It’s always such a relief to get to Goodgym and see pun generator Roy Hill! Thanks Roy, for another corker!

It’s equally fantastic to meet a couple of first timers to Brighton GG such as Julie (previously from Westminster) & Chloe, who jump right in with boundless enthusiasm for the concept, the task and the fitness! You are both very welcome!

In the news we bigged up

• Helena - for being most cheered, most cheering and most good deeding for February
• Michael for running the most k’s in February
• Tabatha for running a race in the most exotic location…Tanzania!!

Our journey to our task tonight involved a bit of a hill(!!!) which you all coped with admirably. On arrival at St John the Baptist School we split into two groups to ensure all got a chance to both do good and keep fit. The do-gooding involved weeding and digging over the school’s educational garden which is used as a learning resource, and thank you all for managing not to fall in the pond! The keep fitting involved 2 rounds of a smorgasbord of 8 exercises for 30 seconds each with just 15 seconds rest. Again top marks for all for giving it your all!

Task complete we headed to the playground for a group photo in what must be one of the best views in Brighton. I told you the hill would be worthwhile!

On arrival back to base a few of us went on for our monthly social where we chatted about loads of interesting stuff such as the joys and benefits of Goodgym, changing attitudes to consumption, run technique, university connections and the price of avocados in the Open Market (£1 for a box of 14!!!)

Next week’s task is still to be confirmed but it will involve doing something to get you a little bit fitter and make the world a little bit better - so sign up now

It was back up Hangover Hill aka Meusli Mountain almost to the top of Brighton via Albion Hill tonight to finish off what we started way back at the beginning of January.

But first we warmly welcomed Emma & Lauren for their first GG experience, and also to Brighton native but Greenwich Goodgymmer Sarah. We love having new people and visitors so we were very spoilt tonight to have 3 of you! We also congratulated Michaelon equalling his PB at Hove Prom parkrun on Saturday and Helena for getting a course PB at Preston Park parkrun. Well done!

Before we set off we continued our focus on good running posture. Sometimes doing it wrong helps you realise when you’re doing it right so we played a game of rocks and feathers where you pretended to be carrying a heavy backpack of rocks to contrast with running light with a backpack full of feathers. And we carried our pretend feathers all the way up to the top of Hanover, which didn’t seem to cause any of you any problems at all. Awesome stuff!

Viv and David met us and set us to work clearing vegetation from a narrow path and bank at the rear of the council run property. This will enable the residents to access the garden and washing lines much more easily. We chopped back shrubs, pulled up dead grasses, swept the path clear, bagged up the debris and Jamie was a demon litter picker and filled an entire bin bag with rubbish. The final challenge was, like last time, getting all the vegetation into the back of Cllr David’s car! It was a tight squeeze but we just about managed it.

We squeezed in a quick fitness session focussing on glute strength with some short hill sprints, one leg deadlifts, lunge kicks and glute kickbacks before heading back to base where we wished Michael & Emma the best of luck with the Brighton Half marathon on Sunday. I’ll be there looking out for you to give you a big cheer, and of course you can give them a virtual cheer on the GG website.

Next week is our first visit to a school and this one has fabulous views over the city so sign up here.

(Apologies for lack of photos, various excuses incuding phone batteries, unfamiliar technology, dark and small spaces!)