But the recent rain and occasional sunshine meant we faced more of the same. We got stuck into clearing weeds, hacking back overgrowth and neatening up the edges. We certainly left Anchor Gardens a tidier place than we found it.

It was pleasant to be out in the sun with plenty of chat and banter. Much of it revolved around the successful Worthing Runfest this weekend which involved most of our regular GoodGym team either volunteering or running. Also mentioned was Belinda’s special relationship with Rishi after her recent close encounter with him in the garden of number 10.

Behind the scenes competitiveness took an unexpected turn today. The moment Sarah heard about Daisy’s fondness for snails she just had to go one better by relocating a homeless snail to a better place (well, she took a slug home clinging tightly to her leg - same thing really!)

Monday fun day

What a great turn out we had on a crystal clear star lit sky. Anne led the running group withSarah and Paul I led the walking group with Ryan,Daisy,John and Barbara. Special mention to Barbara who has returned after a horrible six weeks of injury and nasty illness - it was great to have you back!

Star Gazing

John and Barbara forged ahead walking whilst the runners caught up the remainder of us and paused to do some star gazing whilst en route to the task.

Anchoring Down

We arrived at our regular task - Anchor Gardens with 1 mission, to have a really good tidy up and litter pick of this prominent seafront garden that is so visible to all that walk past along the seafront and also the road alongside it.

Sarah and John set about doing the litter pick, entertaining themselves with a ' name the chocolate bar ' game whilst the rest of the team bagged up all the debris that we had cut down last time and which was still sitting in the big white grab bags looking an eyesore. This was all sorted with some lovely mulching compost re distributed over the beds too.

We have some nice events to look forward to with a drink food on Monday 26th after GG at the Railway Inn plus a plan in the pipeline for a downs run and roast later in March. More details to follow! Have a great week.

Hunkering down

It was good to be back at our regular meeting point tonight and it was especially nice that it wasn't raining! With a clear evening promised it was no surprise that Sarah, who doesnt step foot out of the door if there is a chance of rain, came along. There was a worrying few minutes on the run to the task when it started drizzling but luckily it was short lived.

Joining Sarah we welcomed her partner Ryan and top fan, John together with Daisy, Anne and Rosalind.

Tonights task was at Anchor Gardens situated on the seafront close to our meeting point. As it was such a lovely evening we took a detour to walk/ run around our stunning pier. Daisy, Sarah and Ros set off on a run whilst the other 4 of us took a chatty walk option instead. The run seemed to take on a social aspect too with Anne and I wondering if they had taken an additional detour to a cafe!

We all linked up and arrived at the task and with the help of our wonderful GG lights plus head torches we assessed what needed doing. The garden could do with a lot of TLC and although we made good progress with the weeding, pruning and tidying, there is still much more that needs doing so we will not be short of tasks this winter!

The Worthing calendar is now up to date until January including socials so get yourself signed up to as many as possible and lets have some fun!

Keep going with the press up challenge - not long now !!

See you next week

Julia xx

On a beautiful Monday, the first one in April we lucked out with the weather, and a small but very enthusiastic team met up to do some good.

Tonight we headed to our regular seafront project, Anchor Gardens, to give a hand with the maintenance of this pretty community area.

With Mr R struck down with the dreaded covid, Mrs R Belinda was able to give us a health update on our favourite GoodGymer- Wishing you and also all the other GG team struck down after the recent super spreader party !

Craig and Sue headed off for an extended run around the pier whilst Paul Belinda and I walked around the pier in crstal blue weather and met up with Ricky and Gillybean at the task.

Sue and Belinda teamed up and went on a litter pack along the lawns and were lucky enough to see the work of a budding young videographer who was doing a project about Worthing. Would be lovely to track that young man down and share his work.

Gill was submerged in the middle of the garden doing some ( yes you guessed it ) fine pruning! - I had to go looking for her to get the photo but photogenic Gill never disappoints :)

The boys in the shape of Ricky, Paul and Craig did some fantastic work clearing and bagging. Although not quite the 30 bags that Craig predicted we may need we filled up a fair few ready for recycling collection the following day.

