Happy 60th Birthday Mr Robinson

On a very happy evening we all convened at the cemetery to combine good deeds followed by an epic celebration in honour of John 60th Birthday.

With volunteers aplenty we had to bolt on an additional task to accomodate everyone. Luckily Rik and Val came to the rescue and half the group headed to Heene Church Rooms garden to start work on a new project for us.

Back in the cemetery we welcomed Ryan to our group. Although many of us know Ryan as being Sarah partner, it was especially nice to see him at his first task. Luckily Lucy was on hand together with Ricky to partner up and do some very fine raking and bagging!

Elsewhere in the cemetery Sue was busy pruning brambles from the grave looking extremely fit in her shorts and long compression socks!

Meanwhile, Anne and Sarah were busy raking - this was certainly the case when I left to check in with the other half of the group but I'm not entirely sure that the work rate was kept up in my absence - ha ha! Some of the photographic evidence may support this!

Duncan, fresh from a 3 day stag event and a board meeting was busy digging whilst trying to stay awake!

Back at the new task - the ground force makeover team were certainly going at full strength.

Belinda had partnered up with Gillybean to clear the area around the steps ( credit to Belinda for some great before and after photos! )

John. Tamsin, Daisy, Barbara together with Rik and Val made great strides with clearing bindweed, wild garlic, brambles, weeds and rubbish !

We will return to this site in the coming winter months to really get a grip with it and smarten the whole area up.

We all reconvened at the cemetery for a Happy Birthday sing song followed by a group photo and a well deserved drink at the pub where we presented John with a variety of presents from his GG buddies!

Great job and smiles all round !

Hope to see lots more of you at the tasks in the coming weeks !

Julia xx

*On Scorching summer evening

A team of dedicated GoodGym volunteers and our youngest member, Jemima, gathered at Splashpoint Leisure Centre to commemorate its up and coming 10th anniversary this weekend. Despite the challenging conditions, the teams unwavering enthusiasm and commitment shone through as they dug and planted 10 shrubs, leaving a lasting mark of celebration.

Participants

John Anne ( lovely to see you back ! ) Gillybean Duncan Tamsin and daughter Gemima Julia

Task

Digging and Planting Shrubs

The primary objective of the event was to dig holes and plant, appropriately, 10 shrubs in honour of the milestone anniversary of Splashpoint Leisure Centre. This task required patience and perseverance, especially considering the hot weather and exceptionally dry conditions.

Efforts and Dedication

Despite the scorching heat, the team demonstrated dedication and effort for their work. Their commitment to completing the task was evident as they tirelessly dug and prepared the ground for the new shrubs.

Junior GoodGymer Jemima

Jemima, the youngest member of the team and a Junior GoodGymer, stood out with her determination and enthusiasm. She actively contributed to the project, showcasing her energy and tenacity. Jemima's involvement highlights the inclusive nature of GoodGym and its ability to engage individuals of all ages.

Celebrating 10 Years of Splashpoint Leisure Centre

The efforts of the GoodGym volunteers and Jemima were aimed at celebrating the significant milestone of 10 years for Splashpoint Leisure Centre. By planting shrubs, they not only added beauty to the surroundings but also symbolized growth, resilience, and a vibrant future for the centre.

Our Golden Nugget

The successful completion of the shrub planting project wouldn't have been possible without the invaluable assistance of the enthusiastic duty manager, Phil Ingold. Phil's presence added an extra touch of magic to the evening, further enhancing the celebratory atmosphere.

Tomorrow is another day

Tomorrow the potting compost will arrive and Gillybean has kindly offered to come along and complete the task by distributing it , watering and topping it all with bark chips. Thank you Gill.

Conclusion

The GoodGym volunteers, along with their young member Jemima, exemplified the spirit of community service and dedication. Their collective effort in digging and planting shrubs, despite the challenging weather, left a meaningful mark in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Splashpoint Leisure Centre. This event serves as a testament to the positive impact that individuals can make when they come together for a common cause.

Thank you so much to my team for turning out for an extra task tonight. Special mention to John and Gillybean who notched up their 2nd task of the week and their second time of bringing their own tools!

Apologies the the lack of photos ! I accidentally deleted a fair number- Luckily there were a few that got saved !

Have a great week !

Julia xx

Worthing Run Fest dawned sunny and relatively still on in our beautiful town.

For the second year running, GoodGym had been asked to give out the finishers medals which we were very happy to agree to. Stephen was also harpooned to volunteer by one of the organisers, Jade whose charms were clearly more powerful than my pleas for volunteers - but wait - he ended up in the baggage tent so maybe karma did prevail somewhere !

A number of our Worthing GoodGymers were participating in the event.

