Return to May Road? Not for the Paint-hearted!

What a great night for Brighton Goodgym! We doubled down on the doing good and took on 2 tasks in Cllr David Gibson’s Hanover & Elm Grove ward.

But first we were excited to welcome some visitors from along the coast in the form of Portsmouth trainer Katie & her partner, fellow Portsmouth Goodgymer Tony who had decided to finish a day trip to Brighton with a bit of Goodgym tourism. We also welcomed Charlotte for her very first Goodgym experience and welcomed back Lucy, who was part of our epic, rainy launch night back in July 17 and had finally got tired of waiting for another Tuesday with biblical rain and decided to join us under less dramatic circumstances!

Newly qualified Goodgym run leader and 50 good deeder Michael led the small sub group of Sherman and Scarlett up the massive hill of Elm Grove for a return to May Road. Conditions were much improved since our last freezing January visit, and our intrepid trio did some great work on running all the way to the top without stopping and removing some unwanted ivy from a fence.

Meanwhile back at sea level the majority of the group were set to work on covering up some unsightly wall scribbling behind the Phoenix Art Gallery. And when I say ‘some’ I mean loads! This secluded back street in the town centre has clearly taken a battering from some totally artless spray can action, presumably from some kids who have just moved on from crayons, and local residents had decided enough was enough. They had already covered most of the offending scribbles with some white paint so our task tonight was to paint the top coat, some in off white and the back of the Phoenix centre in grey. With the help of some local residents and artists from Phoenix we painted at least 100 metres of wall in about 30 minutes and achieved a totally epic transformation!

Although I felt a bit bad about leaving the local residents with all the rollers and paint brushes to clean they assured us that they were so happy with what we achieved they really didn’t mind. So off we headed to the Level for a fitness session involving teams, cones, running, some exercises that might have been a bit complicated but you all did brilliantly at! Today you are slightly fitter than you were yesterday and the resident's of the area behind the Phoenix are enjoying their neighbourhood a lot more.

See you next week when we will be helping Tony in the garden at sheltered housing scheme Sloane Court. Over and out!