There was a change of plan in Liverpool on Monday, the original plan for a meet up sadly had to be rescheduled so the team quickly regrouped and decided to pivot to a litter pick rather than cancel.

Siân had an excellent suggestion of a patch of land which actually linked back by an overgrown path to the green we litter picked last week. She did a quick reccy during the day to check there was enough litter to keep the keen goodgymmers going, and shared the location with a fabulous caption of “here be litter”. And there was indeed! During the reccy she spotted some rabbits, which added a fabulous incentive for the group to make the area nice and clean for the local bunnies.

We met at the Tung Auditorium and welcomed new member Dan, and sadly learnt it was Jake's penultimate session as he’s moving away! After introductions Bekah laid the ground rules as we were working in a quiet dark area – no wandering off alone into the darkness, and everyone to remain in pairs, minimum. We each had a bag and nominated a specific recycling bag, which Sian would kindly take to the appropriate recycling centre the next day.

It was a great spot as the litter was quite dense and we could quickly see the impact we were having as we cleared it. We found new, unopened hair rollers, pint glasses, a tent which the ground had begun to engulf and which Heetu astutely spotted was 1 item, not 2 as it appeared poking out of the ground in various places, numerous umbrellas, and lots of litter!

Due to injury Bekah was limited to the carrying she could do, so acted a human corral and kept the team safely together – catching Sallyannin the act as she was seconds away from heading straight for the dark undergrowth!

It was great to return to the same area the following week, as it really felt like we’d completed the job. The only concern was due to doing so many litter picks recently, we were running low on bags – what a nice problem to have.

Special shoutouts to new member Dan, who originally joined Goodgym in London and sought us out following a move to Liverpool, and Nina who it was lovely to see again after her 4-month break away. The team’s good work means the bunnies can safely hop another day!

This week, we were back at St James Garden with Friends of St James' Garden to finish what we started last week.

4 runners met on hope street where we were thrilled to welcome two newbies: Mel and Mel. Hope to have you join us again soon!

As St James garden is so close to our meeting point we treated ourselves to a few hill reps before heading on over. Very impressed with all the runners for persevering!

Once there we met 7 more goodgymmers and were tasked with weeding all the pavements around the Husskinson Memoral. I think you can tell from the before an after pictures what a huge impact we had!

Thankfully the weeds and grass came up surprisingly easily - the turf almost came up like a carpet and we were able to clear a huge area. Well done to everyone!