Twelve Goodgymmers gathered on a lovely summer’s evening at the cemetery below the impressive cathedral and help the Friends of St James Gardens continue their amazing work caring for this beautiful and historic area.

Michael gave us a warm welcome and soon had us divided into three task groups. The main focus of the session was weeding the paving around the monument, while the other two groups took on a couple of outlying tasks: litter picking and clearing the nettles and undergrowth around the tunnel entrance to the cemetery

But this wasn’t just any Goodgym evening. It was a night of reunions. Lucien and Sian were back in Liverpool and, naturally, made sure a Goodgym session was part of their plans. bringing along Sian's Mum Karen who we had met not long before Sian moved away. Although they no longer live in Liverpool at the moment, Sian and Lucien are certainly not absent from the Goodgym brainpower. Both continue to suggest ideas, come up with plans and keep things moving from afar. As Sian describes it in her WhatsApp title, “Task Force in Absentia” — proof that moving away doesn’t get you out of Goodgym responsibilities! It was so lovely to see them both back. They are such active members of GoodGym Liverpool, and it’s brilliant to see that their enthusiasm and commitment to Goodgym continues even though life has taken them to Spain and Staffordshire at the moment,.

And for Lucien, it was a particularly special evening because this was his 100th Goodgym task! 100 tasks is no mean feat at the best of times, but Lucien has managed it while undertaking his PhD, moving home and city, and undergoing significant surgery. Quite an impressive list of life events to fit around 100 Goodgym tasks!

It was also a joy to see Leo back after his time away with family. Great to have his positive energy back in the group — Leo we have missed you. Dina and Leo were talking about Fado a particular type of Portuguese music... I had to go away and look it up... Goodgym brings so many new things into our lives we never stop learning from each other.

The evening flew by in a blur of chats, laughter and hard work. Minutes became an hour almost without us noticing, and the transformation of the paved area around the monument was a joy to behold.

A truly precious moment was as Ellie uncovered a huge piece of turf covering a gravestone or ledger stone. She peeled it back — and underneath was the inscription from the gravestone, with the engraving preserved in relief in the bottom of the turf. Robert Merchant's inscription echoes from stone to earth uncovered by our Ellie.

The next day on our WhatsApp group it led to a discussion on the use of gravestones as paths and flooring ... I tell you Goodgym Liverpool has the best people to learn something new every day.

Back to our Monday task and with the work done, it was time to celebrate Lucien’s 100th task with some well-earned sweet treats. Nobody seemed particularly keen to rush off. People lingered, standing around chatting and catching up, enjoying the warmth of the evening and each other’s company. Goodbyes became long, lingering goodbyes, as conversations continued and nobody quite seemed ready to call it a night. It was just one of those evenings .... A beautiful summer evening, a brilliant piece of work completed, an unexpected glimpse of history uncovered, reunions, laughter — and Lucien celebrating his 100th task.

Congratulations again, Lucien. We’re looking forward to seeing you back in Liverpool — preferably wearing your wings T-shirt. And what better place to earn your wings than in St James’s Gardens? After all… Earning your wings is no grave thing!

On a finally cool summer evening, Goodgym assembled at St James Gardens to get to work giving the park a bit of a spruce up.

We divided into three teams: Bekah and Sallyann on the litter picking, Ellie, Dina and Clara on the weeding and Naser and Vikky on bench varnishing duty.

We were joined by Friends of St James Gardens who provided fun facts (like what a pineapple weed is) and witty jokes (a lorry carrying Strepsils overturned on the motorway; there was no congestion).

We soon got 'into the groove' of the task, quite literally in the case of the weeding, whereby we were digging up weeds between the paving slabs. Likewise the varnishing team successfully varnished two of the newly installed (and very nice looking) benches for years to come by very carefully applying Varnish into all the 'grooves'. Even the litter picking duo conquered the 'grooves' of the park, retrieving litter from some of the nooks and crannies.

All in all, after two benches varnished, two bin bags filled and a good chunk of patio was weeded, we called it a night and said our goodbyes before heading off in our various directions until next week!

This Monday's task was to help deliver the latest edition of the local community newsletter. Calling it a newsletter doesn't really do it justice – it's a hefty booklet packed with stories, events and all the good news happening across the community.

We were joined by Peter, who was born in the area and followed on from John leading The Shewsy Youth Centre and has a long history with it, having first attended as an eight-year-old. Peter and John clearly go back a long way, and their banter was one of the many highlights of the the evening.

Before we set off, Clara did a brilliant job making sure everyone knew which streets they were covering, keeping us organised so there was no doubling up and no roads missed.

Clara teamed up with Dina, and a big congratulations were in order for Dina, who quietly completed her fifth Goodgym task over the weekend. . It already feels like you've been part of the group for much longer Dina.

Aatefa and Heetu had run to the task before heading off to cover their patch. Heetu enthusiastically grabbed a huge bag of newsletters, apparently running to the task wasn't enough exercise for her – she decided to fit in a bit of weight training too.

As we all drew to the end of our paper rounds we waved to Naser and Peter who were just a few houses down. But they stood for a long time ... what was wrong? Nothing! they were just continuing their conversation and as they said 'putting the world's to rights'. Naser never fails to make fabulous connections with people wherever we go so I dont know why I hadn't realised.

The paper round complete, we all headed home, another Monday night task ticked off.

I'll finish with an indulgent reflection, seeing as I'm the one writing the report! It struck me that over the course of this weekend I'd spent time with every single Goodgymmer who was on tonight's task. I'd also been in Everton on Saturday's task with John, our task owner. Moments like that remind me why Goodgym means so much to me. Spending time together, doing something positive for our communities, doesn't just benefit the places we visit – it nourishes and nurtures me. I'm incredibly grateful to be part of it