Four GoodGymers arrived at one of our regular tasks. Another of our favourites, where we can always see the difference our hour there makes. One ‘El of a difference, you could say.

Julia quickly made sure everyone knew what tasks they were on - El on wall painting, Belinda on notice board clearing, and John on general lugging, heaving and holding - before setting off to the other Worthing task taking place this evening.

ELementary my dear……

El was in her ELement, making an excELlent job of the painting, ELevating expectations beyond bELief. The vELocity at which she worked left us rELieved that despite being small in number we could still make one “EL of a difference!”

Heartless

No, not Belinda, the noticeboard. Belinda meticulously removed children’s coloured hearts from the notice board. The heart removal was a delicate operation, keeping them all in pristine condition for them to be rehung so they could flutter once more was achieved with a steady hand and a blunt blade. (Health and safety to the fore as always.)

But weren’t there three?

Ah yes, that would be me. Well, I lugged, heaved and held as instructed. Still finding time to lean against the wall, arms folded surveying the success of the others.

A final sELfie

And we were off home.

Hanging Up the Gardening Shoes

Our final visit of the year to the Beehive garden was a rather poignant one, as we said goodbye to a very special chapter in the GoodGym garden story.

When Margaret moved into the home several years ago, she took on the garden as a way of helping herself settle in after having to leave behind her own much-loved garden. Over the years, she has lovingly tended it, making it her own little patch of green — and we’ve been very lucky to be able to join her along the way.

But the time has now come for Margaret to hang up her gardening shoes and let someone else take the strain!

So, for our final task of the year, Paula and Barbara got stuck into the weeding and general tidying, while Margaret kept a watchful eye on proceedings and made sure standards didn’t slip!

And because we couldn’t possibly leave empty-handed, Paula and Barbara brought Margaret a lovely bouquet of flowers as a thank you for sharing her wonderful garden with us over the weeks, months and years.

It really does feel like the end of an era.

But hopefully not the end of GoodGym’s visits to the Beehive — and certainly not the end of our support for Margaret. We’ll just have to find new ways to keep her involved… preferably ones that require considerably less weeding!

Thank you, Margaret, for letting us be part of your garden story. ❤️

Another lovely autumn evening found us back at St Botolph’s Church Garden with our hosts, Val and Rik, who had a rather prickly job lined up for us.

The mission? Some serious pruning of the Laurel bushes along the perimeter of the church wall. They’d clearly been enjoying their freedom and were beginning to take over!

With El in charge of the photographic evidence, Barbara, John, Roxy and Ricky got stuck into the cutting, while I took on the glamorous role of wheelbarrow shuttle driver, ferrying load after load of leafy casualties over to the compost heap.

And finally, after what seems like a good few years of GoodGym intervention, we’re beginning to feel that we might actually be gaining control of this beautiful — but wonderfully wild — garden!

Slowly but surely, we’re getting it into shape… one bush at a time. Although judging by the amount of Laurel we removed tonight, the garden may have other ideas!

Another lovely autumn evening, great teamwork and plenty of fresh air.

Barbara and Roxy were back helping the lovely Margaret in her care home garden — and, as always, it was a delight to spend some time helping her get everything looking shipshape.

There was plenty to get stuck into. They carefully replanted some little strawberry plants — or, as Margaret might call them, the “strawberry babies” — from their pots and into their new homes.

They also did plenty of weeding, planted some new plants into the soil and prepared an area ready for some beetroot seeds. This involved clearing away some of the old bean plants and getting the soil nicely prepared for its next crop.

Another productive visit, with lots achieved and the garden looking better for it.

As always, it’s a real pleasure to help Margaret and spend time in her lovely garden.

Today we headed back to the allotment at the Turning Tides hostel, where our mission was to tackle the weeds and give the area a much-needed strim.

A huge thank you to John and Belinda, who kindly brought along their battery-operated power tools. This meant we could crack straight on without having to bother any of the residents to find somewhere to plug in!

It was particularly lovely to see Barry back for his second GoodGym task, proudly sporting his brand-new GoodGym red T-shirt! ❤️ And it was equally great to welcome Anne and El back too — it’s always brilliant to see familiar faces returning.

There was plenty of hard work happening across the allotment. John got stuck into some serious strimming, transforming the overgrown areas, while Anne and Belinda got busy re-digging the potato trenches ready for the next stage of growing.

Meanwhile, Barry, El and I concentrated on clearing the weeds and generally getting the beds back under control. El was particularly talented at finding a selection of children's toys ( possibly stolen by the playful foxes who live in the allotment )

There was a great team effort all round, and by the time we packed up, the whole area looked so much better for our visit. Another job well done by the GoodGym crew! 💪🌱❤️

When we arrived at the beach we were greeted by Jade ( the organiser ) with a big hug and a really warm welcome. Our first job was to unpack all the boxes of medals and get them ready for the finishers.

We were very fortunate that a family who were also taking part in the Family Mile later that day had arrived early to help with this task. With so many hands on deck we were ready in no time to greet every finisher with a medal and well- deserved cheer as they crossed the finish line. The most memorable ones were those running in tandem as a sausage dog or a dinosaur. Although visibly exhausted all runners thanked us and some even performed celebratory dances . It was great fun being there to welcome everyone and be part of such a positive atmosphere.