.

Sally Ann also had the wonderful idea of us writing down what Goodgym means to us, and taking a photo of the collection of comments for posterity. Check out the photos to see what we came up with - it was quite emotional seeing the impact GG has on the lives of it's members. It's certainly a two-way street - our wonderful members put so much in to helping their community, and in turn the GG community gives so much back. It was lovely for task owner Vicky from Litter Clear Volunteer join us too, Vicky works tirelessly making the local community a lovely place to be, and it was a treat to see her socially and share this special evening with her.

The "thank you" list for last night is long, but in this case it's worth stating, as everyone put in effort to make the event the huge success it absolutely was. We had the best time and it really re-iterated what makes GG special.

With special thanks to:

• Siân, Lucien, Clara for the homemade food and helping with set up & post-party clean up

• Miriam for the amazing birthday cake and all the hard work on Pauline's beautiful memory book gift

• Sophie, Emma, Eleanor, Jo & Liam for the contributions to party-ware and the buffet (including a very generous bottle of champagne!)

• Steph for the homemade brownies

• Pauline for the lovely cakes

• Dan for the festive bunting and homemade roulade

• Asavari for bravely joining us at a social for only her second session - so lovely to see you again!

• Ema for making a huge effort to join us despite ill-health, and for the fun party hats, banners, and decorations

• Sallyann for her tireless hard-work, effort and thoughtfulness which massively contributed to making the event really special

• Bekah for finding that gem of a venue, and the famous salt and pepper sausage rolls

• And shout out to Heetu who sadly couldn't join us in person but was very much there in spirit and contributed her time and effort so generously to Pauline's leaving gift - Heetu you're an absolute genius

It was a really beautiful night showing just how special Goodgym and it's members are. Thank you all for your phenomenal effort both with our party and throughout the year. We all left on a real high, grateful to have so much to celebrate.

On Saturday the 23rd, we gathered to support Savera UK, a locally founded charity which now operates nationally and seeks to protect anyone who suffers from honour-based abuse. While Goodgym had initially been enlisted to help with litter-picking on a march through the city centre, the arrival of storm Bert meant the event was switched to take place in the Museum of Liverpool. Savera has a special connection to our Goodgym team, as their founder, Afrah Quassim, is a regular volunteer, and it was amazing to get the chance to support the incredible work she does. While our initial plans to pick litter didn’t pan out, we still helped out as best we could by joining in on a mini-march around the docks when the rain let up, where our local Katumba drumming group also gave a guest performance to make some noise for the cause. In a series of inspiring speeches and readings, supported by a local gospel choir, we all got to learn about Savera’s invaluable work, seeking to protect everyone from gendered and honour based violence, providing advocacy, interventions, and education all over the country.

While storms like Bert may throw a spanner in the works sometimes, supporting causes like Savera is always a fantastic experience, and making connections like this is a big part of what Goodgym is all about, come rain or come shine.

On a mild Monday, March night, an intrepid team tackled a task that neatly showcased (or suitcased 😉) the dynamic "Living Life on the Edge" (Hill) spirit of Goodgym volunteering...

A group of seven volunteers assembled at the junction of Earle Road and Tunnel Road, where there is a small and beautiful corner park. It is the home of the Edge Hill suitcases, an art installation consisting of pieces of luggage cast in steel on a Victorian hand trolley, created in 2013.

Local resident and Litter Clear-Volunteer (LCV) leader, Vicky, briefed our group on the sprucing-up jobs that needed our attention and efforts.

Emmaand Clara attended to the flower bed corner: identifying and removing weeds to allow the buddleia (butterfly bush) and other plants to grow unheeded. Dan, Sallyann and Liam led the clearing of one of the two circular flowerbeds. Faced with a few stubborn dandelions, Sallyann deftly demonstrated the necessary technique to apply the "twister" (also known as a claw), passing on one of Vicky's many hortiucltural tips and tricks that guided our endeavours. The final pairing of Dike and Bekah set to sharpening up the path edges, with notable speed and strength.

Whilst busy weeding, clearing and neatening, two passer-by cyclists stopped to find out how they might get involved, a family walking through thanked us, and a locally-based driving instructor came over and offered everybody a bottle of water, as a gesture of support and appreciation.

Particular praise to Dike who set those borders straight, before heading off to work and Emma who joined the task following on from a workout at the gym (the actual gym!).

By the end of the session, the park was looking like it had just come out of the barbers - all tidy and slick. However, further styling still needed in other areas of the park, which Vicky will strive onwards keeping shipshape. Vicky is part of LCV, which is a campaign aimed at turning untidy greens into welcoming community spaces.

Finishing up, our group stowed away all the tools and looked ahead to the Goodgym Liverpool 7th birthday party (on Thursday 26th!). Vicky revealed how each of the suitcases in the sculpture contains artwork produced by pupils at local primary schools and residents of a sheltered accommodation, for future generations of residents to enjoy when they will will be opened again one day! The inspiration for the sculpture came from Edge Hill’s rich railway heritage: the first passenger railway station in the world (dating from 1830!)

With the Goodgym gardening gusto this evening, the park space now smartly sets off this proud tribute to Edge Hill’s pioneering transport history and more recent creative communities 😀

Sunday morning began early, grey and wet, as 8 GoodGymers made their way, on foot and by bike, to Otterspool Prom.

We had been asked to help out again at one of Liverpool's most popular running events, the BTR Half Marathon and 10 Mile race. Our job was to help set up and give out water at the Mile 9 water station, and help marshall the runners onto the prom. Of course, we were also there to cheer on all the runners with our famous GoodGym energy and winning smiles!

