12 GoodGymmers came together this week, including first timer Miran - welcome Miran! On foot or with pedal-power, we made our way up the short but oh-so-steep climb to the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP) where we were greeted with a mountain of bedding that had been donated, and that needed sorting into sizes so that they can easily be allocated to those in need.

After some time deliberating over the difference between single, double or king sizes (check out the photos for the answer...) we made fantastic progress - sorting, folding and storing hundreds of sheets, duvet covers, mattress protectors and pillows in just half an hour.

The Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project provides practical support, education, advice and much more to those in poverty, in poor living conditions, benefit claimants, the unwaged, pensioners, families and those on low incomes and suffering social exclusion and poor wellbeing.

15 robust, wind-resistant Goodgymmers jogged over to St. Andrews church in Hove for our first visit of 2026. We welcomed new Goodgymmers Emily and Nancy!

Upon arriving we were welcomed inside by Vicar Dan and given a whole host of implements to get the church spick and span. We split into teams of dusters, sweepers, vacuumers and polishers and got to work!

Dan asked that we focus on giving the pews a good polish and sweeping the cobblestone floors. The church gets a lot of traffic from regular services and kids clubs. As made progress with the dusting an extra-long duster was constructed to get some pesky cobwebs* right in the rafters.

Cobwebs cleared, our big congregation of goodgymmers made quick work of the cleaning, posed for a team photo and then headed back once more into the breach (/wind).

*DId you know the difference between a cobweb and a spider web? A spider web can be new or old. A cobweb is typically an older web that has been left behind and has started collecting dust and debris. Some “cobweb spiders” make messy tangle webs even when they're fresh, so the best clue is usually fresh and sticky vs dusty and dull, not neat vs messy.

This was my first Goodgym Brighton session, and I was chuffed to be joined by Samantha and Christine, who were at their first Goodgym session ever! Welcome both, it was lovely to meet you! Stefan was also there on arrival, as an old hand at the task.

We were there to help chef John prepare a Lancashire hotpot for about 60 guests tomorrow afternoon.

The three of us established that none of us are gifted in the kitchen, but with John as our leader we were soon up to speed peeling and chopping veg, browning off meat, stirring and even helping bake an almond cake. We were rewarded with pastries from the farmer's market to help fuel the hard work.

The time flew as we chatted away, and when we headed off everything was ship shape and ready for the feast tomorrow.

Our Tuesday group run session was at the BMECP Centre – The Black & Minority Ethnic Community Partnership which is a busy centre hosting a number of projects helping Black and Minority Ethnics.

Thirsty of Good Deeds and excited about a group reunion in 2026, a last minute downsized group of brave Brighton GoodGymers disregarded the bad weather to get out and run, walk or cycle to help out BMECP with a challenging deep cleaning mission.

Once our welcoming host, Mustafa', showed us the way and where to find the few very essential tools, we spit in three groups to champion the mission with creativity. At Task One: A deep cleaning for high raised and moulded window frames: Liam, Rosie, Stefania and Christophe; At Task Two: Defrosting of ice-aged 😊 freezers with a steaming kettle: Sarah and Ben; and, at Task 3: General clearance and tidy-up of a dark, and seemingly forgotten, corner of the storage room: Sonam, Ruth, and new GoodGymer Steve. Welcome to the Do Good-Get Fit club, mate!

It was a sparkling good action and well deserved good deed that will contribute to the GoodGym January Challenge - From the 1st to the 31st of January, across the country, we are going to walk, run and cycle to complete as many good deeds as we can!

All good deeds and distance we record on Strava will go towards our community target of 4500 good deeds, and 60,000km covered nationwide.

HERE’s what next in our area calendar. If ever there was a reason to join us, this is it 🙌.

Five Good-Gymers arrived at the task with an energetic mix of running, walking and cycling to the centre.

Once inside we joined forces to help wrap presents for the Unemployed Families Centre's Christmas party. The room quickly filled with festive spirit.

We were delighted to welcome new members Shivani and Pavel who jumped right in and proved they could wrap with the best of us -literally. Some of us even perfected our wrapping techniques, achieving a rare combination of crisp corners and tape that (mostly) didn't stick to our fingers.

By the end, the gift pile looked great!

All in all, it was a fun festive event that left us all smiling. If only every workout ended with a pile of beautifully wrapped presents! 🎁

Yesterday session was held at the Brighthelm Centre, a well-known community venue in central Brighton that hosts a wide range of social, cultural, and support services and other community-focused volunteering activities.

The main objective was to help out the centre with practical maintenance tasks to improve the accessibility and appearance of the community spaces, currently disrupted by building works that are in progress since weeks. After a warmup tuned by Zumba moves (courtesy of Zumba with Mon), we engaged in a combined sweeping action of stairwells indoors and of leaves outdoors, accompanied by a festive weeds scraping workout of the garden pavements. The grace of Ewan, the building manager, revealed just how meaningful our contribution was to him and to all who benefit from this vital community centre in Brighton.

Yesterday mild night turned to be a bonus, bringing most joy to our GoodGym-ing and chit-chatting about the coming up Xmas GoodGym social events. We welcomed Pavel at his second GoodGym session on a personal mission to do as many good deeds as possible by 2025.

More to come? Plenty!