Sherman on foot and Stefania on wheels made their way to assist Ms A with a sorting mission on the first floor of her home. The task was to tackle a small room packed with large portfolios of art prints, draft sketches, magazine cutouts, and Ms A’s own original artwork—something she needed an extra hand with due to her visual impairment.

We brought the heavy portfolios down to the ground-floor table where Ms A took charge as the Master Decision Maker. With Ms A directing the operation, Stefania and I acted as her extra pair of hands: un-framing, categorising, and carefully bagging up items marked to go. Some of her original prints were far too lovely to throw away, so Ms A kindly gifted a few to Stefania to give them a second life.

The sorting went smoothly and quickly. Afterward, Ms A treated us to a lovely spread of tea and biscuits while we enjoyed a great chat. Before heading off, she guided us to the large street bin nearby to dispose of the discard bag. Another successful, rewarding GoodGym mission in the books!

This week, GoodGym Brighton proudly joined forces with This Girl Can for their powerful #LetsLiftTheCurfew campaign. As the clocks go back, nearly three-quarters of women alter their outdoor fitness routines due to safety concerns after dark. Our GoodGym community mission tonight wasn't just about the physical workout, but standing in solidarity to challenge this reality, ensuring everyone has the freedom and confidence to stay active outdoors year-round.

🧽 We returned to the Community Kitchen for our Social Scrub Up to support Brighton & Hove Food Partnership (BHFP)'s projects that tackles local food waste, combats food poverty, and runs vital community cooking clubs. True to GoodGym style, we combined fitness with a thorough deep clean. Armed with sponges, cloths, and plenty of enthusiasm, we scrubbed surfaces, sanitised equipment, and tidied cupboards—leaving the space gleaming for its next session!

🌱 During the task, we caught up on BHFP’s brilliant eco-friendly initiatives. The kitchen actively uses surplus ingredients in its classes to prevent food waste. To push their mission even further, they are now encouraging participants to bring reusable containers for leftovers. In just one week, this simple switch has already saved more than 50 single-use plastics!

👟 Our group walk to and from the venue was dedicated to the Let's Lift the Curfew movement. By moving together as a bright, visible, and supportive group, we can help overcoming the barriers women face when exercising after dark. GoodGym highly encourage all members to look through GoodGym's male allyship training guide to help keep Brighton safe and inclusive for every runner, walker, and cyclist.

🎁 Giving Back (and Giving Thanks!). As always, we got active, gave back, and supported great causes. We also received some wonderful perks! Our gracious host, Jo, rewarded us with a jar of Bold Beans, a recipe booklet, and a ‘Thank You Relay’ card, extending her appreciation to our community and inviting us to join her in this movement. A fantastic GoodGym welcome to our newest member, Ana.

Want to get involved? Join GoodGym for another session!

This week, GoodGym Brighton returned for our annual visit to the Brighton Youth Centre to help them prepare for B'fest, continuing our commitment to youth-led creativity, collaboration, and cultural expression across the city.

Yesterday’s fast and furious GoodGym session saw 10 GoodGymers bring plenty of energy and joy to the festival prep. We moved panels, heavy poles, and bamboo canes, stacked up seating, and weeded the yard to get everything looking tidy and ready for the young crowds visiting the venue soon.

We always love visiting the Brighton Youth Centre. As one of Brighton & Hove’s longest-running and most popular youth services, it helps young people thrive through everything from skateboarding and stand-up comedy to dance, D&D, street art, radio, music, and theatre. Run by and for young people aged 13–19, B'fest is the ultimate Brighton Youth Arts Festival. The doors open this Saturday 24th October and run until the 30th of October during half-term, bringing together young creatives from across the South East.

GoodGym is so inspired by what you do! We left the building full of good vibes and are ready to spread the word through leafleting.

Want to get involved? Join GoodGym for another session!

Well, we could not have asked for a better morning to take on our first ever volunteer headliner spot at Hove Promenade Parkrun.

12 Brighton GoodGymmers made their way down to the gloriously sunny Hove seafront to volunteer at the popular Saturday morning event, which requires a minimum of 40+ volunteers each week to run safely. Our headliner spot came at a great time too, as only last week the event organisers had to cancel last minute due to a lack of numbers.

Most of us took on the very important role of marshaling along the route, guiding runners and perhaps more importantly, cheering them on. First-time parkrun volunteer Liam even said that "shouting words of encouragement at random runners" may be his new favourite hobby, and we don't disagree!

Ruth and Ben get brownie points for arriving super early to help with the set up, while Stefania gets an honourable mention for making it in time despite sleeping in....

Perhaps the gold star of the mission though should go to our very own furry GoodGym mascot, and the best good boy there is...Cody :)

It was a bit of an uphill struggle for Brighton GoodGymers this week, quite literally, as we headed to the top of Elm Grove to tackle the overgrown pavements along May Road.

We were joined by local councillor Tim Rowkins, Cabinet Member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, and Laszlo Gera, who was appointed Brighton & Hove City Council’s first City Centre Manager earlier this year.

With the council team mucking in alongside us, we got stuck into clearing back the weeds along this steep stretch of pavement, working our way towards the bus stop at the top of the hill.

This wasn’t just a cosmetic makeover. With the weeds cleared back, the handrail is now accessible again for those who rely on it to navigate the slope. A small job with a practical impact, making the route a little easier for those who need a helping hand (or handrail).

A local resident popped out to say hello and thank us for our work. It’s always lovely to know that a little GoodGym action is making a difference to the people who live nearby.

Our task is part of the wider effort to make Brighton & Hove cleaner, safer and more welcoming. Laszlo is leading a new overnight deep-cleaning service tackling jobs such as jet-washing pavements, removing graffiti and restoring street furniture.

Tim also shared some of the progress Brighton & Hove has made on waste and recycling. New food waste collections and expanded recycling have helped push the city’s quarterly recycling rate to a record 31.6%, with more than 1,700 tonnes of food waste already collected.

With the hard work done, it was time for a little refreshment. We headed to the Village for a well-earned pint and some Thai food. After an uphill task, there’s nothing like a little downhill relaxation!

Volunteers: Roy & Sherman Mission Objective: Clear accumulated garden waste and paint the tree stump to prevent regrowth.

Wow, what a surprise we had today! We headed over to Ms K’s for our fourth visit, expecting a straightforward job of clearing up some accumulated garden waste. Since it had only been a few summer months since our last visit, we thought we knew what to expect. Nature, however, had other plans.

Round 2 Against the Regrowth

When we arrived, we were shocked to find that the tree stump had staged a massive comeback, growing back about 70% of its branches and leaves! It looked less like a stump and more like a brand-new bush. We immediately rolled up our sleeves and got to work hacking away at the new growth. We managed to clear a massive pile of leaves and branches. Some of the branches wrapping around the edge of the trunk were so incredibly sturdy that they refused to budge, but we cut back as much as physically possible.

Bagged, Tagged, and Painted

The sheer volume of green waste was too much for the garden's brown bin to handle, so we neatly packed the remaining garden waste into five large black rubbish bags and left them safely by the bins. To make sure we don't have to fight the same jungle on visit number five, Roy came up with a brilliant plan: painting the cut ends of the branches to seal them and discourage them from overgrowing again. Once the stems were done, we gave the entire top and sides of the trunk a thorough coat of white paint as requested by Mrs K.

A Messy, Successful Finish!

We definitely didn't manage to keep our hands clean—by the end of the mission, we had nearly as much white paint on our fingers as the tree trunk did! But the job is officially done, the area is clear, and Ms K's garden is looking better once again.