On a sunny but chilly Tuesday evening, 12 GoodGymmers made their way up (and up and up...) to St Luke's Primary School in Hanover, for our annual task of helping to get the props ready for the Children's Parade, which kicks off the Brighton Festival.

This year the parade is themed on the National Year of Reading, and the children of St Lukes chose the book "The Cave Baby" for inspiration - complete with a giant mammoth puppet. However, we kept our hands dry from papier-mache this time round, and were instead tasked with cutting out as many paper leaves as possible - to be used for the children's cave baby costumes.

We were given a blue-peter style demonstration by our host Lara, and after a hunt for left-handed scissors and some ingenious card-folding - we set about drawing and cutting.

We posed for a quick photo proudly holding our leaves (points to our lovely first timerDerek for creativity) and then headed to the park to share some delicious homemade Tiramisu to celebrate our own Stefania birthday!

On a gloriously sunny morning, Sherman and Roy headed out to help Mrs I with her lovely garden. As Mrs I is currently unsteady on her feet, we focused our energy on the bottom end of the garden, an area she finds particularly difficult to reach.

Sherman took charge of the rear bushes, giving them an impressive trim and clearing away stubborn weeds. He also skillfully lifted and separated one of Mrs I's favourite plants, replanting it in several new spots to help it thrive across the garden.

Roy focused on the rear patio and beds, ensuring every weed was accounted for. He also successfully removed a small, dead tree trunk that might be hazard to the grandchildren.

After completing the task, we were treated to some very welcome coffee and chocolate snacks. It was a pleasure to sit with Mrs I and enjoy the view of her refreshed garden. She hopes we'll return as there's always work to be done! Another successful mission.

St John the Evangelist is a welcoming and inclusive Anglican church in Brighton. They launched a new befriending gardening club and welcomed GoodGym’s help to get it off the ground.

A small party of Brighton GoodGymers turned up with enthusiasm to help a core gardening group, represented by Jane and Lisa, who welcomed us ready with a few tasks including lawn mowing, planting and overall tidy up of a nice green pocket behind the church. 🌞 The weather was gorgeous! This GoodGym session was also a little and genuine goodwill in return of Rev Emma's generosity for providing The Brighton Multiculture Women Bike Club, The BMW's, with a bikes storage.

💜We will be back in force next time, together with more BMWs 💜 🌸

Tonight’s GoodGym Brighton crew rolled up their sleeves for one of our favourite long-standing partnerships — a deep clean at the brilliant Brighton & Hove Food Partnership Community Kitchen. We love supporting BHFP’s mission around food waste, food poverty, healthy eating and community connection, and this session was the perfect blend of elbow grease and good vibes.

What we got up to

• With Jo welcoming us in, we split into teams and got straight to work:
• Ovens: scrubbed, polished and restored to their shiny best
• Cupboards: emptied, tidied, reorganised and generally shown some love
• Windows, tables and chairs: wiped down until they gleamed
• General chaos → calm: the whole kitchen got a refresh thanks to everyone’s effort

There’s something strangely satisfying about transforming a busy community space back into tip-top condition — and as always, the chat, teamwork and laughter made the time fly. Those who finished their tasks had the opportunity to do some “stickering” – which was essentially branding takeaway bags with BHFP stickers. It proved a good way to wind down. After we had finished, a huge number of us went to the Lord Nelson for the pub quiz and our monthly social. We hope to see the two newcomers, Lucy and Derek, who joined us this evening again real soon!

A little bonus knowledge

Jo reminded us that GoodGymers can get a discount on Community Kitchen classes — a great excuse to sharpen your cooking skills or try something new. If you’re curious, just ask Jo for details next time. And if you want to stay in the loop with BHFP projects, events and those coveted LatePlates last-minute class discounts, you can sign up to their newsletter here: https://bhfood.org.uk/get-involved/sign-up/

A big well done

Huge thanks to everyone who came along and helped make the Community Kitchen sparkle. It’s always a pleasure supporting BHFP, and we left knowing the space is ready for the next round of community cooking, learning and connection.

