On an evening that offered a blustery and overcast reprieve from the recent heatwave, the Brighton GoodGym gang again dialled up the kms to advance on one of Brighton's most celebrated woodland spaces Stanmer Park to offer assistance at a true hidden gem (including in that some have got lost finding it), the Centre for Ecotherapy.

Tonight's task menu offered two contrasting assignments. One group was allocated to clearing a clearing by hacking back buddleia (which can grow invasively fast), using hand saw and bare hands to expand a space large enough for a breathwork and art therapy tent to be pitched. The other contingent was assigned to weeding and laying down woodchips around a pond in an idyllic glade, bringing wheelbarrow loads from a nearby area with huge rolling mounds of woodchip, using eagle-eyed sifting to avoid damp, mouldy or green chips.

Afterwards the team rested on tree stumps under the Centre's shelter, built in 2016 with 8 wooden pillars and a reciprocal roof, a type of roof where interlinking bits of wood support each other to keep it standing, an apt visual metaphor for the power of teamwork. Liz, manager at the Centre for Ecotherapy, offered rewards to the group by way of chickpea stew and raita, chocolate cake and herbal tea using a trusty old Kelly Kettle, telling a tale of how at her auntie's 90th they had a four-way Kelly Kettle race to see whose would boil first (and one can only imagine the accompanying sports commentary).

Liz also relayed how the Centre for Ecotherapy aims to help vulnerable people in the local community, where they receive many referrals from health practitioners, for nature-based and horticultural therapies, meditation and practical activities. They also have an organic allotment garden and an "organic wilderness" area. While many find sanctuary at the centre (one moving testimonial on the website simply says "I felt alive today"), Liz explained that they are very reliant on donations and volunteering for support.

Liz invited GoodGym Brighton to return on 26th July to the Stanmer Organics Open Day which also coincides with the Maverick East Sussex trail races being held at Stanmer, an event already on the GoodGym running radar, so an imminent return to the woods is very much on.

“BUY - FIX - RIDE - DONATE YOUR BIKE” is the strapline of Brighton Bike Hub, a volunteer-led community bike workshop open five days a week for anyone to drop in and get help repairing their bike. Their mission is reducing wastage of abandoned bikes and enabling members of the community to access affordable cycling.

“RUN - FIX – RIDE”😊 is what 10 Brighton GoodGymers did yesterday at our group session at the Brighton Bike Hub. We ran and cycled to the Bike Hub East workshop in the Big Lemon bus yard, not open to the public, where there is a mountain of bikes needing lots of TLC. Paired for mechanical action, our task was dismantling old and rusty bikes and recover all the good parts that can be used to refurbish other bikes and make them suitable for riding. The hub offers to help people fix, maintain and get their bikes back on the road for free. Euan was tempted to donate his bike but then convinced to get it fixed. Let’s see if he will show up at our next session on the two wheels 😊.

We fully enjoyed the session at Bike Hub and welcomed Christophe, who recently moved to Brighton from GoodGym London. Let’s keep getting active together at our next GoodGym Brighton’s sessions.

Worth remembering that the Bike Hub runs regularly monthly free cycle maintenance sessions as part of Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival, and NEW! Bikeability Adult Cycle Training. You can book HERE

This Tuesday, GoodGym Brighton had a double bill.

Frances, Sarah, Ruth run 13 km from Worthing to Portslade holding the baton at stage 245 of the Relay Your Way - Celebra's nationwide relay travelling 2500km from Glasgow to Windsor and celebrating inclusive sport, movement and play. This epic journey across the UK kicked off at the beginning of June to champion the 1.5 million UK children with disabilities by running, cycling, or wheeling for inclusive sport and play. GoodGym was invited to participate, and so our tree wonder women responded to the contest, facing a challenging hot weather.

