GRIT Studios have been going for 3.5-4 years with bases in Stockport and a studio in Manchester, Deansgate. now they have a space for "Gritters" in Salford. An old natwest bank in Salford shopping centre has been left empty and unused for 6 years(!) so hopefully the space can be put to better use!

Upon arrival, it was clear it would be a big task. With builders in this week to do bits of plastering and filling in holes in the wall and ceiling, the space was safe to use.

Jordan and Stefanie donned their overalls to fill in walls and plaster, including over a disused lift shaft with paint to give a clean slate for incoming artists 🎨🖌. Pavel, Gameel, and Peter helped scrape and clear paint from the windows, clear large items as rubbish🗑, and clear rooms of any bits left from previous incumbents. Ben helped scrape paint, paint over removed wallpaper, and clean windows🪟.

After a couple of hours, we had done what we could with a likely repeated trip back to finish any specific tasks with opening days not too far away.

It was really great to help out and good numbers to get a lot done in a short amount of time. Hope you enjoyed the task and see you soon!

We returned back to St Mary's Church for a second week to fix any final loose floor tiles. ⛪️

Meera and Laura ran the 3km to the Church, with Ben, Hannah and Jordan meeting us there. It was great to meet Jordan doing his first GoodGym task in Stockport. 👋

It was great to see that those we fixed last week were still looking good despite being walked on. 🙌

Today we mostly focused on adding dried mortar to increase the stability of the loose tiles. 🔨

Another great task!

As part of the ThisGirlCan #LetsLifeTheCurfew, a few of us grabbed as many lights and high viz as possible to go for a gentle jog around Manchester city centre on a warm but wet Monday evening.

We met near Piccadilly Gardens by the Duke of Wellington statue and joined the route that is planned for the MCR 24 hr run in a couple of weeks, taking us down to the University of Manchester main campus before going up Oxford Road towards St Peter's Square. From there, we took a detour/scenic route past the Manchester Central Convention Complex (AKA GMEX) and through Deansgate.

During the run, we managed to swing by Manchester Cathedral where a group of runners from MileShyClub and Chorlton Runners (plus other running groups) were also doing a group run as part of the movement. We got a round of applause, probably more for Juno who was lit up and took all the attention on the way round with her light-up collar. After dropping off a Goodgym flyer/poster and putting one up in the Manchester Aquatic Centre, we made our way back through Northern Quarter, in amongst some filming TV/film sets, and back to the meeting point where we parted ways.

Keep an eye on the website for future sessions and hopefully we can get a few more numbers out for social runs and activities in the future.