Until next time — great work team!

Six GoodGymers headed up to the Moulsecoomb Estate allotments for an evening of fresh air, teamwork, and a proper hands-on permaculture challenge. Our host Heidi at the Moulsecoomb Allotment and Horticultural Society look after the plots on Natal Road, and they’d asked for help tackling some of the heavier jobs that had built up over winter.

What we got up to:

• Heidi welcomed us onto the site and gave us a tour of the areas needing attention. With tools gathered and gloves on, we split into small groups and got stuck in:
• Clearing weeds from paths and beds to give the plots some breathing space
• Digging out buried rubbish, including long-forgotten bits of plastic and metal that had been hiding under the soil
• Helping the pollinator-friendly plants by freeing up space around them and removing competing growth
• Building rustic wattle-style plot edges using branches and cuttings — a surprisingly satisfying bit of natural construction that gave the beds a lovely defined border
• Plenty of teamwork and chat, making the graft feel lighter and the afternoon fly by

The results: By the end of the session, the allotment looked noticeably clearer and more cared for. The new twig borders gave the plots structure, the weeds were under control, and several bags of rubbish were removed from the ground. Heidi was delighted with the progress — especially with how much six pairs of hands could achieve in a short time.

And, what a vibe!

A proper GoodGym session: practical, outdoorsy, and full of good energy. Everyone mucked in, swapped tips, and enjoyed the chance to do something physical and rewarding together. The rustic edging challenge turned out to be a highlight, with some surprisingly artistic results. Julien D and Jane were unstoppable in their digging and creative endeavour.

Here some lovely quotes:

“It was great fun to be constructing something for a change. Who knew it wasn’t all about destructive gardening (or bindweed clearing as it often involves)? A great task with a smiley host “

“After what seems like years of digging up carpet and plastic it was refreshing to be creating something nice on the allotments this time, and the stunning sunset was an added bonus“.

To many more sunsets at the allotments with GoodGym Brighton! 🌅

What a vibe at Brighton Marathon events!

Well done all Brighton GoodGymers, we are all amazing! ♥️ 💚What Good we do truly matters 💚♥️

Huge shoutout to all Brighton GoodGymers at the Brighton Marathon Events, especially to the new GoodGymers Angela, Lilian, Delia, returning Amaryllis and superstar David!

❤️💚🦸‍♀️ On Saturday, GoodGym parkrunners Nicola, Sarah and others, Stefania, Richard, David, escorted the superheroes at The Miles event. Running The Mile with the little superheroes was an absolute blast— it really brought out my inner child!

On Sunday, we had 13 GoodGym runners smashing their personal goals and pushing for new PBs on the marathon, trail marathon or 10K. Meanwhile, another 15 GoodGymers stepped up as 'Event Activators' or as ‘Plogging’ legends, forming the ultimate Brighton Marathon Events’ community volunteering support crew.

The GoodGym Official Plogging Team 2 run, walked and litter picked for 10K in a relay with other Green Runners on the marathon route from km 11.3 to km 24.1 while doing a green community mission - litter picking!

For the 2026 Brighton Marathon weekend, a few dedicated Green "Plogging Teams", organised by The Green Runners + Leave No Trace Brighton, actively "plog-ed" (jogged and picked up litter) along the 42-km Brighton marathon’s route. This was a first time ever initiative during a major running event in UK aimed to remove dropped gel sachets, cups, and other waste, following a successful 5K community plogging event held in February 2026 to promote environmental sustainability.

Together, the Official Plogging Team of Brighton Marathon Events cleared a staggering (estimated) 22,000 gel wrappers – demonstrating that a joint community action can move the change for our planet! The 2 full bags collected from team 2 were put in a black wheelie bin on the route due to being too heavy to carry back. The 4 bags at the end (video) were about 30kg each. 💪 Those bags were no joke to drag, but what an incredible effort for a Greener race! 🙃🤪😯

♥️💚GO GoodGym Brighton! Get Fit, Do Good...Move to Change! 💚♥️