On a cold and dark Tuesday evening 6 hardy GoodGym friends ran from the Peace Statue on the seafront to Palmeria Square. After establishing that the police officer arguing with some 'louts' was being filmed and we didn't need to intervene, we met with our host Stuart and wandered up to the Floral Clock. To note is that Stuart’s sensible doggy friend decided to stay indoors in the warm rather than joining us to work outdoor 😊! We spent a good hour raking and sweeping and gathering up leaves that had started to overtake the pavement, making it slippery for the locals and visitors. As always, Stuart got fully involved, and we filled up a large number of large garden rubbish bags with wet leaves and general mud and mush.

We managed to clear almost all the way round the small area and the only thing that stopped the mission being fully completed was that we used all the rubbish bags! And, really, the cold started to get into our bones. So, we all agreed that it was just the right time to jog back home to a warm cuppa and dinner!

We managed to clear the worst areas of the leaves, making the area once again pretty and safe.

Are you feeling single, lonely and a little miserable on Valentine's day? Then why not feel just single and a lot less miserable and come to GoodGym!

Roses are Red Violets are Blue On Valentine's day, Brighton Goodgym did a good deed What did you do?

Now to the serious bit, 9 of us decided that today is the celebration of Love...love to our community!

So we showed up at Palmeira Square (the floral clock) and were greeted by Stuart from the Palmeira and Adelaide Garden Fun . We started the task of swiping leaves and getting the square ready for spring time. In less than an hour, we managed to swipe, clean and collect more than 12 full bags of leaves and twigs. And that is the GOOD part.

After finishing the task, Helena led a great fitness session that managed to burn around 300 calories from each participant! That is the GYM part in GOODGYM if you were ever wondering.

The ever-so-diligent Brighton's Goodgym Social Secretary, the one and only Michelle, booked us a table at The Brunswick Pub to continue celebrating our love to our community...with a pint ! What a great evening for all :)

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope," Dr. Maya Angelou

Happy Valentine's Everyone <3

This week we meet on the sea front to mingle amongst those having a nice day by the sea, and a camera crew filming some sort of ice cream eating challenge! Despite Rebecca and Angela attempts to join in the ice cream challenge, we headed to Palmeria Square to meet resident Stuart who had a specific job for us to do.

Due to antisocial behaviour in the common areas there has been a lot of broken glass which has bothered residents, their families and furry friends a like. Armed with brooms, litter pickers, spades and dustpan and brushes we combed the top part of the park to clear as much glass and litter as possible, making it a safer space.

Many residents came to say hello, with Mark being quite the local celebrity!

We stayed in the park to compete our fitness session, where we concentrated on our balance to improve our form and reaction to uneven ground. Check out our wonky poses!

If you'd like to have a go please check out the session here

Fitness done we all ran back home bathed in golden hour sunlight!

Preparations across the land are in full swing for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and Hove is no exception.

Palmiera Square are having a Big Lunch event to celebrate this historic occasion, including live music, kids play areas and a whole lot more. And of course local residents are keen for the square to be looking its best.

So tonight after a balmy day with thundery rain threatening we did our best to sweep up as many leaves and elm samaras as the strong wind would allow.

Resident Stuart’s dog Scampi entertained by chasing the leaves as we swept them.

We ended the evening with a pairs fitness session, with one holding a position whilst the other worked e.g squat.hold/ squats, boat hold/sit ups etc. and just as we were finishing the skies opened the rain came down and I legged it round the corner back to my flat!

Hope you all didn’t get too wet on the way home!

What a perfect evening for Goodgym, cold but crisp and still and although a bit cloudy the light of a full moon added to the atmosphere. And it was great to welcome back Abi, Davidand Tabithawho have all missed the past few months due to dodgy knees, backs and hearts!

Our task was to help Stuart from the Palmeira & Adelaide Garden Fund group keep on top of all the work that needs doing in these lovely and well used squares. Council cuts means that there just isn’t the people power to do all the work, and groups like this really make a huge difference in keeping our open spaces tidy.

Our efforts tonight focussed on the northern most part of the square (oval?!) around the floral clock I discovered that the clock was installed to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II so it’s not surprising that it no longer works!

We scraped all the grass that had spread from the side it should be to the side it shouldn’t, sweeping followed scraping, shovelling and bagging followed sweeping and in about 45 minutes the job was done. Lots of passers by thanked us for our efforts, it’s always good to know that we are appreciated.

A quick fitness session of lunge variations followed before we went our separate ways into the night.

Who knew planting bulbs was such hard work?!

Palmeira & Adelaide Garden fund (PAG) recruited us to plant a 25kg bag of daffodil bulbs (approx 700) and selected a sloping, grassy bank for us to plant them. The first task was loosening the ground with forks, then digging out a 15cm trench, then packing in the bulbs ensuring they are all the right way up and then covering them back up, firming the ground to keep the squirrels from digging them up! It sounds easy but working on a slope with ground that hadn’t been disturbed for decades was tough going! Well it certainly looked that way, I was just holding the lights!

We managed to plant about half the bag and I am very much looking forward to seeing the fruits of our labour in the spring.

Task complete we all headed off to the seafront for a fitness session, well all apart from David who left early to celebrate his birthday (before I remembered to ask him if he wanted to write the run report!) Happy Brithday for tomorrow David and enjoy your week off from report writing!) My favourite exercise from the fitness session was the quick pivot catch which I got from this guy on insta who is very creative at coming up with new ways of moving. We used our gardening gloves and well done to Nancy who took a while to get the hang of it but once she got it was on a roll with 5 in a row. Can you beat it?!