This Friday, GoodGym volunteers swapped gardening gloves for burgers and hot dogs as we joined the Friends of Everton Park for their Community Garden Open Evening.

The event was a great opportunity to celebrate the hard work that goes into maintaining this fantastic community space throughout the year. We spent the evening enjoying delicious food, chatting with local residents and catching up with fellow volunteers in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

One of the highlights was meeting people from the neighbourhood and hearing their stories about the park and garden. The friendly conversations reminded us how important community spaces are for bringing people together and creating lasting connections.

Goodgym got a special shout out from John, the Gardens Lead, who recognised us for all our hard work throughout the year in helping their team to maintain this valued community space. John's speech included some lovely words about welcoming those seeking safety, and the importance of inclusivity and community.

A huge thank you to the Friends of Everton Park for inviting us along and for all the work they do to keep the park and garden thriving. It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the space and sharing a genuine sense of community spirit.

We're already looking forward to our next visit!

Monday evening brought another brilliant GoodGym Liverpool session, this time on the Mount at the beautiful St James’ Gardens by the Anglican Cathedral. As always, the evening started with movement and good company, with part of the group meeting near famous Suitcases for a run before heading down to the task location together. After a warm-up and an easy run through the city, we arrived ready to get stuck in.

The gardens were waiting for a bit of love and it didn’t take long before everyone found a job to tackle. Armed with tools, gloves and plenty of energy, we spread out across the space to help tidy and refresh the area. Some of us focused on clearing overgrown sections, cutting back vegetation to help reopen parts of the pathways and make the gardens easier to enjoy. Others got busy cleaning, litter picking and generally sprucing things up to bring a bit of order back to the space.

Bit by bit, the area started to transform. Paths became clearer, corners looked brighter and the gardens felt more open and cared for. After plenty of teamwork, laughs and muddy hands, we wrapped up the session feeling accomplished before heading back, knowing we’d made a real difference to a much-loved local space.