On a hazy, hot May Sunday morning, a quartet of Goodgym helpers joined forces with the Friends of Festival Park to rejuvenate a corner flowerbed of the Chinese Gardens site. And, we packed a punch of "p" plant love with some gardening heave-ho to boot! Festival Park friend Kate guided us in the necessary steps to plant out a peony tree (frilly flowers will come), a paeonia (related but different), a pittosporum (completing the "p" theme), all rounded off with a row of hebe (no shebe) shrubs. So, with that lot of plants lined up in their pots, we had work to do. Bekah and Dan cleared the mulch topping from the flowerbed, and unpegged the underlay to expose the bare soil ready for digging. Lucien and Sian swiftly and neatly snipped back the ivy overhanging the stone wall. Thank you secateurs. Kate pointed out that however glorious the sunshine, the lack of recent rainfall has dried up the nearby lake and hardened the earth. That left our trusty spade trying to dig holes for planting out, but to no avail. So, out came one mattock (a tool akin to a pick-axe), followed by a second, heavier specimen, sourced by Kate's husband and Festival Park friend Steve. Dan quickly got a grip on mattock number two. He unleashed a surprisingly zealous degree of power to achieve the planting depth required. Bekah set about distributing the water brought in from off-site, to hydrate the plants comfortably into their new homes. Nurturing attention. Lucien and Sian gently loosened each plant's roots, all the better to dig themselves in and set firm foundations. Then, delicately sprinkling soil back in and around, they completed the re-housing job together. Tender and touching. The team reset the underlay and raked back the mulch evenly, standing back to look proudly across a new border-full family of plants. They already looked at home, and with plenty of space to grow in the months ahead. Zooming our gaze out of this one flowerbed, Kate and Steve relayed the value of their team's volunteering at Festival Gardens. Regular efforts keep the park tended for horticultural and recreational enjoyment alike. More friends had been simultaneously restoring neat and safe order to the children's play area towards the promenade, now fit for fun for little-uns once more. The spot we worked on is part of the Chinese Gardens, which received a major makeover back in 2011. That restored some original features from when it was created, as part of the hugely popular International Garden Festival, in 1984. That event transformed the site from an industrial wasteland and welcomed over 3 million visitors, all those forty-one years ago. Alongside our flowerbed, the Chinese Gardens also include a moon wall - a circular gateway feature which is typical of Chinese garden design. Around the other side of our spot is a large pagoda, standing impressively atop a wooden platform, beside the (currently dry) lake. It includes decorative tiles sourced in China and offers a strong flash of fiery red against the green vegetation, even with its slightly tired, mature paintwork. Above today's flowerbed once stood a second, upper pagoda, which was removed in 2015, to protect it from further damage. Our work today should contribute to a new view and experience of the Chinese Gardens. It is a Liverpool park area which holds mixed legacies of dockland communities, festival celebration, housing developments, community toil, and also the perfect place for a peaceful picnic. Back to those "p"s 😀

We, six good-gymers started on a sunny Saturday morning, meeting Kate from friends of festival gardens in the Japanese garden in Liverpool festival gardens near St Michael’s.

Some of us walked, one cycled and some enthusiastically came after their park runs!

Well the plan was to uncover hidden Japanese garden features- a hill, a wall and actual plants- which was all covered in bramble and ivy!

Interestingly the hill is Tsukiyama, Tsukiyama refers to the creation of man-made hills, and is a classic type of Japanese garden that embodies a miniature of natural scenery.

So we set to attacking the bramble carpet! A few hours later we had found the wall and could see the little hill, and we had made our own mounds of bramble -not sure if a new spiky feature is considered very Japanese gardeni though , anyway a Togatta - yama, please please nobody who knows or is Japanese read this!

After all the rain we have had lately Saturday morning greeted us with blue skies and the gorgeous sight and feel of winter winter sun. At Princes park run there was a gaggle of Goodgymmers it's a busy time of year and not everyone could continue on to the task today. but shout outs to Aditya Jo Julie Vicky Liam Eileen and Sallyann for their princely park run presence.

The task today was helping Friends Of Festival Gardens with clearing brambles. The Friends Of Festival Gardens are a group that have made a huge difference in a short space of time in the festival gardens and it is a joy and privilege to be asked to help out.

We quickly set to and where 'in the thick of it' in the 'thicket'- a massive bramble patch overgrowing onto the path edges was tackled by Goodgymmers and Friends of Festival Garden volunteers. The plan was to clear the brambles to let things underneath grown when spring arrives - hydrangeas a tiny holly and a small oak were all uncovered and we were told there will be other things under the soil that will now be able to breathe and grow when the time is right.

A warm welcome to Dave on his first task - the first of many we hope. As we all left the task the winter sun warmed our backs and we all felt satisfied with the task we had helped with. Its amazing how much can be done when you have willing hands and hearts.

Oh and the pun..... some say it may be because Sallyann always seems to chat more than work but I don't know that that is true ;)

Why not get some of that warm feeling at our last session of the year on Monday evening

As GoodGymers walked, ran and cycled to the Festival Gardens, a bright, warm autumnal sun shone down. Waiting with tools, bags and plenty of enthusiasm, the Friends of group showed us the set of steps to be cleared. On the surface, it looked like a pretty straightforward job...removing grass and other weeds from the steps, clearing away brambles and generally sprucing up the steps.

With the sun heating our backs, we set to...and it soon became apparent that it was going to be tougher than expected. The steps had a gravel base which needed to be loosened, before the weeds could be removed. Hoes, shears, secateurs and hands were kept busy for the full two hours... great for core strength, though, and plenty of time to chat...as we worked, of course. Steph and Aditya made short work of the brambles that threatened to impale anyone brave enough to approach them, while Sallyann, Vikky, Ema and I attacked the steps. New member, Vikky was keen to find out about training schedules, as she is hoping to take part in a half marathon next Spring, and Sallyann was more than happy to have a reason to talk 😁 Lots of great ideas were shared: joining rambling groups, meeting early to extend the Group Run, and gradually building up running distances to improve stamina, to name but a few. The time flew by, and at the end of the two hours, the difference was amazing. We all felt had had a good workout, and were ready to head home to relax...except for Sallyann, who had left to start work, and Ema, who was going shopping, and Steph, who had another run ahead of her...well, you get the picture.

A big welcome to Vikky on her first session, and a cheer for Aditya on his 15th!!

Nothing like a good post Parkrun (for some - well done to Aditya, Roz and Jo!) community mission to start off the weekend! For today’s task we were heading over to Festival Gardens to help the regular ‘Friends of Festival Gardens’ volunteers tidy up the main stone stairway. After congregating at St Michael’s station, we collectively managed to locate the steps in question and get cracking. Kate, Steve, Ann and Penny were already hard at work and very appreciative of some more hands to help! There were a variety of tasks to be done to give the stairway a spruce up, including de-weeding the edges, de-mossing, cutting back over hanging branches to allow easier access to the handrails and taming the ivy. The Autumn sun beaming down was a pleasant surprise given the very rainy forecast and our earlier comments about regretting not wearing more layers were quickly forgotten! However our luck eventually ran out and with 10 mins to go, the dark cloud descended as we hurried to tidy up all the trimmings and gather the tools. After a quick shelter under the trees whilst the rain/hail shower past over, we descended back to the start of the steps to admire our handy work and take the final group photo. We look forward to hopefully joining ‘The Friends of Festival Gardens’ again soon to help them continue their great work!