Part two of our task to dig over the flower beds for the memorial garden at the Bombed Out Church. This time ready for planting Sunflowers not a rose garden as listed!

Sallyann guided six Goodgymers on a social run around the streets to the BoC while three of us walked there. Again we were lit by string lights throughout the garden creating a beautiful atmosphere with the church behind us and the bustling Monday night life all around us.

We grabbed our spades, folks and hand tools and set to weeding and turning over the soil, preparing the long stretches of flower beds that lie along the railings on Leece Street and into the corner of Berry Street.

Once complete we enjoyed a hot cuppa and some biscuits with our hosts Nina and Sam.

When you walk past the BoC in the spring/summer and see tall beautiful sunflowers all chasing the sun and cheering up the city shoppers, students, workers and tourists, you can have a extra big smile knowing 'we did that!'

One cold Monday evening, 8 goodgymmers met once again on Hope street. We were ecstatic to finally meet Jennifer who had her first couple of group runs scuppered by the storms!

After a quick warm up, the runners headed into the georgian quarter for a quick 2km. Unfortunately, one of the runners fell victim to Liverpool's dodgy pavements and took a tumble. Once we were sure she was home safe and well, we carried on down to the Bombed Out Church (St Luke's to those in the know), where our task was to dig over flower beds to prepare them for planting.

In what felt like no time at all, we were done and rewarded with tea and biscuits!

Thank you for all your hard work. We're excited to see what they do with the space and will, in fact, be back next week. (totally unrelated to the tea and biscuits, promise!)

St Luke's Church, known locally and with great affection as the Bombed Out Church recently marked the 80th anniversary of the May Blitz of WWll when the church was hit by an incendiary device. The outer walls of the church still stand and the site has become a much loved and valued part of Liverpool's community, supporting arts & culture, education and homelessness groups.

We are delighted to be able to return to help out with some exciting plans!

Sam from the BoC team says this about the development To develop the memorial garden at St Luke’s as a tranquil and beautiful green space in the city centre - a place for contemplation, reflection and remembrance. The project invites the collaboration of young people, education providers, local businesses, community groups and volunteers, providing meaningful opportunities for learning and participation. The garden will serve as a site for workshops and horticultural classes, and as a focal point for the development and exhibition of educational resources related to ecological awareness, environmentally friendly practise, and sustainability – encouraging visitors to the site to develop a sense of civic agency and explore how they can make a difference within their community.

For this session four of us were doing our bit digging for Liverpool and getting a great workout as we went! We turned over the perimeter flower beds ready for planting for the new memorial gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day and a tranquil setting in the middle of a busy city centre!

Well done to Haila and Sal for doing their second sessions with us.

We will be back on a regular basis to work with the team and enjoy the development of the site, so keep an eye out for future sessions.

Another cold, dark night and another trip to our beloved Bombed Out Church with a super 16 runners getting fit while doing good this week.

Following a quick run around the back streets of the Georgian Quarter we were greeted by centre Director Ambrose at the gate of St Luke's. After a history of the Bombed Out Church pop quiz, which we dismally failed in spite of the number of times we've helped the project, Ambrose put us to work. The first task, one we've done before more times than I can count, was to move the very heavy pews. This time however, it could be our last. We repositioned the pews outside of the church where they will sit for the foreseeable future with chairs being hired for summer events. We'll miss the 10-people bench lift though, right? Right?!

Next up was some more lifting and shifting, with giant paint pots being carried from the tower room to the crypt and sandbags hiked from outside and down to the crypt. Finally, the original clock pendulum which proved to be very, very heavy indeed needed carefully and slowly moving into the crypt. There was some excellent team work throughout, and as we know, team work makes the dream work.

A big shout out to newbie Vera who joined us for the first time and worked really hard at the task and the fitness session - nice one Vera, do come and run with us again soon.

We were also really happy to welcome another not so new newbie, as we were joined by Clodagh who we work with at the Liverpool Irish Centre. This was Clodagh's first time "on the otherside" and she did a fab job! You're welcome to run with us any time :)

It was also great to have Pete visiting from GoodGym Stockport. Take our greetings back to our North West GG neighbours.

Some of the team had a mini adventure, climbing the narrow staircase up the bell tower while those of us who prefer to keep our feet on the ground, enjoyed an impromptu fitness session of squats, lunges and skiing.

After waving goodbye to Ambrose, we climbed back up the hill and hit the stairs at the Met Cathedral, getting our blood pumping and our heart rates nice and high as we climbed the 56 steps on repeat as many times as we could in 3 minutes.

A huge shout out to our Sam who clocked his 100th good deed today. Having hit 50 in November, it could be a new record for the second half of the century. Sam, you are a local legend and we applaud you!

