GoodGymers Pauline, Sallyann, Sian, Amina, Bekah, Liam, Ellie, Heetu and myself travelled to Aintree Racecourse for the first Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk of the season. It was the first of six taking place across the country over the next six weekends. There was a huge turnout of over 2100 walkers. Each walker had a target of around £160 to raise and some taking place had exceeded that target. Event organisers said that so far they had raised £90,000 just from this first walk in Liverpool. There were 80 volunteers at the event of which Good Gym was representing 9. And we were given the best job of all! Giving out the medals at the end of the walk. It was incredibly emotional to see everyone who had turned out. There were hugs and tears. There were tiny (12 days old in one case) babies on the walk and elderly walkers too. Everyone affected by the devastating disease dementia. One couple walked together, on the wife’s back was ‘I’m walking for’ and the name of her husband, on her husband’s back, ‘I’m walking for, me’. One lady had lost her mum this year and got a big hug at the finish line. My grandma died of dementia and my mum is currently living with the disease. It is believed that 65% of all over 65 year olds in the UK have dementia so there is not a life in this country that it doesn’t touch. It is a cruel disease that takes your memories, your personality and your sense of self before it takes your life and Alzheimer’s Association are not only there to support people and give them hope but also look for a cure. Hopefully with more walks and fundraising this will one day be realised.

This week, we were back at St James Garden with Friends of St James' Garden to finish what we started last week.

4 runners met on hope street where we were thrilled to welcome two newbies: Mel and Mel. Hope to have you join us again soon!

As St James garden is so close to our meeting point we treated ourselves to a few hill reps before heading on over. Very impressed with all the runners for persevering!

Once there we met 7 more goodgymmers and were tasked with weeding all the pavements around the Husskinson Memoral. I think you can tell from the before an after pictures what a huge impact we had!

Thankfully the weeds and grass came up surprisingly easily - the turf almost came up like a carpet and we were able to clear a huge area. Well done to everyone!

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.