This is the 3rd year was have been asked back to help The Greenhouse Project for their Christmas present wrapping task. The Greenhouse Project exists to enable Liverpool’s children, young people and their communities to access opportunities that support their creative development, understanding and celebration of diversity and we have undertaken a number of tasks since Good Gym Liverpool was established. Due to Covid restrictions it was touch and go whether we would be able to help out this year but we managed to sort it by working in two different teams. Team 1 was: Sam, Rowan, Emma, Sophie, Christine, Becky and Helena. Team 2 was: Jo, Pauline, Kira, Matthew and Claire. And what a pair of teams we made.

We were met by the lovely ladies from The Greenhouse Project and whilst it is always great fun to sit and wrap presents it is sobering to think that what we were wrapping might be the only present some of these children will open on Christmas Day, so it is a vital job that The Greenhouse Project is doing. And without someone helping out, it would take at least a couple of days for them to wrap these presents.

Christmas music was played and singing and dancing broke out all over the place, partly because we just wanted to but also because we have been asked to do an uplifting video for the BBC. It was great to be able to get out and meet each other again and hopefully we will be able to do many more tasks as 2021 comes along and that we can say goodbye to this virus once and for all.

Happy Christmas everyone xxx

We may be on lockdown, but the GoodGym fun doesn't stop!

After Saturday evening's training run listed by Jenny, and Tuesday's GoodGym-themed Quiz hosted by our very own quizmaster Katie, it's time to see how we all got on in our street sign bingo.

This week's GoodGym Leeds run has the slightly confusing honour of being the run which was completed in the most varied locations! We had entries from Huddersfield, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leicester and a few different London areas, as well as Leeds of course.

I had started the week by setting a tough set of criteria (which were largely based on roads I was able to find near to my own house). As a recap, these were to find street signs that included:

• A first name
• A place (not in Yorkshire)
• A tree or plant
• A colour
• An animal
• A building

And some bonus extras of:

• A body part
• A number

Despite making it very clear that I would allow words within words, there has been some controversy from those who consider themselves street sign bingo purists, and seem to think that only complete words should be permitted (OK so this was just Alex, he is a stickler for rules!) As it's my game, they're my rules, and I'm feeling very lenient. This means that nobody is getting disqualified, no matter how tenuous your street signs are, and I've even allowed the sign for a church, some rogue pictures of animals, and a street sign that wasn't even taken on the run. You're all officially winners, and you each win absolutely nothing! Well done everyone!

We had a huge variety of street signs and pictures, and I loved seeing them all as they came in. I specifically asked for you guys to create a little collage of your photos to make it a bit easier for me to pull the report together after last week's mammoth video entry debacle, so it was particularly fun that Tom set his own challenge for me to complete by sending me a zip folder of individual photos, which apparently my phone refused to open!

After I finally managed to get at all of your images, it was great to see how you guys all went about it. I really enjoyed how both Joe and Rach, and Carol added funky labels to their collage, just in case anyone was confused about whether 'Turkey Hill' was a number or a colour, or 'Cottage Road' was in fact an animal.

One of my absolute favourites was Kira from GG Liverpool, who not only found multiple streets for some of the tasks, she provided a 'bonus vegetable' with 'Marrow Drive', and this classy pun:

"Because of this bingo I have 'Dunmore' than I have all week!" Take a bow, Kira!

This challenge took people as far apart as Scotland, Bordeaux, Holland, California and even Jamaica! All in your one permitted run per day! Who said staying at home meant not seeing the world?

Slightly more concerning was the fact that runners were faced with Arms, Elbows, Backs, Chests, and even a 'Fulneck'. I know it's been warm recently but it's not that hot! The sun comes out for five minutes and suddenly everone's baring all.

The most tricky definitely seemed to be obtaining a number, although there were a few One's and Ten's hidden within street names, and even a Nine, although Adam's First to Sixth Street was pretty impressive.

We also had sightings of some Oxen, Badgers, an Osprey, a Hawk and two Nanny Goats (although it might have been the same one)! Last but not least Karly provided us with this fabulous picture, although the GG Leeds facebook group couldn't quite work out what it is.

" It's a horse dressed like a zebra" Karly

"Are you sure it's not a zebra wearing a mask?!" Tom

I'll leave it for you to decide!

I also specifically asked for funny/rude words, so I particularly enjoyed Jean-Christophe's 'Ha-Ha Road' (even if he didn't actually capture it on this run), a Dick Lane, and Tickle Cock Bridge found by Tom. Finally there was a late entry from Liv, and I must admit 'Upper Butts' made me chuckle way more than it should do considering I'm supposed to be an actual adult.

And finally I'm sharing my favourite photo of the entire challenge, which Adam took and is almost perfect for the current times of self-isolation. Don't forget though, you're not alone, we're all one big happy family together, sharing virtual runs, puns and laughs across the country. If anyone ever needs a chat don't be afraid to reach out, to me or any other GoodGym pals. This will all be over one day, and we'll have the most epic relaunch party!

Thank you all for getting involved in this week's challenge, I enjoyed setting it and finding my own route, so I'm glad you all got involved as well. Hope to see lots of you getting involved again next week!

On the ninth day of Christmas, GoodGym sent to me, nine children’s snow suits, eight waterproof jackets, seven accessory boxes, six buckets of water, five rails of winter woolies, four big black bin bags, three GoodGym Mathematicians, two excited dogs, and a wagon full of smelly wellies...

Kudos to our two marvellous maths teachers, Kira and Sophie for giving up some of their precious holiday time to help this local community.

St Andrew’s Church in Runcorn is committed to helping local refugees, who often are without basic necessities, such as food and clothing. In conjunction with Woodside Primary School, where donations of winter clothing and wellies were waiting to be sorted, Rev. Emma Speake has plans to distribute items to needy families over the next few weeks.

After a chilly start, the team soon turned into a welly oiled washing mathschine... with a couple of canine companions barking orders, to keep us in line.

Space was cleared in a shipping container at the school, where the clothing and wellies will be stored, awaiting collection and distribution.

Hopefully, many local children will benefit from this task, and enjoy some wonderful winter welly walks.

2020 dawned bright and dry as four fantastic GoodGym runners signed up to help marshal at Princes Park.

The first Parkrun of the new decade drew a crowd of almost 350 runners, and our first task was to help cheer them on as they set off in pursuit of pb's and New Year resolutions. The fastest finishers flew past in record times.

Pauline was understudy to Matt, who was stepping down after four years as race organiser, handing out finisher tokens. Kira and Sam had the daunting task of scanning barcodes, while Yan, armed with a very official looking clipboard, was in charge of writing down details for those that were un-scanable.

The atmosphere was fab, runners gave it their all, and the marshalling team were a very friendly, supportive and encouraging bunch.

Several GoodGym runners took to the track, racking up some of the first km's of the year...towards our January Challenge target. Well done John, Eimear and Adam.

Looking forward to helping out again on Saturday, earlier time, same place. 😉