On Monday evening GoodGym Liverpool returned to our regular haunt on Park Lane for our urban street clean up.

Congrats to Jess for taking part in her fifth task!!

Most of us got to work removing the throng of thistles, learning top tips such as:

Double gloving is useful when you accidentally bring your rubbish ones You must cut off the thistle flowers and bag them up before their seeds spread Using shears as a method to transport thistles is very effective

Whilst we were tackling the thistles Bekah was doing a boss job litter picking. She also saved a cornucopia of slugs (I did not know this was the collective word for these docile slimy creatures so I've learnt something new).

She rescued them from certain death after finding one half in, half out of a can of lager, she liberated it and then found another 15 inside the can!! So she's relocated them somewhere more suitable so they can enjoy their best life.

We got an incredible amount of work done, as seen in the photo, and here's hoping that we managed to get those wretched seeds into the bags ready to be taken far, far away.

We will be back again next week and I'm so confident we will remove every last one of the thistles ready for Elaine to manage the area to make it beautiful for the people of Liverpool (and for her dog Riley to play in without getting prickled by the offending vegetation).

Well done gang!!

The Everton Telegraph is a community newspaper produced three times a year. Good Gymers, along with some other local volunteers, helped to distribute the summer issue with John from the Everton community gardens.

Dike, Clara, Steph and I arrived early so we put inserts into the paper to tell everyone about Friday’s social at the community garden.

Dan, Sian and Sophie ran from Hope Street.

We were split into groups- Sophie and I, Bekah with Jess and Clara, Dan, Sian and Dike got driven away by John a bit further afield (but not as far as St Helen’s) and Steph and Sallyann stayed at the gardens to prepare them for Friday and do a bit of watering.

It was a balmy evening. We got a fantastic response from the locals when we delivered the paper. One recipient said ‘Just say it’s the Telegraph!’ Everyone was expecting it and some offered tips.

Goodgym Liverpool has long supported the Friends of Everton Park in maintaining the beautiful park and supporting Everton Community Garden, which grows food and encourages the local community to learn about and grow plants, fruit and vegetables. Task leader John very kindly invited us to Groundworks Art Exhibition which took place in the garden, and was produced by one of their gardeners who is an art student at the University of Liverpool.

Several members were able to make what turned out to be a beautiful evening. There were 5 artists and plenty of exhibitions, including a heart warming tribute to an artist's Grandmother. The gardens generously provided a BBQ and drinks, and Dike even got to make his own pot on a home made pottery wheel! It was super inspiring to hear the motivation and commitment of the students, and we admired the wide range of plants and vegetables available for the local community to take home.

It was a lovely evening of sun, chat and great company. Many thanks to the FoEP for including us in this fabulous exhibition, and a round of applause to the students for their hard work and fabulous exhibits.

On this beautiful Monday evening, we headed back to Everton Park to help out Friends of Everton tackle the unwanted brambles and trees.

Armed with clippers and Saws we split into two teams to tackle two key areas of the park. It was great to welcome newbie Jessica - looking forward to see you at another task soon!

One area of the park required us to clear the brambles from the orchard, so the fruit trees could thrive. The other, to clear the trees so the Love Everton sign was visible for all!

The difference was astounding - excellent work team! However, we didn't quite get to the bottom of it, so we will be back soon!

Rather unexpectedly there was a bit of an incident when a Goodgym member's belongings had gone missing. Fortunately quick thinking and commendable reactions rectified the situation, and ultimately no damage was done. But one takeaway was the support of the whole Goodgym team, who pulled together to respond and support each other. It really demonstrated the adaptability and team-spirit of the group, and was lovely to see how well GG members look after each other.

Firstly this gorgeous title was designed by our amazing alliteration adept Amina. Secondly the title sums up the whole morning but for those not there lets provide some more context for you. Amina, Steph, Bekah, Dike, Aphra , Jo and Sian all ran our local parkrun which is Princes parkrun. Lucien supported the group - its always lovely to see a familiar face on the two and a half laps. After the run, the group photo and some chat Steph and Amina headed off whilst the others continued the royal theme walking down Windsor Street to local community cafe Squash. Sallyann (me) turned up in time for breakfast ( convenient) having set off at dawn from an overnight camp cycling along a canal with ducklings and herons. Squash breakfast offered a lot of exciting options and we feasted on veggie breakfasts, scrambled egg on homemade foccaccia and yes you guessed it potato cakes. Such a lovely start to a Saturday activity, good company, lovely food and lots of chat. Stickers were placed on our loyalty cards and who knows what categories will have been reached today.... next parkrun is back to the usual rythm of third saturday in the month and we will be going to Rhubarb on Lark Lane afterwards.