Making a Final Push in Church Community Garden Transformation

After many months of dedication, persistence, and muddy boots, the GoodGym Worthing team returned once again to the Church Community Rooms garden — a space we’ve been battling with for quite some time. The weeds nearly won on more than one occasion, but our team’s resilience and determination proved stronger. Through every season and in all types of weather, we’ve shown up to transform this once-overgrown patch into a usable and welcoming garden space.

Finishing Touches With Val and Rik

This evening’s task saw us helping our longtime community partners, Val and Rik, with the final touches. On our last visit, we had begun the groundwork for laying membrane under paving slabs — a key step in reclaiming the garden from the weeds. Today’s mission was to complete that task and edge the slabs with recycled bricks for a neat and finished look.

A Team Effort

John, Ryan, and Craigrolled up their sleeves and tackled the heavy-duty job of positioning and bedding in the final slabs. Working with precision, they ensured the black membrane was neatly in place before setting each slab down securely.

Meanwhile, the precision team — Sarah, Gillybean and Megan took on the meticulous challenge of laying the recycled bricks along the edge of the path. This wasn’t a task for the just anyone ! Each brick took about five minutes to dig in and position perfectly, and their attention to detail made all the difference ( even if Sarah did keep shoving soil into where I was digging ! 😂

Ricky and I were on some solid groundwork, digging out and preparing the final areas with spades before the precision team moved in to finish the job.

Whilst all this was happening Belinda Belinda was a whirlwind of efficiency, busily weeding and hoeing the entire garden area with energy and flair. Her efforts gave the space an instant lift and left it looking tidy and well maintained. Craig also helped by transferring over from the slabs and raking over the freshly hoed area.

With some final massive slab action from John , Ryan and Craig together with Gills finishing touch of sweeping the slabs we called it an evening.

A Victory Over the Weeds

What once seemed like an overwhelming and never-ending battle with weeds has been transformed into a meaningful and beautiful community space. It’s been a long journey, but one defined by teamwork, consistency, and a shared belief in making a difference.

A huge well done to all involved — tonight and over the many months that came before. The garden stands as a testament to what can be achieved when good people turn up, again and again, rain or shine.

Heene Community Gardens has been a long-term project for Worthing GoodGym – and tonight, we hit another major milestone in this journey .Over the past couple of years, we've fought the battle against weeds, uneven ground, and wild overgrowth... and it finally feels like we're winning!

We were warmly greeted this evening by Rik and Val, the tireless volunteers from St Botolph’s Church who have supported the garden’s development from the very beginning. Val’s long-held vision for the garden was visibly closer to reality tonight – and she couldn’t have been more grateful

The evening's mission was to lay paving stones along the garden path leading to the notice board, on top of a weed-suppressing black membrane. A precise, physical task – but nothing this team couldn’t handle.

Paul , John and Rickygot straight to work preparing the ground, as best they could , ensuring it was as level and firm as possible before the slabs went down.

They were soon joined by El and Roxy who set about weeding and tidying.

In just one hour, the transformation was complete: a smart, clean path guiding visitors to the notice board, with surrounding areas freshly weeded and looking their best.

Val was delighted. We were proud. The garden is starting to become the beautiful, welcoming community space she always imagined.

👏 Huge well done to Paul, John, Ricky, El, and Roxy – each of you brought something different tonight, and together it made a real impact.

Thank you all :)

Julia xx