Juliet O'Brien

On an unseasonably mild October evening 8 Goodgymmers made their way to Manor Paddock, a Senior's Housing Scheme with a charming garden.

Resident Luc set us to work on a variety of tasks including lopping lavender, pruning budleia (go hard!), clearing beds and digging in lime to stop the soil being so alkaline. For the first time this autumn we had an outside task entirely in the dark but there was plenty of ambient light from the building and the bat light made it's AW21 debut.

As always Luc was very impressed with how much we got done and no doubt we will be back again soon.

A quick partnered workout of 2 minute rounds of squats and everybody's favourite, burpees rounded off a mellow autumn evening, before we parted company having once again made the world a little bit better and ourselves a little bit fitter!

There's just about enough light left for us to see each other when we meet up now as the leaves start to gather on the ground, the temperature starts to drop and the rubbish starts to pile up...quite literally in Brighton right now.

The Real Junk Food Cafe is a wonderful place where customers can pay what they want or even pay it forward for a great meal that uses waste or donated food. Cleaning was the order of the day in the downstairs kitchen, upstairs in the cafe area and up in the laundry area.

Katharine and Jay went particularly above the call of duty, scrubbing the oven to within an inch of it's life. Shelves and surfaces were wiped and this writer cleaned the washing machine and drier removing plenty of lint in the process.

Having wiped,polished,scrubbed and buffed most of us made our way to the Basketmakers Arms for our first proper post lockdown social which was brilliantly organised by our new social secretaryMichelle. Talking of Michelle...I once met Michelle Pfeiffer in New York! Those who were there last night understand why I say this!!! A good time was had by all.

This evening as we gathered on Victoria Gardens, last to arrive was our very own marathon man Roy, looking fresh as a daisy after completing 26.2 miles just 2 days before! Congratulations Roy on your second marathon after last year’s virtual effort, so glad you got to have the full experience this year.

Much to litter picking loving Rosie's delight tonight’s task was …litter picking! Cllr David deployed us in pairs to various locations around Hanover & Elm Grove ward and every body came back with quite a bounty.

Keeping the pairs theme we headed to The Level for a Paarlauf Relay (meaning pairs!) where one runner runs a short lap fast whilst their partner recovers. Michelledeclared herself ‘well up’ for the fitness session tonight and did indeed give it her all declaring she couldn’t possibly do another round and then proceeding to ..do another round!

Whenever we do a fitness session on The Level we always seem to attract the attention of other evening park users and this week some of us were entertained by a man and his guitar singing ‘knock, knock knocking on Ghandi’s door, I need another tenner to score!’ Or something along those lines. Anyway to gave me tonight’s pun so I’m very grateful!

Brighton had a big weekend and loads of our runners got involved with some epic efforts in the marathon and 10k. Present tonight to bask in their glory were Philippa and Nancy who both ran the Brighton Marathon 10k on Sunday. Well done to you both and to everyone else who ran, volunteered or supported at The Brighton (Ultra) Marathon!

We’ve been visiting Sloane Court a council run seniors housing scheme for several years and have made a huge difference to the garden but those weeds will keep on growing! Resident Tony has acquired a stash of brand new tools to help us keep those weeds at bay, not quite as shiny as the Crown Jewels but not far off, at least until we got stuck into them.

The raised bed we planted a few years ago has filled out nicely but has also been invaded by some unwanted grasses, bindweed and some huge budleia which are becoming a nuisance to neighbours on the other side of the wall. Tony’s new loppers made easy work of them and revealed a fig tree underneath which now has a chance to breathe and maybe even produce figs! Jenny (my mum) came along to offer her plant expertise on what should stay and what should go, what to trim and what to leave. The patio in front of the communal sitting room got a good weed and Liz’s infamous bush also got trimmed and although there is still lots to do, good progress was made.

A short run to nearby Queen’s Park for a brief but intense fitness session in the fading light rounded off the evening nicely. At least until I got back to our meeting place to discover a wheel had been stolen from my bike. Grrrr!!!!

After a short but hard core fitness session on Hove lawns, 4 of us weaved our way up through Brighton’s streets to Gareth Stacey House. This is a YMCA supported housing project for 16-25 year olds. Their small garden had become a bit overgrown and a layer of bindweed was covering most of the plants and lawn. We wondered whether we had bitten off more than we could chew for the four of us but within 45 minutes we had peeled off the bindweed, chopped back the shrubs, weeded the patio and mown the lawn. We filled 3 tonne bags with weeds and left the garden looking much tidier, just in time for this little Indian summer we are currently enjoying.

Meanwhile the remaining seven members ran and cycled their way to St Andrew's Church and tidied up the church ground ready for the late summer fayre at the weekend.