On a particularly humid Monday, a crew of Liverpool Good Gymers headed to The Greenhouse Community Centre on Lodge Lane with the aim of doing some good! Heetu led the run from the suitcases with her usual enthusiasm, meeting others at the task. Sian even perserved with a broken single-pedal bike to get there on time!! We were all very excited to find out that this tasked marked 150(!!!) good deeds performed by Sally Ann!! A fantastic achievement, truly worth celebrating. So grateful and proud to have her as part of Good Gym Liverpool. Some of the team soon got stuck in weeding around the greenhouse centre whilst others started the arduous task of shoveling and transporting mulch to various areas around the building. By the end of the task a large part of the grounds was well-weeded and covered with an even level of mulch. Some of the team had also managed to litter pick the surrounding area, helped by Sam, a member of the local community. At the end of the session, the grounds were looking particularly tidy and we were all pleased to have helped out and had some exercise doing so. Well done to all.

Photos generously provided by Andrew AB Photography, official event photographer

On Sunday Goodgym returned to the Palm House at Sefton park to help out at Liverpool's Arab Arts Festival, a wonderful day of events put on every year, organized in part by resident Goodgymmer Afrah. This year our team was set the tasks of staffing the merch tent, collecting surveys, and lending a hand at the children's story tent. As we set up there were rumors of a storm rolling in in the afternoon, but the day set off to a great start with many families showing up from near and far to take part in the various festivities, with craft stalls, fresh food, and of course a range of amazing musical acts in the Palm House itself.

As the weather held up the day passed without a hitch, right up until the final hour, when the dark clouds finally rolled in...the storm broke with gusto and there was some confusion as people fled to gazebos for shelter from the deluge, only to be hurried out due to the risk of lightning strikes. Thankfully no major harm was done in the end, although it did unfortunately bring the festival to a premature close for the day.

While the day's festivities were cut a little short at the end, anyone who attended will be sure to tell you that it went down a storm..!

It was a rainy morning, which might have put off some runners but not our intrepid GoodGym gang, we are far too focused on collecting stars for our parkrun loyalty cards to be deterred by weather. Bekah, Sian, Leo and Steph ran while Lucien watched the runners and the ducks and took photos. A big cheer to Leo for his first official parkrun, although certainly not his first park run! The rain was in fact a welcome relief compared to the hot sun of our June parkrun, although by the time we crossed the finish line it was muggy and humid. Unfortunately no one was able to join for our usual post-run breakfast today, but we look forward to the next one!

A balmy mid-week July evening saw three valiant Goodgym runners participate in the Tony Barnes Memorial 5-mile Race, at Sefton Park, south Liverpool.

This run, organized by Mossley Hill Athletics Club, commemorates Tony's contribution to his running club and the wider running community, which remains highly regarded and fondly remembered.

The five (or was it 5 hundred?!) mile route welcomed approximately 200 runners in total, all stretched and set to take to the start line for 7.30pm.

Goodgym was represented by Bekah, Jess and Liam, a mighty trio of athletes, united in their upbeat determination to take on this challenging distance, even under the strong gaze of a golden late-day sun.

Dike, Liam, Dan and Steph clapped, whooped and cheered their support, as the field of runners completed the distance. The course twisted and turned along park paths, circling the large lake, before winding up to the finish, a final 200 metre stretch beyond the second full loop.

Sallyann and Siân added their support, as all three participants rose to the task of this Goodgym mission, crossing the finish line with strong performances each, showing notable swiftness, grit and bounce. Well done to all three, receiving commemorative mugs, certificates and a T-Shirt, for their efforts.

With the runners' pulses easing from their exertions, a Goodgym crowd gathered to further congratulate them and share in a celebratory picnic. Food and drink was spread out and shared, with Miriam and Ellie adding their enthusiasm to the post-race gathering.

Well done to each and every supporter for joining the event, adding their praise and positivity for the Goodgym runners, and all others taking part.

Food-wise, top-notch feast dishes included the (Chinese spice) salt and pepper sausage rolls (available in meat and veggie options) - thanks Bekah; inaugural home-made hummus with baked goods from a local bakery - thanks Siân; and divinely intense chocolate brownie squares of indulgence - thank you Steph's girlfriend 😋.

Distribution of leftovers and slick tidying up ensured our patch of grass at Sefton Park was left as spotless as when we arrived. Each Goodgymer dispersed to respective living quarters across Liverpool, as the sun dipped below the height of the trees.

And so the moonlight served to glow the runners and supporters safely home, tired and satisfied by the evening's warm success... "Da-da da da (Da-da da da) Da-da da da (Da-da da da) Da-da dum diddy dum diddy dum diddy da da da..."

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!!

John from the Friends of Everton Park jokes that if you want to find a summers eve guaranteed to rain, check the calendar for the Everton Community Garden Open Evening. And true to form, despite the recent heatwave we've been experiencing, the evening was grey and wet - though warm.

However, the garden was well prepared, with large tents for attendees to huddle under plus a stage tent for the musician to keep dry whilst he serenaded us with classics. Goodgym Liverpool are regular helpers at Everton Park and the Community Gardens, and it was a great turnout despite the weather, in no small part due to Goodgym's efficient leafleting of the Everton Telegraph earlier in the week.

The gardens put on a BBQ, a bar, and a scone station for attendees to enjoy, whilst the poly tunnels were open with gardeners available to discuss all the community gardens have to offer.

It's always nice to spend some social time with goodgymmers and we enjoyed the rare opportunity to actually sit down and chat for a while! There was lots of interest in Goodgym from many attendees, and we proudly extolled the virtues of GG - there may even be a some new sign ups or tasks coming off the back of our conversations.

Well done to those who braved the drizzle to turn out and support the gardens, and thank you to John and the Friends of Everton Park for another fabulous evening. It's lovely to see the hard work everyone puts in to the gardens being enjoyed by the local community.

Now back to work for us!