Stockport’s creative future is looking brighter — literally! Tonight, five GoodGymers rolled up their sleeves (and maybe a few paint-splattered cuffs) to help transform Grit Studios’ newest space, recently acquired from Stockport Council, into a welcoming hub for community art projects.

Armed with rollers, brushes, and boundless enthusiasm, the team brought fresh white colour and energy to the walls, turning a once-empty building into a space brimming with possibility.

Between brush strokes, ideas flowed for exhibitions, workshops, and creative collaborations that will soon fill the rooms.

This new home will be a place where artists, residents, and curious visitors can come together to make, share, and celebrate art in all its forms.

Grit Studios is hugely grateful to the volunteers whose hard work has painted the first strokes in this exciting new chapter for Stockport’s creative community.

Peter and Ben both decided to combine a foodbank run with another ivy clearing and planting session at Gorse Hill Studios. We joined Katie, Duncan, Cathy, and Rebecca.

We dug, hacked, chopped, cut, pulled, sawed, and pickaxed our way through the never-ending ivy growing around bushes and fences.

We burned some of the vegetation and piled it ever higher. We found lots of spiders 🕷 and saw the plans and prep for the pond. The cup of tea 🍵 and a kitkat also helped on a warm and sweaty evening ☀️ There was also some planting of other plants 🪴 in between the hedge trees 🌳 we had planted a few weeks ago.

Following the session, Ben took a collection of tins 🥫 milk 🥛 crackers, strawberry 🍓 and raspberry jam, rice pudding, tinned fruit and veg, and some spaghetti 🍝 hoops to a nearby drop off for Manchester South-Central foodbank.

Juno and I did the course check and marshalled at Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 259. 449 runners and walkers completed the 5 km course.

Warm and sunny day with a bit of wind. First placed finisher had a dog. Last RD for Stephen as he is moving away. Ran 20 km in the process getting there, and then to work.

Peter and Ben joined Katie from Gorse Hill Studios to help out at the allotment where EVERYTHING had grown, including the weeds 🌱

We arrived to a green carpet mostly of bindweed and other weeds, plus the polytunnel tomatoes 🍅 had grown out of control.

While Katie tended the polytunnel, Peter tended to his pumpkin 🎃 patch, which was looking very good and growing, and Ben aggressively attacked the weeds around the site, forming big piles in his wake.

We made friends with a few frogs 🐸 caterpillars 🐛 slugs, ladybirds 🐞 and a few spiders 🕷.

In just over 2 hours, we made serious progress, even planting out some chilli 🌶 and salad 🥗, and harvested plenty of plums, apples 🍎, and a courgette. The onions 🌰 were left out to dry too.

Great effort 💪 just imagine how much we could do with a bigger group.

Tonight, six dedicated GoodGymers came together for a successful session of Balsam Bashing in Happy Valley.

Armed with gloves, determination, and a shared love for nature, the group spent over an hour clearing the invasive Himalayan Balsam from the area.

This fast-growing plant, known for outcompeting native species, was carefully removed by hand to help restore balance to the local ecosystem. We worked efficiently and with great spirit, managing to clear a significant section of the valley.

It was great to welcome Jonny for his first GoodGym task and welcome Jamie who's recently relocated from GoodGym Cardiff.

Charly and Ben met up in Manchester city centre to embark on a litter picking trail through some of the green spaces in Ardwick 🌳

After a short run to Gartside Gardens, we made a lap of the park, picking up litter as we went. In the high winds, lots of apples 🍎 were scattered around the park from a couple of apples trees 🌳 After filling a sack of rubbish 🗑 and enlisting the help of locals, we moved up to the Hanworth Close allotments, where we found lots of discarded clothes, condoms, butchers dog food, and lots more besides.

More was to come, with the narrow ginnels, alleyways, and footpaths containing some fly tipping, including rugs, pillows, and several Barbie figures, but also the normal plastic bottles and tin cans 🥫🍶🧴

A final collection in the Groom St and Grosvenor St areas gave another few sacks of rubbish, making sure to empty any bottles that still contained liquid.

7 full sacks plus several other large items collected in all. Good collection from a few green sites, particularly following storm Floris.

Laura and I volunteered at Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 258. 476 runners and walkers completed the 5 km course on a pleasant August morning 🏃‍♂️🏃🏼‍♀️👣Lots of buggy runners and dogs! 🐶🐾🐕

Laura was park walker. Ben, ably assisted by Juno, helped with the pre event course check & set up, then marshalled at Mount Fletcher (#3). We had a small contingent of cheers and clappers to encourage the participants back up the slope for their second lap!

22 volunteers helped in all 🦺🌳