The Bronte centre really lies in the heart of Liverpool, tucked away behind the new Liverpool John Moores campus, a short walk from Lime Street station next to the famous Bullring. It started in the 1960s as a boxing club and grew to be a hub for local youth and the community. Sallyann had met David at the Everton Park Gardens Summer auction, he had been the auctioneer and they chatted about what Goodgym does and what the Bronte do and how Goodgym could help the Bronte with a Monday evening task. So this was our first time at this venue. It was our biggest turnout of the year with fourteen in attendance. Six Goodgymmers; Sallyann, Heetu, Dike, Laura, Max and Aatefa ran from the suitcases on Hope Street, others walked and we met David who showed us what needed to be done. We had some stones to shift, some brambles to uproot and a front garden to tidy. We set off in three groups:

Group 1, the brambles: Miriam, Heetu, Tsi Tsi and Leo were in the bramble attack team. Tsi Tsi and Miriam had both bought bramble proof gloves along with them so they were keen to get stuck in. At one point we had an enormous turnip situation where we all pulled on the stubborn bramble until it gave way, honestly it was the biggest bramble we had ever seen with a trunk like a small tree.

Group 2, the rocks: Meanwhile Ellie, Steph, Laura and Sophie got stuck into clearing the rocks and bricks to make the outdoor space more usable. As the shortest member of the team, Laura volunteered to climb into the storage cage, whilst the others got to work doing the heavy lifting. What started off as a neatly stacked and layered pile, utilising advanced Tetris skills, soon became a precariously balanced mound of rubble! Either way, by the end of the hour 90% of the material had been successfully transported to its new home, leaving the lawn corner much clearer and ready to be put to better use.

Group 3, the front: Liam, Max, Dika, Sallyann, Bekah and Aatefa were assigned the important mission of clearing the front garden and entrance area of the youth centre. The front area had clearly been enjoying a little too much autumn decoration! Fallen leaves had covered the grass and hidden some of the beautiful plants, while litter had also decided to make itself at home. Armed with rakes, brushes and plenty of determination, they got straight to work. They raked away the thick layers of leaves, collected the scattered litter and carefully cleared the areas around the plants. Little by little, the greenery started making an appearance again. The plants were finally free from their leafy blankets and could enjoy a little sunshine! They continued by gathering the collected leaves and rubbish, brushing the pathways and tidying the surrounding areas. By the time they had finished, the entrance looked considerably cleaner, brighter and much more welcoming. It was lovely to see how much difference six pairs of hands could make in such a short time. The leaves may have put up a good fight, but the GoodGymers certainly won this round!

Afterwards David seemed impressed and booked in a return visit with Sallyann. They very kindly made us drinks and we congregated for a short while in the seating area at the centre where we said congratulations to Sal on her 200th mission…

Sallyann joined in June 2019 so has been a part of Goodgym for 7 years. She's undertaken sessions in 3 areas, is a member of Taskforce, and a trained Run Leader.

What the 200 tasks doesn't show is all the work and effort she does behind the scenes: the tasks organised, the time spent with task owners, helping others, supporting member's running journeys, arranging socials, being a welcome committee for GG tourists, welcoming new people, ensuring everyone feels comfortable and included, encouraging people to engage further with both GG and their running, organisation of admin, and, of course, she's the architect of the phenomenon that is Sticker Saturday.

So a massive well done on your 200th task, and thank you Sallyann for everything you do for Goodgym and the people in it.

After completing our task, Heetu, Ellie, Leo, Laura and Aatefa set off on their run back to Suitcases. With another community task completed, a little exercise under our belts and plenty of smiles, we brought a beautiful GoodGym session to a close. What a lovely way to combine running, teamwork and giving something back to the community!

