Paula Marten

*In the bleak mid winter *

On another beautifully still and crisp January evening we found ourselves gathering outside the homeless hostel in Byron Road. We haven't done any work here since before the first lock down so there was plenty to do!

It was a wonderful turn out on a chilly January night and the vibe felt very close to BC ( before covid)

*Ooooh la la *

It was lovely to see Natacha back tonight. I especially loved her reaction to Tamsin sumo squats during the fitness session. What a giggle we had !

Also back were our lovelies Rosalind AnneRoxy and Paula

Mr and Mrs R Belinda John did the B YR O N tools invite perfectly ( no surprise there ha ha ) No blackmail required!

It was good to catch up with Sue and her great running progress together with Duncan about the current South Downs Leisure news.

Paul was doing his own good deed acting out a personalised version of the 'Carry On Matron' film looking after husband John who, sadly, has covid. We are hoping it will remain a mild case and that there wont be a role reversal next week.

After a 15 minute warm up run with an attractive walking option too we set to work. The team loved this task today because there was so much to do! We will head back in a few weeks for Part 2. Massive thanks to Paula who literally threw the bags in the back of her truck and drove them to a bin!

After the task we headed down to seafront where the walkers kept walking back and the runners embarked on a 25 minute fitness session.

You already know that we did Sumo Squats! We also added tempo running, sprints and bulgarian squat lunges. Fitness is definitely the focus for 2022 :)

See you all next week. Hope its a good one for you.

Julia x

Monday night vibes

With a select few of GoodGymers this week we set off on a lovely walk to see the Sea Lane Christmas lights.

I had brought along little paws (Hudson) for the first part of the evening. After the lights Anne and I ran him home and met the others back at Kamelia Kids for week 2 of our painting task.

Anne fancied her hand with the brush extension and John bring the tallest of the group took charge of his own long pole ( ooooh matron 😄)

Precision is Belinda specialist so she took charge of cutting edges in.

Barbaraset about the wall she started last week and I did the same with the roller ( whilst dodging paint splatters from up above ! )

1 hour later and with a promise to return first thing in the new year we called it a night and headed off in all the usual different directions.

Just kidding around paint walling

On a freezing cold evening In Worthing we met up at one of our favourite task venues at Kamelia Kids day care centre. The team were slightly depleted tonight for various reasons but it was a warm welcome all round for my trusty team that did manage to come along tonight.

Drum roll .....

Rosalind Gillybean Paul Barbara Paula John

As ever, we had a warm welcome from Andy who is the caretaker there and basically is the glue that holds the whole place together. Andy showed us the area to be painted and gave us all the tools. There was a slightly dodgy moment where the white paint was mistakenly magnolia but Andy asked to continue covering over the yellow paint with the magnolia until next week when we can go over it again with brilliant white.

I do hope you enjoy the photos today ! We have Paul and John with their extending rollers, Barbara and Paula looking rather mischievous and Ros and Gill looking rather glam.......

1 short hour later we washed the brushes and scrubbed the drip marks on the carpet (!) before heading out for a group photo.... and thats when the fun really started !

200

Unbeknown to me John had made me a 'This is your Worthing GoodGym life' red book and filled it with photo's, memories and messages from my team. Its absolutely wonderful. I love it :) Rather unusually for me I was speechless when it was given to me by Andy ( shock , horror! ) If anyone would like to borrow this iconic item you are more than welcome to. Its a great read and momento of my journey with GoodGym and something that I will always treasure. Thank you to all for your lovely words and special mention to Mrs R who rallied the troops!

See you all next week for round 2 of paint walling :)

*F A B- U - L O U S turnout - Thank you ! *

What a wonderful turn out it was tonight. Honestly it was brilliant!

We had received an SOS call for help from Gwenn in the parks department to help with some raking and fine, tooth comb weeding of an area in the park which has been lined up for some 'Prarie planting' ( perennial ornamental late flowering grasses)

On a very chilly but, thankfully, still evening I feel i need to give a big shout out to each and everyone of ALL the team tonight.

Round of applause

• Rosalind So good to see you every week now that you are off shifts :)
• Duncan Thanks so much for making the effort to get to every task you can and for bringing GG to Worthing!
• Belinda Thank you for coming out in the cold with your knees especially with all the kneeling!
• Sue Thanks for pulling yourself out of your lovely warm flat!
• Anne Always bringing the smile and the hard work. Thank you for always just doing it!
• Paul It must be cold if Paul has his leggings on!
• Barbara Well done for finding your way from Brooklands to us !
• Paula Yee haaa lovely lady :) Always great to have your energy.
• John Thank you for all the great photos and for the endless humour you bring to the group!
• Natacha Yes Natacha - great to see you at a task again and not just for the burger :)
• Sue Lovely to see you again and get well soon from your covid.
• Stacey Fabulous to finally meet you! Let me know if you would like to join the whats app group chat :)
• Stephen Great to see you at a task again.
  

And Finally

Hudson Gleeson - Great to see you at your debut appearance at Good Gym - woof woof. Less jumping next time please!!

Wrapping it up

Under the watchful eyes of Gwenn and Erin from the town hall we got down to the business of precision weeding and trying to stop any pesky weeds growing again! This involved raking and sifting and bagging the debris.

When it got cold we went off round the park for laps of either running or walking until the cold got a bit too much and 1 hour later we called it a day.

After loading the rakes into the car having a final photo and giving promises to return we all headed off in different directions ( no burgers tonight! )

Meet at Splashpoint

Head west towards the pier.

For anyone that prefers not to do the fitness you can always take a moonlit stroll with the other walkers, clear the GG seafront flowerbed , go for a swim at Splashpoint or head directly to the social a bit later.

Afterwards 20 of us are heading to Chipwick at 7pm to officially celebrate Belinda's 200th good deed ( which happened a few weeks ago )