Another week done - where do the days go.

Happy Easter one and all - enjoy the glorious sunshine in our beautiful borough :)

See you next week

Julia xx

For someone who I initially thought had been kidnapped into good gym when I started 😉that is pretty amazing John. Congratulations brilliant well done 👏 200🎉

I think this message, written by our very own Paula, sums up perfectly the vibe of the group in celebration of John 200th good deed.

Previously a reluctant participant and now, I think its fair to say, a convert to the group, John has worked tirelessly since his first task in January 2019 to not only do good but also support the group with both his moral support and crafting skills. Since 2019, Mr R has swapped the 5pm beer o'clock for putting on his run shoes and heading out to do good stuff in the community ( followed by beer! ) 200 tasks and 815 workouts later and the night arrived for his milestone event. Like buses these milestones seem to run in three's. With Ricky's 100th last week and Duncan's 200th last week it was very timely to support another great turn out on a cold dark January evening.

We met at our official meeting point at Splash Point Leisure Centre and quickly decided who was running and who was walking to the task. Sue Sarah and I headed off for a gorgeous run around the pier whilst the man of the moment strode off armed with a bag of home made cakes with his gang, Mrs R ( Belinda) Barbara and Ricky for an extended walk to the task.

On arrival we were joined by Gillybean Craig and Jay who had run over from Brighton !!

Despite being chilly we were so grateful that it had stopped being windy and rainy and it proved to be a very happy evening with plenty of the usual banter that is so characteristic of our group. Tonight it was all about Sarah and John with her alluding to this task being his 199th followed by his 199.5th before finally eating cake in celebration of his 200th!

With a lot of pruning tonight the team made a great inroad into tidying up this seafront community garden. There is a lot more work to be done here so we will return!

Next Monday the task is just along the road at the Fisherman's Garden. Meet at SPLC at 6pm.

Have a great week and don't forget we are still in the January challenge so every good deed and task counts! Remember to upload all your km's to strava and try and get to as many tasks as you can. Don't forget you can also upload a good deed of your own too.

Next Sunday 22nd Jan - Meet for a beach clean opposite the rowing club at 09:45 Bring gloves and wrap up warm!

Have a great week

Julia x

Weather update !

After the rain came the icy blast ! but thankfully it wasn't so bad for our task tonight as it is now, as I write this ( extremely late ) report.

Interesting Observation

Despite travelling heavy with a luminous 'go' jacket which has everything one could possibly need for a few days away, including an umbrella (but not a toothbrush) Sarah had not signed up to the task in advance of meeting up. This is entirely due to weather forecast ! With this in mind, imagine her horror when, having ventured out at the last possible minute to meet us, as well as closely checking on the weather, we headed out of Splashpoint Leisure Centre into some damp drizzle in the air. Her face was a picture ! I wish i had taken a photo of it !

Anchors away

Ricky led the way for the run to our task for this evening at Anchor Gardens just west of our meeting point.

On arrival we hunkered down into the task. thank goodness for Uncle Ivo's lights that he kindly purchased for us BC! We embarked on a tidy up of these seafront community gardens.

Gillybean, Rosalind, Sue,John, Craig ( AKA Gregg), Ricky and, surpise surpise, it was lovely that Steve who came along too, all threw themselves into weeding, digging and pruning whilst I was the bagger !

Ros, Sarah and Craig opted for fitness drills whilst the rest of the team continued gardening. The highlight was Tamsin's spin the wheel December challenge. Todays spin instructed 20 burpees but, just for fun, and amidst confusion on the exact number, I increased the number to 30! The lucky 3 also enjoyed a plethora of other functional bodyweight exercises and sprints too.

Photos done, tools and lights away and we all disappeared in different direction.

Next week is the last one before the Christmas break. Meeting at Worthing Leisure Centre and wrapped up with as many layers as you can muster onto your body. Afterwards its drinks to say a sad 'A bientot' to Ros. More details on the venue to follow.

Apologies for the greatness of the lateness of this report. ' Tis officially the crazy season.....

Much GG love

Julia xxx