Great to meet Stefanie and Sophie this evening!

Keep MCR tidy provide a great resource for refuse sacks (and in future we'll tap into their litter pickers and bag rings too) and promote local community litter picking in Manchester. We got a hold of 20-30 pink refuse sacks and between the four of us, collected at least 10 bags (plus a bit more) full sacks of discarded waste!

We covered 6 km, starting by Piccadilly gardens before going along Canal St, to Deansgate and then to the Castelfield bowl before downing tools to run the remaining 1-2 km back to the meeting point.

We collected a whole range of items, including lots of cans/fast food packaging, laughing gas canisters, discarded vapes and cigarette butts, drinks cartons, and lots and lots of polystyrene bits.

We bumped into Don't Walk Past Manchester on their Monday night round and had a chat, possibly due a donation push toward the colder winter months. Keep an eye out for future tasks!

p.s. We did spot a lit Christmas tree in Deansgate. It's coming.

Juno and I ran the 6 km there and back to help set up, marshal, and clear away at Fletcher Moss parkrun event #227 (prime number). A whopping 534 runners and walkers completed the 5 km course on a cracking autumn morning.

As part of the ThisGirlCan #LetsLifeTheCurfew, a few of us grabbed as many lights and high viz as possible to go for a gentle jog around Manchester city centre on a warm but wet Monday evening.

We met near Piccadilly Gardens by the Duke of Wellington statue and joined the route that is planned for the MCR 24 hr run in a couple of weeks, taking us down to the University of Manchester main campus before going up Oxford Road towards St Peter's Square. From there, we took a detour/scenic route past the Manchester Central Convention Complex (AKA GMEX) and through Deansgate.

During the run, we managed to swing by Manchester Cathedral where a group of runners from MileShyClub and Chorlton Runners (plus other running groups) were also doing a group run as part of the movement. We got a round of applause, probably more for Juno who was lit up and took all the attention on the way round with her light-up collar. After dropping off a Goodgym flyer/poster and putting one up in the Manchester Aquatic Centre, we made our way back through Northern Quarter, in amongst some filming TV/film sets, and back to the meeting point where we parted ways.

Keep an eye on the website for future sessions and hopefully we can get a few more numbers out for social runs and activities in the future.

After a run and bus dash to Brunswick Parish church, I met up with Dan and Gordon from Ardwick Climate Action. Along with some visitors from Didsbury and Fog Lane, and Jade from Ancoats, we got kitted out with gloves, litter pickers, and bin bags to do a combined litter pick and grand tour of some of their 11 sites.

Overall we managed to collect 12 bursting blue bin bags plus a lonely mop.

More interesting was the tour and stories, including them closing the A6 several years ago to stop the traffic while planting trees, and the 15,000 bulbs planted around their sites. Several schools in Ardwick have had shrubs, trees, and hedges planted to reduce noise and pollution (ivy was noticeably blackened facing the road). In the future, they hope to instigate safe school streets and more pedestrian crossings across the A6 to help with the school run. Much of their funding has been through the council and the mayor, with Andy Burnham recently visiting for a similar whistle-stop tour.

An additional aspect was their art installations, some of which have made it to the Manchester Museum, to raise awareness on air pollution. and the environment. One current masterpiece was a series of blue umbrellas (representing the sky) with recycled bottle tops to represent PM 2.5 air particles.

After a final stop at their community allotments, we bade our farewells and look to be back next month.

First Goodgym Manchester group run task!

Once Northmoor Community Association managed to get hold of some paint last week, we were good to go! With it being half term locally, the volunteer hub was closed giving us the best opportunity to get a first coat of paint onto the walls, and despite only being listed last minute, we had eight fantastic Goodgymers come out on a Monday night.

After several of us arrived after the 3.5 km run from central Manchester to Longsight, we knocked on the window of the Hub to the surprised face of Cathy (I think she only expected a few people...) who showed us the walls, the paint, the paintbrushes, and the all important tea/coffee & biscuit supplies to fuel us for the task.

Seamlessly, we split into two groups of four to cover the major walls, protecting as much of the floor and furniture as possible with sheets and flattened cardboard boxes. With Issy on roller duty and Peter on his hands and knees to paint around the radiators, we managed to cover all of the walls needed with minimal paint splash on the floor and ceiling.

With decent numbers and a perfect painter:paintbrush ratio (1:1), we managed to patch up other parts of the room, with Hannah painting some shelving, Jordan filling in some parts near the kitchen hatch, and Megan and Jack putting in a shift on the additional wall by the front door. The height of Jack and Eoin came in very handy to reach the high up spots!

After washing out the paint containers, washing the brushes and rollers, and wiping up any rogue splashes of paint, we left after a job well done with a group photo and a few more paint stains added to Goodgym t-shirts.

Thank you for all coming out and particularly welcome to the first timers Jordan, Megan, Issy, and Jack! Hope to see many of you soon for Goodgym Manchester tasks!

A first group outing for some of the Taskforce from Goodgym Manchester.

We met up at Piccadilly train station on a warm September evening armed with spare GG t shirts, refuse sacks, a first aid kit, and Juno. Peter, Eoin and I plogged our way along Ashton canal in the general direction of the Etihad campus to scout out heavy littered areas. Given the nice evening and it being a first community task outing, we got as far as Philips Park where we really started to collect and fill up a few bin bags.

After a blitz in the park, we returned to the canal path towards New Islington metrolink before it got too dark.

We collected 7 full bin bags with an additional freezer drawer overall. It was great to meet up in person and get a good Monday mission in the log. We covered ~6.5 km in the end.