This report was a collaborative effort by Miriam, Laura, Aatefa and Bekah

I spotted Miriam en route to the task and we walked up together catching up. We then met Tsitsi. It was so lovely to all be able to do a mission together as we have often done missions as pairs but never altogether and as it would turn out, this task really needed the three of us. We then headed for the task. Miss M welcomed us and showed us what needed to be done which was to dismantle a very tall metal bed frame. Miss M asked us to first take down the mattress and we were so eager to get going - we all forgot to take a before photo! We took the mattress down and put it into another room so we could start to work on taking the bed apart. We then assessed the best plan and best tools to use which in the end proved to be the simple, humble Allen key. After guidance from Miss M, Miriam first unscrewed the wall fixture and then quickly worked out to take down the bedframe we had to loosen the screws and then press in to release each bed segment. Tsitsi and I helped to hold the bed frame steady while Miriam started to loosen the screws. I felt all my gym training and all those shoulder presses had finally come in handy as I held the bed frame up on one side while Miriam and Tsitsi released the other side. After a bit of sheer force pulling out the side, we managed to get the top bit of the bedframe down safely on the ground. This meant we could then work quickly to take down the sides. We then moved at pace and showed Miss M the dismantled frame. Miss M wanted the slats also removing to ease with removal. Here Tsitsi and Miriam managed to quickly take off the grey covers so we could then start to pull out the metal slats. These proved trickier than we first thought as both sides had to be pushed down together and the absolute right angle was needed to then pull them out. After a bit, we managed to release all of these and put them to one side. It is always on missions that you find out some hidden talents and I learned that Miriam and Tsitsi clearly had excellently knot-tying skills - I have no idea what knots they did but it was impressive and held the slats securely together. We then put each bit of the bed securely against the wall and brought back the mattress into the room. Miss M seemed delighted and really grateful for all of our efforts. We said goodbye to Tsitsi after a selfie. I was walking the same way as Miriam and luckily so as Miriam gave me the all important update I crave which is whether pea fritters had been on the menu (something we share if we've gone to a fish and chip shop or been back down South) and started to sing "Right" said Fred, "Both of us together, one each end and steady as we go." which was the perfect pun for today's task. However this task definitely needed the three of us! As always catching up with Tsitsi and Miriam and completing a mission together certainly brought my week much joy!

Sophie, Vikky and Aatefa ran to Princes park from Hope Street when the temperature was still very warm. Laura, Steph and I were with Ali, a Friend of Princes Park helping him get the wheelbarrows, watering cans and the water butt on wheels out of the lock up. Katy from Friends of Princes Park gave us some instruction on what we were going to do today; water some of the trees that were earmarked for watering in the park. Apparently a new tree, up to two years old, needs a minute of watering every few days as it has not yet developed a deep root system that can access lower ground water. Dina and Ellie joined us before we started wheeling our water collectors down to the lakeside. There we formed a human chain, passing watering cans along to fill up the water butt and the cans, it was a workout! Some twisting and lifting. Then we made our way to the new trees that needed watering. They were each labelled and we marked each label as we watered so that we knew which ones had been done. Liam, Tsitsi and Craig joined the group just in time to see the Cinnabar moth caterpillar on a piece of grass. It was black and yellow striped, the nature signal for ‘don’t eat me, I am dangerous’ but there was nothing dangerous about this caterpillar except that they were munching all the leaves on our baby trees. We watered plum trees, cherry trees, oaks and horse chestnut trees. Ali asked us to water a few extras that weren’t marked just because he liked them which was very sweet and a sign of how much he cares for the park, developing fondness for the trees. I eyed up a fantastic blackberry picking location that I will definitely be returning to in a week or so when the berries have ripened so I can forage a few to have in my porridge. We definitely got our lifting exercise in on this task and really enjoyed the beauty of the park on this warm sunny evening. Katy told us about the Friends of Princes park anniversary event that is happening in a few weeks so many of us agreed that we would love to return for that.

This was our second visit to Mr G’s to clear the rest of his garden. He had bought a small saw for us to use in cutting back the last branches of the conifer and some other overgrown bushes on the other side. Tsitsi and I set to work with the help of Mr G’s friend’s son. As Tsitsi got further into the conifer she realised that it was actually three trees disguised as one! My lopper that I bought for £14 went into retirement as the handle came off it. The most impressive tool was Mr G’s small saw which achieved so much and apparently was only £3! In an hour and a half we had completely cleared back the growth and now there was a huge mountain of cuttings in the middle of the garden. Mr G was so happy with the work. He told us his plans for paving some of the garden and adding a seating area, he also said that now the sun could shine on the whole garden so they could plant things in a wider area. Mrs G showed us the roses that she had bought at the market and planned to plant in the garden. She also encouraged us to smell the scented rose in the front garden, that was gorgeous. When we finished we were invited in for lunch. Mrs G had cooked a delicious and healthy vegetarian feast. The Palestinian dish mujaddara, made with lentils, bulgur wheat and caramelised onions and served with a tomato, chilli, garlic and ginger sauce. Mrs G explained that this is a popular Arab dish. It was incredibly delicious. I ate as much as my stomach would allow and then Mrs G packed up the rest for us in pots. She then served us pudding!! Roasted nuts in wheat baskets dribbled with syrup. They were so yummy. We chatted about food and language and learned a couple of Arabic words, we also discussed the football and how impressive some teams were. Mr & Mrs G were so generous, we came away with our hearts and bellies full 🥰