7 Goodgymers ran through the streets, winding uphill to meet the rest of the gang who helped by bringing litter picking supplies at the Liverpool Irish Centre. With Ema walking (4km) and Sallyann cycling (10k), there was plenty of miles accumulated. The Centre does so many good things for the local community and it was great to help tidy around the grounds for their upcoming sold out panto. Well done Issy and Joanna on trying your first group run, hopefully it will be the first of many. The group reached the venue in no time and with a sharp wind about set to grabbing bags and litter pickers. Having a chance to chat while litter picking made the time pass quickly and 19 bags of rubbish was beyond all expectations. Having some brioscaí ( biscuits – pronounced breeski) after picking up bruscar (rubbish – pronounced brushcar), everyone was fuelled to continue our various ways. Well done all, Clodagh was happy out and the place looked well after your work

The Irish may say that the four leaf clover is lucky, but at tonight's Community Mission, 3 was the magic number!

We've supported Liverpool Irish Centre numerous times over the last 2.5 years and are keen to promote the great work they do. As a centre for Irish culture in Liverpool, they offer language, music and dance classes. But the centre isn't just for Irish people, it is for everyone. That was the message we tried to convey to the centre's neighbours this evening.

Our small but mighty team of Matthew, Jo and I hit the suburban streets of North Liverpool as the sun went down and a threat of rain hung in the air (but luckily never materialised). After 40 minutes and 200 leaflets delivered we called it a night.

Well done that team!

7 GoodGymmers visited Liverpool’s Irish Centre to help with their post lockdown renovations.

Despite the gardening tools being locked away and the key missing, each member of the team was given a task so we could stay socially distant and maximise our efforts with what we had.

Claire was pruning in the garden with some mighty shears (scissors), Christine painted behind the bar with Tim paining in the office area behind the bar. Char attacked a spiderweb laden vestibule area before paining and Sam rescued a bee (it counts as ‘work’). Lorna and Pauline cleaned out the courtyard area that was covered in Leaves and dirt!

The team then chipped in to move a big pile of peat and branches to the bins to be taken away. Good job team.

Liverpool's Irish Centre has undergone a revamp during lock down but there were still a few jobs to do and GoodGym was on hand to help finish the job.

Emma touched up the paint in the playground (and resisted the urge to go on the slide), Pauline gave the outdoor stage a fresh coat, Sam touched up the high bits in the hall and Chris put in a double shift by shifting a load of pallets and also painting behind the bar area.

A special shout of to the final member of our quintet, Becki, who is sadly leaving Liverpool and going back home to Wolverhampton. Good luck with everything Becki, you will be missed

If there was a soggy run badge, this week's team would be awarded it and then some. Only the brave (or the bonkers!) turned up this week for an outdoor task in the pouring rain.

We are desperate for Spring to begin here in Liverpool with even some of our most dedicated regulars in hibernation last night (no shame, I probably wouldn't have run if I didn't have to!!!) sick to the teeth of running through stormy weather. Happily a team of 7 runners did appear through the clouds to bring a little sunshine into my Monday evening. Three of the lads even had bare legs and one had bare arms; they are the toughest of the tough!!!

Our task was to promote the cultural activities at the Liverpool Irish Centre, posting flyers through letter boxes in nearby streets. This was made extra difficult with the bad weather and also the huge size of the leaflets given to us! So we started the night by folding the leaflets and wrapping them in bin liners. We then did a gentle warm-up still inside our Hope Street Hotel base.

Once we hit the road, the team made quick work of the 2.5km run. Soon they were busy leafleting up and down a long terraced street. And within 10 minutes, the 125+ leaflets had been delivered.

Shout out to Baptiste and Molly who are busy fighting student elections yet still joined us for a soggy fun. Good luck El Presidente - you've got our vote!

Given that it was still raining, I let the team off a fitness session and instead gave them some good form tips to think about on the run back to base. With our lovely upright postures and avoiding heel-striking, plus the downhill slope back, we made it to Hope Street in no time.

Seriously well done tonight team, you are absolute stars! Fingers crossed for nice weather next week but even so, it is a short run and an indoor task so get signing up here. And for extra Brownie points, please join the Community Mission on Saturday evening here.

Stay warm!

Our annual BIG CHRISTMAS RUN was a sparkling success with 18 runners going 6km to help the Liverpool Irish Centre.

For the second year, we marked the last run while everyone is still in town (one final last run next week for folks who are still here!) with a trip to the Liverpool Irish Centre - a community hub and base for language learning and traditional music - to decorate their bar area. And for the second year, this also involved customising our red t-shirts with festive trimmings, leading to more than a few bemused looks from pedestrians and honks aplenty from drivers.

We were warmly greeted at the centre (a little too warm, it was boiling in there!) by Clodagh and handed boxes of slightly random decorations plus orange squash and chocolates. Without blutac or sellotape, the team came up with some ingenious hanging solutions and the place was soon fully decked out!

Once finished, we gate crashed the children's Christmas party in the room next door and rather than a fitness session, played a round of musical statues. Chris H. was our last man standing and did a fab job of balancing (don't mention that he was beaten by an eight year old!).

How can I pick the best outfit? There were so many great efforts! So here's a shout out to Molly, who ran 6km dressed as a giant Christmas present; to Ro-dolf, who ran while wearing a red flashing nose; to Pauline for an entirely festive outfit from head to toe; and to Baptiste for his Mrs. Claus drag outfit, over his much awaited (by me, not him!) RED t-shirt.

Everyone looked fab and we were even back-marked by our own Sam-ta Claus!

After the run, we headed to a local pub for a festive social and were joined by 3 others who couldn't make the run but wanted to join the fun. Thanks to everyone for being such good sports and bringing the Christmas spirit to GG Lpool. What a special team I have!

At the pub, we talked about our running goals for 2020 and I'll be picking up this conversation with all of you again soon!!!!

Next week is our FINAL Group Run of 2019 so sign-up here. If you can't wait until then, there's a Community Misson on Sunday morning. See you then!

P.S. Kudos to John who came up with this pun way back in the April, and to me for remembering it! ;)