For the second week in a row, we had the pleasure of celebrating a GoodGym birthday – this time, a very happy birthday to Florian! 🥳

We've started a new tradition where the birthday person gets to choose the fitness session – so what did Florian go for? Legs? Arms? Conditioning? Nothing at all? You'll have to read on...

We enjoyed the beautiful early summer's evening as we headed down to the drawdock, where our job for the evening was to clear the area of the plastic and other rubbish that pollutes our waterways. These riverbanks can collect all sorts of debris, and cleaning them is crucial – it protects local wildlife, improves the water quality, and helps keep our city clean.

Armed with litter pickers courtesy of Active 360, we got to work – and it wasn’t long before the weird and not-so-wonderful bits and pieces started turning up. Amid the usual suspects (bottles, wrappers, and mystery items), we found a surprising number of old metal pieces. Chris – clearly the group's secret scaffolding expert – identified them as scaffolding fittings. But how they ended up in the river is anybody's guess.

We divided everything we found into recycling and non reclyclables and filled several bags with rubbish. Great work, team.

Then it was time to find out Florian’s birthday fitness choice... and the decision was... Tabata!

Three tough 2-minute rounds of high-intensity exercises, with 20 seconds of effort and 10 seconds of rest – we did half burpees, sumo squats, power lunges and more. Not even the stunning river views could distract us from the burn. But as always, we powered through it together.

After a run back to base and some much-needed stretches, the birthday evening was celebrated in the best possible way: at the pub, with Florian’s amazing air fryer cake.

Looking for a weekend challenge? We’ve got a massive session coming up this Saturday in Battersea and we need all the help we can get. It’s going to be a great task, followed by a well-deserved social – the perfect post-parkrun, pre weekend activity!

On a gloriously sunny spring evening, Team GoodGym Hounslow gathered to get active, do some good and also celebrate a special occasion – Tish’s birthday! 🎉 What better way to mark the day than with a good deed, some hard graft, and brutal core workout?

Our task last night took us to Chiswick Allotments, where we were back helping the brilliant team at Wild Chiswick – a local community organisation focused on boosting biodiversity in Chiswick. They work to protect and promote wildlife habitats, educate locals about urban nature, and create spaces where pollinators, birds, and all manner of creatures can thrive in an urban environment.

On a golden evening, we set to work on a variety of tasks. The raspberry cane bed was cleared with care, persistent weeds were dug up, and an overgrown area was tamed – though not without a disclaimer to the task owner that a few non-weeds might be collateral damage in our efforts. 🌱

Meanwhile, Georgia gave the thirsty rhubarb a proper soaking – working up a serious arm workout in the process – while Steph and Maxime undertook the massive task of filling a giant water butt one can at a time. An endurance event in its own right!

As we toiled away, we became aware we were being watched. Not just by the other plot holders but by a curious fox and her cubs. With the job done and tools down, we ran (and cycled) back to Turnham Green for Tish’s Birthday Core Blast. It involved a relentless series of core exercises that were sure to give us abs of iron.

A good stretch followed (with various levels of flexibility judging by the pics - I couldn't be any further away from my toes while most of you are reaching them with the ease of a professional gymnast!), and then a stroll to the pub where cake and celebrations awaited. Happy birthday, Tish – and well done, team!

If you fancy an hour or two on the eyot in the sun this weekend, there is another session weaving branches coming up on Saturday.

Helping runners in the Ranelagh Half take water for drinks and pouring it over heads in the very hot morning weather! Enjoyed seeing people in action, cheering on, getting the cup handover technique perfected and catching up with Pippa!

This week we welcomed back Liam from an incredible hiatus in Central America! But sadly we also said goodbye to Pippa, who has become such a big part of the GoodGym Brighton community recently but is heading back to London. I hope the London Goodgyms know how lucky they are to have her.

After some hellos by the statue we headed up to community kitchen- a favourite task of ours where we are always greeted by the ever organised owner. The task started with a brief impromptu rundown on the do's and don'ts of using induction hobs: no one with a pace maker is allowed with arms length of one, and don't drop salt on them - though many of us were dubious about this one!

We also found learned that the kitchen has recently had their funding stopped for their regular dementia cookery group, which had been providing valuable community and structure for people living with dementia. The team have been working hard to source extra funding from various places, and they also have a just giving page, in case anyone would like to support the initiative: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/dementia-food-project

We then divided up the list of tasks between everyone and set about cleaning windows, chairs, stools and cupboards, alongside tidying drawers of kitchen implements. The list seems to get bigger every time we were are there...but we always manage to get through. By the end of the night we were celebrating every task satisfyingly ticked off!

After the task we said our farewells to Pippa, who will hopefully be back for plenty of visits in the future, before all heading our separate ways.

On a personal note, tonight was my 250th good deed with Goodgym Brighton, and one of the best things has been all the lovely people I've met through GoodGym over the years. So whilst its always sad to say goodbye to people I feel very lucky to have had the chance to get to know them. So thanks for being such a lovely group of people to run with!