Oops… the World and his Wife descended very early on the beach today, so that us Goodgymmers combined with a few Bournemouth Ploggers decided to stay well clear of that crazy area. And yet there was still plenty enough to litterpick: a sink (?), a wrench (yay, for being useful to Harry) and two bicycle frames were among the unusual stuff. For the rest: yes, butts (!!!), cans, bottles, tissues, sweet wrappers…. The chine, the viewpoint, the car park and some surrounding roads were scoured by the nine of us. Plenty picked, lots sweated, so a cool drink and icecream in Keith and Lea’s garden was very welcome. Thank you everyone for turning up on this crazy “walk over the heads beach” day. I will try and be more careful when planning our next litterpick!!! Council has been informed of the flytipping pile, 🤞 they have time to remove it!

Four Goodgymmers, Roger, Keith, Lea and Sylvie, together with three Bournemouth Ploggers, Gemma, Katherine and Tom, got together to do another beach and surroundings litterpick. Armed with foldable (!) litterpicks, a wonky litterpick and “ordinary” litterpicks we set off, not before we got our gloves on and binbags ready. Keith’s first find was proof of a good party at the top of the chine: a canister with nitrous oxide… nope, not in the binbag, not in the bin, dutifully dropped off at the beach office. And the needle found in the car park: properly disposed of as well! Dangerous job, litterpicking!! Unfortunately no amazingly interesting finds this time, just the usual bottles and cans and, of course, again zillions of butts, making our designated “buttgrabber” Lea ecstatically happy… yeah duh!! Durley Chine being renowned for its deserted pooh bags did not live up to its reputation… i.e. we didn’t beat the still standing record of 24 poohbags. Agily Tom and Gemma climbed over fences to reach lower down places. Why of why people, do you throw your rubbish into bushes, down cliff sides etc. The “leave no footprints” message has obviously not reached everyone yet. But with seven of us going round, there was plenty litter collected, so that we could sit down for a well-earned cuppa afterwards. Thanks everyone for your hard work.

Three Goodgymmers, Roger, Keith and Lea, got their litterpickers out to see what they could find this time. Well, Lea being the designated “buttgrabber” lost count of the zillions of butts she had to pick up around all the benches. Keith and Roger scoured the path down to the beach from the top of the Tropical Gardens. Then on the beach itself… The recent rain and stormy weather had certainly washed up an abundance of nurdles, so at the end of our task the binbags weren’t overflowing but full of horrible tiny bits and pieces! And unfortunately there were no amazing finds, just ordinary boring rubbish, but at least it’s in the bin now and no longer on the beach! With binbags emptied in the big bin on the prom, and three litterpickers, including one wonky one, put to the side, we went off for a coffee! BTW the binbags are ready and waiting for next Saturday, hopefully there will be a few more of us?!?!

Could we have had a more glorious day to do our “cheeky little” litterpick? Four Goodgymmers, Roger, Keith, Lea and Sylvie, once she managed to find us, all joined efforts to get rid of rubbish. Surprise, surprise… in spite of the half term crowds having been and (nearly) gone, the litter wasn’t too bad. We still managed to pick up a fair bit though. And with two thank yous from the public, another Goodgym deed completed. And… the first one for Keith in his ‘100 tasks completed’ Goodgym shirt! Basking in the sunshine sipping our cups of coffee and tea, we are not complaining! No idea why the group photo was such a disaster 🤣🤣🤣

Yes, the Grockels had done it again: plenty of stuff to be litterpicked today. We had a new Goodgymmer join us: Alina! Then there were four more: James, Roger, Keith and Lea. The Durley Chine car park and the steps up and down got a good going over! On top of the cliff, around Cherry Tree Walk (not that many people know about its existence) and back down to Durley Chine Beach, enough rubbish to fill 6 bin bags. And one huge pile to be reported to the council. Unfortunately no amazingly interesting finds today, just lots of cans, cigarette butts, bottles and… rubbish! A few “thankyous” from passers by and a nice cup of tea (coffee, latte, decaf latte) afterwards and we are happy to have done our bit again. Alina assured us she would like to join us in other tasks, so a good Goodgymmer morning was had by all.

Three Goodgymmers, Daryl, Keith and Lea, got together at Vesuvios. Unfortunately they nearly got blown off the beach, with bin bags in high spirits almost getting torn out of their hands, so it was decided to go up the path to the car park. And yes, plenty to be found. High spirits for Daryl: his loot contained a 5 pound note and a bottle of “Love Island WKD”, though the latter was empty. Lea’s loot was a hundredth of Daryl’s: a shiny 5p piece. And not to forget the biggest find: “millions” of cigarette butts! Oh and the kiddie’s bike… unfortunately too far gone to be upcycled for Lea and Keith’s grandson. But the plastic rake will be added to the huge collection of beach toys already waiting for him. The rather rusty love lock led to the comment: hopefully that means these people are still together?! Lots of “thank you” and “you are doing a great job”… which is always very nice to hear. Mind you, Lea ended up having to politely react to a man thanking her who then launched into a tirade against the council, the government, the lgbts, the far rights, the immigration policy etc etc. (Yikes, man, I’m only litterpicking, you know!, was what she thought, not what she said.) With Keith studying the information at Spyglass Point even some interesting bits of history were divulged. Anyway, the world and his wife may descend on Bournemouth on hot days and leave the place a mess, but us, Goodgymmers, happily do our bit in high spirits in spite of very grey skies.