It was a real team-effort on Saturday 14th Sept when Goodgym Liverpool and others joined forces to support The Choir With No Name.

Those familiar with Goodgym Liverpool may know our fantastic Area Activator Ema is also the Choir Manager for the Liverpool branch of The Choir With No Name. For the past several months she'd arranged a fundraising abseil, and an amazing 30 people had signed up to descend 150ft - free hang! - over the beautiful Anglican Cathedral West Door. Those 30 included 3 Liverpool Goodgymmers - Ellie, Heetu & Lucian, who very bravely took the plunge to raise money for the CWNN, a choir which helps those impacted by homelessness and marginalisation.

5 other goodgymmers - Liam, Sian, Pauline, Sally Ann & Bekah - also came along to volunteer on the day, helping with everything from registration, giving out goody bags, taking photos and corralling the abseilers to keep things running to schedule.

It was a fantastic event, with the choir performing live as the abseilers - or danglers, as the MC called them - descended, and the 30 brave danglers raised a phenomenal over £13,000 between them!

It was a real team effort with another Wirral based choir and a local ukulele band stopping by so the CWNN could take a quick break from entertaining the masses, and all abseilers were greeted with a little cake when their feet touched down, presented to them by a choir member.

Massive well done to Ellie, Heetu & Lucian, and shout out to Ema for organising the Goodgym volunteers whilst managing the choir AND the abseilers AND keeping the event running smoothly! The whole event had a fantastic atmosphere and raised a huge amount for an amazing cause. A round of applause to everyone involved.

Citizen’s Advice Liverpool had asked Goodgym to help Mr M with his garden. His wife is sadly unwell and Mr M has health problems of his own, whilst he tries to tackle the garden he quickly finds it’s too much for him and struggles to maintain it. No problem Mr M, that’s exactly what us Goodgymmers are here for!

Miriam and Bekah met outside and headed in together. This was Bekah’s first time with Mr M, but Miriam had been twice before and was already on very friendly terms with Mr M. Miriam was planning on finishing cutting back a large bush which she’d started during the last session, but much to her surprise Mr M had beaten her to it! The garden was in great condition due to Miriam’s hard work on the previous two sessions and Mr M’s determination to keep it nice, so it today it was just a case of tidying up the bits Mr M had struggled with.

There was ivy overgrowing the fence which Mr M showed us how to scrape off (very satisfying, we might add) and some weeding to be done. Mr M gave us our favourite kind of instructions – clear ones! – which was everything was to be gone. Perfect. So we cracked on without fear we’d accidentally ‘weed’ a beloved plant.

It was a sunny day, we got chatting as we worked, and before we knew it over an hour had passed. With 20 minutes left to go, we confirmed some final tasks with Mr M and made sure the bulk of what he was after was completed. He was delighted with the work done – although his and Miriam’s previous work meant the ‘before’ picture looked more like an ‘after’ picture - we were able to get to the bits he’d been unable to.

A quick tidy and Miriam made sure all the green waste was disposed of neatly in the green bin, and we left Mr M to his lovely garden. It was nice chatting to Mr M and we were pleased we were able to finish up that final bit of help, and left with best wishes to Mr M and his wife.

On a warm sunny evening in Liverpool 15 GoodGymmers could be found in St James Gardens. Invited to join Friends of St James Garden's Michael and Vikky (who is also a Goodgymmer) and Lucy and Will from Shiverpool we could be found weeding the paved area around the Huskinsson memorial.

One of the great things about a session like this is it offers you an opportunity to take this time out of your day to suit what you need whilst helping out a local group. With clear directions to follow you are all in the same area but with the space to either focus on the task enjoy the fresh air and reflect on the day or to work by someone and chat whilst you weed. And that is how an hour flies by whilst the space turns from looking a little neglected and overlooked to being cared for once more and plans for a Goodgym trip to Isle of Man start to take shape (keep watching for more on this).

It was an evening of welcomes and farewells. We are so pleased to welcome Nina to Liverpool Goodgym. Nina originally with Haringey Goodgym has relocated and we look forward to seeing her more. A sad farewell to Renata as she moves away and on to the next era of her life. Please come back and see us when you visit and it was lovely to meet you.

It was also an evening of newness. Heetu led the runners through their paces on her first full session leading (Heetu is preparing for her run leader course which basically formalises what she excels in anyway). He5rtu had us running up and down the Metropolitan cathedral flight of steps making it fun and despite the steepness of the steps and the heat of the day laughter and encouragement could be heard as we all got into the swing of it step session finished we ran the length of Hope Street to the Anglican cathedral with bounds of energy and enthusiasm to start the task Well done Heetu.

This evening, as all our sessions do, showed the difference we can all make by joining together with kind intention in unity and understanding

Many thanks to Friends of St James Gardens for inviting us. We are back with them again next week.... why not join us.

Goodgym on tour!

GoodGym Liverpool mixed up their usual parkrun on Saturday, heading to the beautiful Crosby Beach instead of their usual Princes Park.
It was a repeat visit for Sallyann who has done the course numerous times before, but a first for Heetu and Bekah.

There was no need for nerves however as the three were welcomed by Liverpool GoodGym stalwart Pauline, whose home-ground is Crosby parkrun – and true to form, Pauline was volunteering, today taking the position of tail walker.

It’s a varied route, firstly along the beach, looping around the famous Anthony Gormley’s Another Place statues, then along the promenade up to the coastguard station, and finishing off through grassy fields. Pleased to report all 4 GoodGymers made it back safely, and enjoyed the beautiful summer morning on the beach. All runners were pleased with their times considering the challenging terrain, but particular shout out and huge well done to Sallyann for completing her first 5k after time off recovering from an injury.

On the recommendation of the regulars, we then headed off to a local community coffee shop where all the proceeds go to Mencap – “get treats and do good”, not quite the usual GoodGym mantra but works for us after a run! It was tea and toasties all round, with the unexpected treat of flumps - what Bekah thought was the purchase of a small flump each turned out to be four full bags, and they kept us going throughout breakfast and beyond.
All in all a lovely and rewarding morning. Crosby, we’ll be back!