This event is always a great opportunity to promote GoodGym, and we all wore our T-shirts with pride!

We arrived at 08.30 for set up as the race was to start at 09.00. First finishers were expected around 9.30 (10 mile runners) with the bulk of the runners coming through by 11.00 and the final half-marathoners by 11. 30 ish.

We would then have about an hour to put away the tables, clean up any litter and collect in all of the discarded water bottles!

As always, the GG team worked non-stop: carrying packs of water, filling each of the 5 tables with over 200 bottles, bagging rubbish and dealing with members of the public who were trying to drive through the race area.

As the first runners came through, everyone cheered and waited for them to take a water bottle from one of the tables... all very calm and quite relaxed... that didn't last 😁

Gradually, the numbers coming through increased until we had a constant throng of runners for about an hour... at one point, we could barely keep up with the demand... but no runner was left without access to water 👍

The smiles on the faces of the runners as we cheered them on, and the genuine gratitude and thanks as we kept the tables filled with water, made all the hard work worth it.

Everyone encouraged the runners, but for my money, Siân and Dan take the award for the top cheerleaders... making sure every runner was encouraged and using the runners' name when handing them their water bottle 🌟🌟

After 3 hours, the last of the 12,000+ runners passed through our station...amazing!

We had a brief moment to enjoy the feeling of a job well done... then the clean up began!

Unfortunately, this is the part of the task that is not enjoyable. Thousands of single use plastic bottles... and their lids... are discarded along the route, littering miles of Liverpool's streets, parks and riverfront... a problem that is repeated at many running events in many cities across the world... and an issue that definitely goes against the grain for any GoodGymer. Quite an ethical dilemma for us all.

BTR organisers are obviously aware of this environmental issue and are working towards viable solutions:

**'In recent years we have all become more aware of the high volume of natural resources that go to waste in our daily lives and in many respects the same can be said of waste within race events.

One of the first items to come under BTR scrutiny was single use plastic and in the three years since BTR stopped using plastic Goody Bags at events we have reduced use by around 60,000 bags that would have otherwise have been used.' Alan Rothwell BTR Liverpool Ltd

Other actions that have been/are being introduced by BTR include: 🔸️using paper to protect medals, instead of plastic bags 🔸️providing smaller bottles of water 🔸️at some events, paper cups are used alongside bottles 🔸️at the Wirral Half Marathon, blocking drainage gaps in the sea wall, to prevent polluting the water ways.

We can only hope that these sustainability measures, and more, are adopted at every running event, as soon as possible. BTR seem to be heading in the right direction, and we wish them every success in this regard.

It would be a great shame if BTR and, by association, the many community groups, including GG, who volunteer at their events, were to attract negative press for this single use plastic problem... as this is such a positive, community-based event.

As always, we would like to end on a positive note, and thank our 'extra' helpers today, so: A huge shout-out to Dan's sister and nephew, who came to support Dan and ended up helping out! Well done Esther and Alexander... our star water station volunteer 🌟 Also, Myles who rode into Liverpool with me to make sure I arrived safely, and then helped to carry water bottles to the tables. 😁👍

Miss K needed a little help with her outdoor washing line. Unfortunately, the line came down when full of washing, during a bout of bad weather.

The task was straight forward... re-attach the line to a hook on the side of the house. However, Miss K was unable to manage this herself as a result of a medical condition.

We had quite a chat before starting the task. I admired the garden, which was very well kept, and Miss K told me about the various garden ornaments, particularly the flamingos and mosaics. Some of them had belonged to relatives who had passed, so served as reminders of her loved ones.

Independent, and determined to help, Miss K brought out a step ladder. I set too, tying up the line whilst Miss K checked the height and cut off the excess.

After another chat about the house and family, I asked if there was anything else with which I could help. Miss K thanked me but didn't want to take up any more of my time... it had been about half an hour and I was in no rush 😁

During our conversation, Miss K had mentioned that her Christmas decorations were still in a bedroom, and that she had hoped her brother would put them back for her. Unfortunately, he was unwell.

Happily, Miss K was persuaded that I did have time to help and so we set off upstairs. Again, Miss K was not going to stand by and watch me do all of the work.

As I stacked the boxes out of the way, Miss K climbed the ladder into the loft... then I passed up each one in turn.

This took only about 20 minutes, but Miss K was over the moon to have them put away.

After a further chat about the plans Miss K has for improving her home, I said my farewells... with a promise that, should she need help in the future, Miss K will be calling on GoodGym again.

Another satisfied customer 😉

It was our third GoodGym Parkrun session of the year, and the promise of mysterious prizes had us all flocking to collect today's star for our Parkrun loyalty cards, a proud innovation of Sallyann's. Sophie, Siân and Ellie ran while Liam and Lucien cheered them on and took pictures, and Sallyann hopped on to a registration station to fill a vacancy, taking up the important job of recording everyone's times. It was a glorious sunny morning in the park, so much so that Siân nipped home for suncream on the way from Prince's Park to our brunch spot, which promptly chased the sun behind clouds for the rest of the day. On our way to the cafe we stopped to admire and marvel at three birds of prey circling high above. We weren't sure of the species but think they might have been buzzards. Today's cafe was The Wheelbarrow in Greenbank Park, where we enjoyed a tasty breakfast and, as ever, brilliant company and conversation. A lovely start to the weekend!