Natascha, Daisy Greg ( aka Craig) Sarah, Sue A and Mr R John ran in the 10K whilst Sue W and Jay took on the mighty half marathon. Well done to you all . You are all our superstars !

Our intrepid runners all did brilliantly with several personal best times- Notably Jay, who ran London just 7 days ago got a PB . Massive kudos to you, our very own super hero - Cake man!

The other mini super hero of the day was Jemima ( mini me Tamsin ) who was super excited to be helping with the medals, and ended up fronting our team and giving out the medals and the trophy to the winners.

Finally, big shout out to Daisy and John who ran and then volunteered too.

So sorry for the lateness of this report. The Central GG tech team did a upgrade last week of the website which resulted in multiple bugs meaning it was impossible to upload a report until just now.

Looking forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks. With 2 more bank holidays in May we will also be actively volunteering on Wednesdays too.

Thank you for your support and patience

Julia xx

Dodging the raindrops three Goodgymers headed to the Turning Tides donation hub. Tamsin and John arrived first, so let the pantomime begin.

Oh no it’s not… We arrived expecting to put together Christmas provisions ready for later distribution to each of the Turning Tides services. Amy, from Turning Tides, greeted us, and confirmed that the task was as we thought. “Where is the food to be packed?”, we asked. “It’s behind you”, said Amy. Actually, what she really said is, “you don’t mind going to the shop first do you?” That was fine, as everybody knows, John absolutely loves shopping, especially in busy supermarkets, especially just before Christmas…..

She’d made a list….. The reason for needing to shop was that there had been a drop in donations compared to previous years. We headed off in two cars to ensure boot space. Amy’s car screeched to a halt. She’d got the list, she’d checked that twice! What she hadn’t checked was whether she had the means to pay! A quick change of passenger arrangement saw John and Tamsin speeding off with the shopping list, whilst Amy rode back to base with a planned rendezvous at Tesco!

With trolley tokens kindly provided at the information desk, we joined our first queue - to get access to the returned trolleys! One and a half of the trolleys were full before we crossed the threshold of the store proper. 30 bags of potatoes, 41 bags of carrots, 20 bags of parsnips - you get the idea! Whilst Tamsin and John vegged out, Amy set off on the hunt for meat - turkey, ham etc. No partridge though - apparently it refused to come down from the tree.

It’s till not the end List fulfilled (all but one Christmas Cake), and several so called jokey comments about the trolley full of brussel sprouts, we joined our next queue. We’d reached the tills. Amy declared as we arrived “I always choose the wrong queue”. That soon proved to be true, and the unloaded shopping was soon being moved one till along where things seemed to be moving more quickly. Amy was right though! It was still the wrong queue! As we were waiting the customerless cashier alongside us just looked on and smiled!

Cars loaded we headed back to base. Tamsin, ever the multi tasker, made a quick detour to adjust cooking temperature for dinner that evening.

We Three (un** pac) Kings Paula had arrived in time to lead the unloading of the cars into crates ready for Amy to set up the “packing line”. We three were sent upstairs to count to ten (you know, coffee, tea, tunnocks tea cakes. That sort of thing…) while the packing area was created.

Given the all clear we began working through the spreadsheet of requirements adding items to labelled crates as appropriate. We soon realised that “paying more attention” would mean not having to take things back out and starting again. Once realised Team GoodGym came into its own. We are always most effective when we operate as a team. Amy having asked us to just “concentrate on the first four, and we’ll see how it goes” was surprised to hear us declare “finished”. The minor spillage was forgotten (fortunately the phone survived its brief cleansing) and we three headed back out into the rain heartened by Amy’s grateful thanks.

Post parkrun reward

Following the very successful parkrun we all walked along the prom, basking in the sunshine to Munch where we decided to rearrange the furniture to suit the GG worthing 'as one' ethos :) Luckily we narrowly got away with it despite a few stern words from chef Theresa.

With breakfast already pre ordered it was a ( relatively ) straight forward ordering of drinks etc. We all did slide down in our chairs when Stephen asked to alter his order ( although he was oblivious of our concern! ) but yet again, Theresa ( happily) agreed to the last minute change.

it was really lovely to see our very own mini Christmas star Jemima come along with Tamsin and what a great photo of her and of everyone by the tree:)

There were also very welcome guest appearances from Natacha , Pauls husband John, plus Nick who has been stuck on 67 good deeds for around 4 years - ha ha !

Save the date

Watch this space for our new years curry party on January 28th which our social secretary, Tamsin and I will be organising early in the new year.

Plus Bank Holiday Monday - walk and chat 09:30

Wishing you a very warm and cosy Christmas filled with love and good times.