Meanwhile, other five GoodGymers gathered at Wellsbourne Health Care Centre to help Lucy to maintain the community and therapeutic garden, located between the Wellsbourne Hub and the Library and growing flowers, plants, trees, vegetables, herbs and fruit, for everyone to pick and eat. Wellsbourne Health Care CIC (Community Interest Company), is a community-run, non-profit GP surgery in East Brighton where hands-on relationship-based care is delivered by people who know well the area, reflective and responsive to the local needs. Wellsbourne Health Care is currently facing a challenging time as at risk to be overtaken by a distant private provider. GoodGym Brighton wished Good Luck with their appeal.

Double Bill, and Double Good, with oranges, cakes and lots of water for our (and plants) refreshment.

Today, aspirant new GoodGymer Rachel took part to our session as part of the Brighton & Hove TAKE PART festival of active living. We wish to meet her again to get active together at our next sessions.

On a gently sunny evening, a veritable bevy of Brighton GoodGymers (including a warm welcome to new recruit Mauricio) turned their attention to a regular venue on the GoodGym roster, The Bevy, a community pub/hub, familiar to some as the go-to breakfast venue after the formidably hilly Bevendean Down parkrun. The journey for many involved a 3.5km trot up Lewes Road (allegedly the longest named road in Brighton & Hove), to complete gardening and clearance tasks.

One cohort of the GoodGym team were assigned to the Bevy's allotment, tending to a variety of fruit trees and vegetable patches, weeding and planting the likes of kale, beans and rhubarb. Meanwhile the other contingent tackled a backyard area, hacking away unruly bushes and brambles, and ridding the area of fallen leaves, mounds of soil, buckets of stagnant water and abandoned paraphernalia. As well as finding a rusty electrical device reminiscent of a ghost trap from Ghostbusters, there was under an old beer keg the discovery of a slow worm, the UK's only legless lizard, and apparently a relatively frequent visitor to the Bevy's undergrowth.

Following the transformation of the allotment and backyard, Dave, Shirley and Warren from the Bevy committee were impressed, with one commenting that the outcome of the group's work was "like Christmas", a nod perhaps to GoodGym's predominantly red and white wardrobe. The group was rewarded with an array of tasty snacks from the Bevy kitchen, including cheese scones and Eccles cakes.

The Bevy, for now over a decade, is proudly the only community owned pub on an estate in the UK, keen to support its local neighbourhood amidst cost-of-living challenges. A busy calendar of events for June includes a music and memory cafe for those with dementia, a disability disco, seniors lunch clubs, family days with creative activities for children, and a summer beach party to close the month.

The GoodGym team is happy to support such a cherished community venue, and as the sun set on another completed mission a small Taskforce group duly took the opportunity to visit the Bevy bar, order a glass of the usual, and sketch out its own summer party plans.

Join OUR NEXT SESSION!

11 Brighton GoodGym participants made their way to Palmeira Square to help Friends of Palmeira and Adelaide look after their community green space.

We were very happy to welcome Edwin and Rachel on their very first good deed and they couldn’t pick a better time to join with this task. We all quickly started with racking and collecting leaves and in no time managed to collect 53 very full bags of dried leaves and weed. Leaving Palmeira Square FREE of the occupying dirt.

Our friend Stuart from Friends of Palmeira and Adelaide was very happy with Goodgym contribution. We ran a couple of loops around the square and then we headed to our monthly social organised by our social secretary Michelle that included a challenging quiz with questionable overly long questions and we managed to smash the music round.

This week’s task falls on National Volunteers Week, a week long event in the UK that celebrates and acknowledges the valuable contributions of volunteers across the country.

In my "Life in the UK" exam I was required to memorise what are the British Values and one of them was 'Volunteering' and 'Helping your Community'. Makes me feel proud to be British and I was glad to be part of the team that Freed Palmeira Square from the occupying leaves and looking forward to free every other square as well from any occupation.

A closing note from Stefania, our Area Activator:

“It’s Volunteers Week, fellow GoodGymers.

Please give yourselves a large pat on the back for your extraordinary acts of kindness and generosity. Every Good deed does really make a difference, and every beneficiary in Brighton and Hove is always most grateful to have us all. GoodGym Brighton!

We are a community that cares of other communities - Saying thank you is never enough!"

Proud and satisfied, let’s make OUR NEXT SESSION another great success!