We kicked off GoodGym Mondays in style with 11 of us gathering at Splashpoint for a litter pick. The weather was kind to us, so under a clear sky we paired up and one group set off in the direction of the pier, the other headed off towards Windsor Lawns. Amongst today’s notable finds were a very new looking, single flip flop, a reflective ankle band which had looked remarkably like the inside of a role of sellotape as it went into the litter bag. When asked by someone cycling with their daughter Paul swiftly dropped his phone into the litter bag to give light for a rummage. After a successful search the reflective band was returned. Not sure it would have happened if the full nappy had already made its way into the bag.

It was great to welcome everyone back for the new year. It was especially good to welcome Megan to her first task, and Belinda back able to actively take part after her recent operations.

Please remember, that January Saturdays are parkrun support days. If you are able to help please sign up on both GoodGym and parkrun (email worthing@parkrun.com). It’s a great opportunity for us to share with parkrunners our love of GoodGym.

After next week’s task there may just be the opportunity for our first social of the year. Go on, you know you want to……

Julia's edit John is too modest to tell you all that he will have reached 300 tasks by next Monday 13th January so we will be at The Brew House after the task. All welcome whether you come to the task or just the celebration. We will be there from 7.15pm onwards.

As we do every year, GoodGym provided support for the first Worthing parkrun of the 2025. Assistance was provided with set up and take down, with Belinda directing proceedings from her chair.

*Waking the dead *

We returned to one of our favourite task venues at Heene Cemetery for our second summer visit. Sue had asked us to assist with some pruning and also some cutting up and bagging of previous pruning activities.

Special mention to Sarah and John who worked their socks off this week ( as we all know they always do 🤣) and who do enjoy special accreditations for their great work 😍

Ryan and Belinda also quietly cracked on shadowing Sarah and John's great work happily doing so without any external validation ( Ryan took a fair bit of banter in his strlde from John too !! )

*High Stakes *

Health and safety guru Craig returned to GG tonight on the promise of a pint afterwards 😀 🍺 Its just as well he did as Paul was up to his tricks up a ladder pruning a large tree ! Kevin, a new volunteer for the friends of Cemetery , stood steadfastly holding the ladder the whole time whilst Craig joined the climbing activities 🤣

Also working constantly hard was Gillybean Anne and Stephen It was great to have some amusing great chat surrounding lots of subjects including divorcing in your 60' s ( who gets the dog or cat ) and Steve and Natacha's GoodGym baby who will be with us within the next 8 weeks !

*All bagged up *

We filled 5 huge grabs which were dragged over to near the entrance of the cemetery to store tidily before disposal.

Cheers After the task we ditched the beach and went to the pub instead. We were joined by Sue ( chair of the cemetery) and John ( Paul's husband)

What a great evening 🤩

Next week, because of bank holiday , the task is on Wednesday at Worthing Leisure Centre garden. Hope to see you there 👍

Julia xx

*Sunshine at last ! *

It was a wonderful evening for a visit to Turning Tides Victoria Road hostel. Some walked, some ran and one arrived as a complete surprise to us all ! It was so good to see Beth back in Worthing for her first GoodGym in 2 years ! Lets hope we see some more of this little pocket rocket in the borough again soon.

Also surprising us with her presence was our very own social secretary Tamsin - so good to see you and thank you for your continuing hard work in and outside of tasks :)

It was also good to see Sue Anne and Craig back again tonight after a few weeks break -the warm sunshine definitely brought out the crowds this evening.

We were tasked with putting together garden furniture together with a tidy up of the garden and breaking down alot of cardboard ready for recycling. Sarahand Anne jumped on the chance for some self assembly of the bench and were also joined by John in a supervisory role! Paul Tamsin and Craig assembled the table ( despite lack of tools! )

RoxyGillybean, Daisy and Sue worked tirelessly all evening sorting the wilderness around the borders and rediscovering the raised bed that had been completely obscured by tall weed like bushes.

Meanwhile Belinda and Beth were busily breaking down boxes and sorting between recycling and general rubbish - they somehow found space in bins !

Great job done everybody :) See you next week.

Julia xx

*Social walk *

Thanks to a weather front bringing air from the Arctic it certainly didn't feel like a late April evening ! Although lovely and light and luckily not windy, there was certainly a chill in the air!

We all convened and went straight out armed with litter pickers and bags. We headed west along the prom picking up stray litter as we went before arriving on the beach at the far end of the lido. With the tide out this meant that we could get under the structure of the Lido and then the pier to do a scavenger hunt for rubbish that had been dropped together with other debris that accumulates along or shore line.

With the team partnering up then mixing up it provided a perfect opportunity to have a lovely relaxed walk and enjoy social chit chat and banter with each other.

Sue had just returned from her travels and it was lovely to catch up on her news together with her Jurrassic walk and Kilimanjaro climb that are both fast approaching! She is under the watchful eye of coach Barbara !

It was also good to hear all about Ricky running and work progress together with his race plans. ! Good luck Ricky!

Sarah pulled a practical joke on her partner Ryan when she found a discarded parking ticket and planted it on Ryan's car before photographing it and presenting it to him. The phrase 'Gotcha' springs to mind when I saw his face ! Luckily Sarah fessed up just as Ryan headed off to do battle with the traffic warden! Craig was much kinder presenting Sarah with a rose instead !

After the beach we headed through the gardens to our finish line. With some light hearted competitiveness in the group led by Daisy and after careful consideration of the weight and size of each bag, I announced that John and Ryan had won Daisy's competition!

On our return to the start point we played a new game of GG inspired hoopla with a cone and the litter picker rings which had held the bags in place. Thanks Paulfor helping to pick up the rings whilst I was photographing ! Ryan was victorious in this 👏👏👏 . Very well deserved especially after the shock of the phony parking ticket just a few minutes earlier !

Lovely evening ! Thanks everyone 😀

Sunday rewind

It had been a very successful Brighton half marathon for 5 of our group. Sue W, Sue A, Ricky ( who got a PB) Paul and John all did brilliantly battling a vicious easterly wind in the the last 5 k of the course. Massive kudos to Belinda and John too who were the intrepid supporters and who stood in the freezing weather watching and photographing everyone before getting soaked in the torrential wind and rain getting home afterwards.

Monday fun day

Luckily the weather had calmed down by Monday evening for our visit to Heene Community Centre gardens where we have a bit of a winter project on the go!

It was a surprise to welcome Nick back to GG. Nick had achieved some fantastic results the day before with 2 gold medals and 1 bronze in his regional ballroom and latin dance competition. With the attraction of spending quality time with his wonderful wife together with the idea of a social and food afterwards, it meant he turned up with a garden fork and spade in hand, ready for some digging!

John and Paul also fell in with the digging crew whilst Belinda arrived for some more photographic duties whilst her poorly thumb gets better.

It was all going smoothly with some great progress until Nick got obsessed with a stubborn root that he refused to leave and 'cover it over' as i requested ( quite a number of times,) Even Paulagreed with me but no, clearly I'm not th boss at home or on a GG task!

Craig to the rescue but then I realised he was just as stubborn as the flippin' tree root ( and Nick!) Whilst the focus was on this root, Paul, John and myself were just getting on with the original brief of the task. We did a great job digging, weeding and carefully replanting any valuable plants that we could rescue whilst the other two continued with their own agenda !

Job done

Thank goodness Craig and Nick finally got that root out! Belinda recorded everything and then we went to the pub for drinks and 50% off food ! Happy days !

See you all next week for ( hopefully ) the final chapter of the Heene rooms

Have a great week !

Julia xx