Bank to Bed for a Good Night's Sweep

Now that’s what I call a great Goodgym task!

Tonight we headed back to the Brighthelm Centre, where it all began in July 2017. Back then the heavens opened and we all got soaked to the skin as we layed the wood chip path in the nursery garden. Tonight we had perfect weather and this time any soaking was from the sweat of some good hard labour!

The Brighthelm community centre is set in a city centre garden that is maintained by an amazing team of volunteers. They do a wonderful job in challenging circumstances as the garden takes a lot of footfall and is used by a variety of people not all of whom have behaviour that is social!! Occasionally they have a task that needs an injection of hard and fast labour and that’s when they call Goodgym!

Tonight’s task was twofold. Half the group worked on taking the top layer of turf off a steep bank that will eventually be seeded with wildflowers. There was quite a technique to this, cutting the turf into squares and sliding the spade underneath to remove just the top layer of turf. This was deposited in a bucket and then taken to fill a newly built raised bed. We were even joined by a family passing by who were on a day trip to Brighton and decided to spend their last half hour waiting for the train home digging with us instead of going to the pub! Good choice! The rest of the group were shovelling top soil and compost into wheelbarrows and this formed the top layer of soil on the same raised bed. There is a community composting scheme in the garden so if you would like to compost your veg peelings, paper and cardboard then get in touch with Brighton and Hove Food Partnership

We all worked so hard on this physical task that we decided to forgo a fitness session to get even more done. To be honest any fitness session I came up with would not have been as effective or functional as the work you were all doing. Shovelling, lifting, digging, carrying and sweeping are all fantastic ways to get moving and build great functional fitness.

The team of volunteers were delighted with what we achieved and I can’t wait to walk through the garden later in the year and see the vegetables growing in the raised bed and the wildflowers growing on the banks and feel proud that we were part of making it happen!

Next week we are back to Sloane Court and it’s our monthly social next week so look forward to seeing you all then.

Keep on Running!