So how much wood could a Goodgymmer chuck if a Goodgymmer could chuck wood?............

Autumn is well and truly here and tonight was our last night of 2024 with John and Friends Of Everton Park. We have been helping out over the months in the beautiful Everton Community Garden taking out the old rotting wooden raised bed frames which are being replaced. Each bed is able to be gardened without requiring to kneel or stoop so they have a lot of frame! So its quite some effort to dismantle as despite being rotten they are fixed together by hefty bolts and nails. Many techniques were used to release some of the stubborn planks..... some of the Goodgym team crowned themselves as nail technicians.

The old wood will be burnt on bonfire night so we were just in time to finish up and complete the dismantling of the last two remaining wooden frames. Both in time for the bonfire and in time for us to finish for our traditional winter break from Everton Park. Thank you John for all your wonderful tasks during 2024 and see you in March 2025.

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.

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.

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.