Finally a shout and a see you soon to Effie. She will be running with the team next week (and clocking her 50th good deed) but I will be away then. After that, she'd heading off to join GoodGym Lambeth and moving down to That London. Effie, you have been a brilliant team player, a wonderfully organised Task Force member and an all-round good egg. You will be missed.

Well done to everyone on completing tasks that are impossible/would take hours for the tiny team at the Bombed Out Church to complete. Great work team!

Next week I'm off on my jollies but John will be looking after you and the team will be helping at a foodbank sorting centre. Support John and sign-up here.

P.S. Kudos to Jo for this week's title pun.

P.P.S. My phone crashed and I clearly didn't know how to use the camera on Emma's phone so apologies for the blurry pictures this week!!!!

And we're off!! A fantastic team of 24 runners showed up for our first Group Run of 2020 at one of Liverpool's most iconic buildings.

It might only be the 7th of January and yesterday was our first Group Run of the year, but Liverpool's Task Force and friends have been doing a phenomenal job representing GoodGym Liverpool in this year's January Challenge. As I write, we are currently second in the leadership board, with only the reigning champions, the mighty GoodGym York, ahead of us. For a GG our size and age, this is incredible, so hats off to this amazing team!

Our first Group Run of the year was a short hop skip and jump down to the Bombed Out Church, where we were greeted enthusiastically by director Ambrose. After a quick history lesson, Ambrose put us to work clearing the crypt. While making one pile of junk to be skipped, we were also tasked with bringing a huge selection of drums up, ahead of the church's Chinese New Year celebrations.

These items were partially replaced by a stack of deck chairs taken down the old stone stairs and into the crypt. Once all of the lifting and shifting tasks were complete, we turned our attention to Chinese lantern making. In under ten minutes, around a hundred (maybe more?!) lanterns were made, much to Ambrose's delight!

Shout out to Rowan who ran their first Half Marathon on Sunday and still came to our Group Run, proudly wearing their new black GG t-shirt. Also a well done to Ben for attending his first Group Run (he'd already been to a Community Mission and been our photographer before!). And to Roz who had previously only been to 2 Group Runs but has already clocked 5 good deeds this year. And even though she was off sick, a shout out has to go to Jo (Roz and Ben's mum) for recruiting her offspring!

After the task we headed up to the Met Cathedral for some drills alternating between improving cardio fitness and strength and balance. Even if they have had a sedentary Christmas holiday, you'd never have known, as the whole team gave it their all! Fantastic work everyone.

Coming up this week, there are LOADS of Community Missions to get involved in and help us stay at the top of the table in the January Challenge. Next week, we've got another short run and an indoor task, so don't miss it!

New attendance record claxon!!! A gray day in October goes down in GoodGym Liverpool history as our highest single Group Run attendance (to date!) with a massive team of 34 runners helping out.

What a difference a week makes. Last Monday we dropped in to single figures for the first time in months, as only the brave showed up in torrential weather. A week later and we're tearing up the GoodGym Liverpool record book. Amazing stuff folks, thanks to everyone for being there.

This week's task was based at one of our favourite places and iconic Liverpool building, the Bombed Out Church. After a run around the back streets of less than a 1km we arrived feeling fresh. Following a short history lesson from Ambrose, custodian of this wonderful building, we were soon put to work. The church's seriously heavy wooden pews, which we've moved before multiple times, were a breeze to carry with so many hands to help.

After rearranging the furniture we split into two groups whom I shall casually term Team Mud and Team Broom. Team Mud's task was to shift a tonne of top soil one hundred metres before spreading it on a new bed. Dirty work, but satisfying. Meanwhile, Team Broom gave the steps surrounding the church (a daily hangout spot for folks waiting for the bus, snacking on take away and local homeless folks passing the day) a good old brush and weed, since they are always in need of a little LTC. Both teams made quick work of their tasks in spite of the fading light (head torches at the ready next week folks!).

A huge shout out, thank you and massive well done to Amy for her incredible recruitment drive, convincing half of her cheerleading squad to join GoodGym. And to all of the squad, thanks so much for coming and do join us again soon :)

After the task we nipped back up the hill and went to the Met Cathedral for our fitness session. (As usual) I may have overcomplicated the session a little but at its heat was team camaraderie, mixed running drills and of course, steps! Everyone worked super hard and got their hearts pumping but saved a little energy for our Strava segment on the way back to base.

Amazing efforts everyone! Thanks so much for being part of a record breaking evening of getting fit while doing good.

P.S. Kudos to Task Force who turned out on mass (all 12 of them!) for a really productive meeting post-run. Amongst other things, we started to look ahead towards the January Challenge...!!!! Watch. This. Space.