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!

Three Goodgymmers , Roger, Keith and Lea, got together with Nick from Diverse Abilities to move wood from one shed to another shed… A short task so we could start on the next one: removing hemlock, which is poisonous, from the Forest School Garden. We also attacked brambles and stingy nettles. Unfortunately the stingy nettles attacked back, ouch!!! After a water break we finished by watering the garden and removing weeds from the swing area. BTW Nick was pointing out lots more jobs he has in mind for us. Hopefully the turnout will be a bit better next time.

It was time once again for GoodGym’s monthly quiz night at Abbeyfield Wessex—and what a fantastic evening it was! Janet and Keith joined our favourite ladies, The Loose Women. A big warm welcome also goes to Tony, a new resident at Abbeyfield, and to Lea and Daryl, who joined forces with Team The Winners. Caprice stepped up as quizmaster for the evening, and she didn’t go easy on the teams! The quiz featured four lively rounds. We kicked things off with a tasty challenge: Name That Chocolatey British Biscuit. Next came an egg-themed round that cracked a few smiles. Then Caprice really turned up the heat with a round of eight tricky puzzles that had everyone scratching their heads. The night wrapped up with a good old-fashioned general knowledge round. Both teams were brilliant, and it was a tight contest! The Loose Women scored a very respectable 27 points, but it was The Winners who lived up to their name, finishing with an impressive 31 points. It was another great evening filled with fun, laughter, and lovely company. The GoodGymers will be back on Monday, 2nd July, for more quiz-filled fun—this time with Daryl stepping in as quizmaster. We hope to see you there!

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?!?!

Janet, Keith and Lea joined David in the Jubilee Garden of St Aldhelm’s Church. The task at hand: ivy pulling… a notoriously back breaking task. And today was definitely no exception, judging by some of the moans and groans that were emitting from some of us Goodgymmers🤔😃. As to interesting finds in the garden: enough cans and bottles to have a garden party, unfortunately they were rather empty. 🥴The Ray Ban lookalike sunglasses were unfortunately rather useless as well… no arms🤪! But Goodgymmers certainly aren’t useless: David was very grateful for the hard work we put in tonight! And the little robin, can you spot him?, that came and inspected our work seemed happy with our work as well….