Helping Margaret out is always a pleasure and she was in good spirits tonight sharing with Barbara that she didn't learn to ski until she was 60 !

This evening was a mixture of weeding , pruning and tidying.

What a fantastic character Margaret is 😍

Ahhh… at last, salvation descends from the sky — not as rain (we’ve given up hoping for that), but in the form of our favourite two‑legged water‑wielders. We felt you approaching long before you arrived. The ground trembled gently, the sun glinted off the watering can, and every stem in the bed perked up like, “Everyone behave, the GoodGym crew is here.”

We’ve been parched, you know. The hot weather has been relentless. Some of us were starting to whisper dramatic things like, “Tell my story… remember me fondly…” but thankfully your arrival stopped all that nonsense.

The first splash hit the soil and—oh!—the relief. Pure bliss. A cool drink trickling down to our roots, the kind that makes leaves unfurl and petals sit up straighter. You moved along the bed with purpose, giving each of us a moment of attention. Even the shy ones at the back got a generous soak. We noticed.

Some of us are drama queens (looking at you, marigolds), and immediately started showing off, standing taller as if to say, “Look how hydrated I am now.” Others took their refreshment quietly, letting the water seep in with a grateful sigh.

We chatted among ourselves after you left:

“Did you see how carefully they watered around my base?”

“I got two pours, I’m basically royalty.”

“I think I might grow an extra leaf out of sheer gratitude.”

Thanks to you, we’re ready to face another warm day, another blazing afternoon, another curious dog sniffing around. You’ve kept us in good shape, and we’ll do our best to look vibrant, cheerful, and worthy of your efforts.

So from all of us — the blossoms, the stems, the leaves, the roots, and even the tiny seedlings who are still figuring out which way is up — thank you for wielding the watering can like the hero you are.

Come back anytime. We’ll be here, growing, glowing, and waiting for our next refreshing visit. 🌱💧

What a lovely way to spend a warm June summer's evening! ☀️🌱

This evening's GoodGym task took us to a local homeless hostel, where residents have created a fantastic allotment. Its work in progress but there are already courgettes and other vegetables growing.

Our team of El (official photographer 📸), Ricky (lead walker and tonight's outstanding pun-dit 😂), Gill, Belinda, John, Charlie and myself, Julia, got stuck straight into digging over beds and raking the debris onto the makeshift compost heap.

We were also joined by a very special guest – Mr Fox 🦊 – who kept a curious eye on us from a safe distance throughout the evening.

As always, there was plenty of laughter, great conversation and teamwork. What a wonderful bunch of people to spend an evening with!

A huge congratulations and thank you to El, who has now become a Task Force member! 🎉 Not only that, but she also went the extra mile by watering the seafront flower bed after tonight's task. Thank you, El! 🌻👏

A real feel-good task, helping to keep a community garden thriving for the people who enjoy and benefit from it. Roll on next week! 💚

On the last Sunday of last month a team of volunteers gathered bright and early for another successful beach clean . There were so many of us that the organisers ran out of pickers so me and Zuzanna had to share one .

Armed with litter pickers, bags, and varying levels of caffeine, the group spread out along the shoreline in pursuit of everything from plastic bottles to mysterious objects (we think it was a head of a shark but we will let you decide). It was quite breezy leaving us with some wind-induced hairstyle change by the time we finished.

Among the 'treasures' collected were drink bottles, food wrappers, fishing debris, and enough plastic fragments to remind us why these events matter. We were really grateful that the coffee shop which organised the beach clean offered every volunteer a hot drink to keep us fuelled. By the end of the session the beach looked noticeably better proving that many hands really do make light work.

Four GoodGymers set off for what has become one of our favourite regular tasks. All day we’d been wondering. Will we be in, will we be out, we’ll have to wait and see….(anyone other than me just been assaulted by an earworm and a yearning for chips?)

Today it was not to be

Three arrived, to see an empty carpark. We’ve never arrived here to an empty car park. We headed to the school door, excitement slightly abated, and relief flooded through us. There was someone there. The relief was brief. It was two teachers about to leave and lock up the premises. We’d had a date, we’d been stood up!

Three became four as Ricky steamed around the corner and beyond, turning his head enough to shout, “I haven’t finished my run yet”.

We get knocked down, we get back up again

So what do you do when you’ve been stood up? Go home? Not us! Not with Ricky wisely reminding us that we have two seafront flower beds that would benefit from some attention.

The recent weather, though not what we want at this time of year, has helped the new plants to root. But the beds always need attention to keep them in good condition. The spent poppies were removed, and a general tidy done. And then, the hunt was on….

The scarlet watering can

We seek it here, we seek it there, we know the watering can is somewhere here. Throughout the summer those beds are thirsty. Experience has told us that expecting passing GoodGymers to handily have a water tight receptacle to keep the beds sated, is something of a pipe dream. This year Julia has secreted a watering can near the beds. And secreted it was! Just as we were about to give up the search Gill delved further into the undergrowth and with ankles barely showing gave the welcome cry of “I’ve found it”.

We were able to thoroughly water both beds. It’s a small, but important task. Worthing’s seafront is such a key thing for the community. Supporting the efforts to maintain the seafront is supporting the heart of our community.

Always reason to cheer

As a group, Worthing GoodGym likes to celebrate. When we come together we enjoy celebrating a multitude of notable events. Sharing the love, and the cake. We are already laying the foundations for our next celebration. The birth of a future GoodGymer (congratulations Sarah and Ryan), and today Ricky reached 200 Good Deeds.

One El of a bonus

While tidying away ready to leave El came across to say hi. She didn’t GoodGym today because it was “date night”. She hadn’t been stood up!

Many thanks to John for leading the task and writing the report 😇

With Julia on her holidays , it was down to Mr R to leas the task and write the report so her it is !

Four GoodGymers were back at one of our favourite good weather tasks today. For a large part of the day, it looked like the weather might be against us, but the clouds moved on, and the warmth of the evening sun accompanied us during the task.

Weed ‘i’d alright

Rik greeted us with an apology (see Julia’s report from last week) and the news that parishioners had noticed a real difference along the wall of the church we had worked on last week. Whenever we come here, we can always see the difference we make; it’s great to get feedback that the work we do is noticed and appreciated.

Weed been here before

Today’s task was to clear the weeds around the front and side of the old air raid shelter. It’s a task we’ve tackled on many occasions, but nature will have its way. Ricky tackled the side wall where the brambles had chosen not to cling to the wire we had attached to encourage them to reach skywards. Charlie, Anne, and John tackled the front. Did we make a difference? Yes, we did! It was great to wind up our efforts just as Anne brushed clean the path that GoodGym had laid many tasks ago!

From Julia

Thank you all and John for helping me tonight !