So, GoodGym Brighton did its first plogging session on our Brighton seafront!

When Darren from the Green Runners called GoodGym Brighton for some plogging action, I immediately responded with great enthusiasm and, soon after, I had to search for the meaning of the term “plogging” 😊.

*Plogging is an eco-friendly fitness trend that combines jogging or brisk walking with picking up litter. Originating in Sweden around 2016, the term merges "jogging" with the Swedish phrase "plocka upp" (pick up). It is a global movement aimed at improving personal health while cleaning up public spaces and natural environments.

On a beautiful, rescheduled Tuesday morning on the 17th of February, I joined 25 fellow community members and friends from Active Sussex, teaming up with Leave No Trace Brighton and The Green Runners to protect our favourite running routes. This is all part of the London Marathon Events mission to make the Brighton Marathon weekend more sustainable. Let's keep our seafront clean! 🌊🏃‍♂️

We had a fantastic time at this community event! Our high spirits even caught the attention of BBC South East News, which featured our beach clean in their recent coverage.

Now, GoodGym Brighton is assembling a team for the Green Team relay, organized by The Green Runners. We’ll be taking on 10K legs alongside the main marathon runners on April 12, plogging the entire 26.2-mile route to ensure we leave Brighton better than we found it! 🏃‍♂️🧹

To get involved, sign up on the dedicated GoodGym community mission HERE.

Tonight's GoodGym assignment saw a dozen-strong team meet at the Hove Peace statue and, to the backdrop of a welcome and resplendent sunset, were led by Stefania (some via a short run around the Lawns and Hove Plinth) to the doors of Brighton Sailing Club, described on its website as "a spirited community of sailors who share a love for the sea, the wind, and the camaraderie that comes with it". The Club also functions as a base for the Brighton Explorers Club which has a broader remit of outdoor activities, and a follow-up task to use their kayaks to do some testing of local river quality is on the GoodGym schedule.

The mission at the Brighton Explorers Club was to conduct an off-season audit of the Club's Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) stock. A trilogy of tasks included: checking for leaks by applying soapy water round the SUP valve, where a frothy bubbling would signify the presence of an unwelcome leak; squatting energetically using double-action pumps to get the paddleboards to the right air pressure; and running an inventory of the single-blade oars and ensuring that they extended to full length/ retracted correctly. All of this was completed outside the Club with the usual GoodGym gusto, and at the end the SUPs were returned into storage, with one of the team commenting that their imposing height made them look like benevolent gods.

While the jury is still very much at sea on the sentience of paddleboards, the totemic animals on Brighton Sailing Club's flag, (two green) dolphins, have historically been associated with benevolent godliness, symbolising wisdom and protection and considered demi-gods in classical Greece. Though not quite as ancient, the Brighton Sailing Club dates all the way back to 1871 as a hub for sea adventures and sailing races.

Following the task's close the gang looked ahead to races of a different kind, and to participating/ supporting in Sunday's Brighton half marathon, with a plea perhaps to the weather gods, before heading off into the evening and, for those who hadn't eaten yet, a well-deserved supper.

On (yet) another wintry, windswept evening, a doughty team of GoodGymers cruised by trainer or tyre to Brighton's Community Kitchen, a regular on the GoodGym roster, and a key community venue for the Brighton and Hove Community Partnership, the umbrella organisation that also oversees another GoodGym staple task venue Wilding Waterhall, among other initiatives.

The gang were welcomed as usual by Jo, the manager at Community Kitchen, with an efficient checklist of tasks including window washing, pan sloshing and oven scrubbing, ticked off with gusto by the team to the accompaniment of Jo's playlist of upbeat pop classics, including Madonna's 80s Latin-inspired reverie La Isla Bonita.

Offering an oasis of the culinary kind, the Community Kitchen serves up a menu of enticing cookery classes for all, led by local top chefs, with sessions on Goa curries, macarons, and steaks, sauces and stocks on the near horizon. It also delivers a range of community cooking workshops at low/no cost to improve well-being and confidence for people on low incomes, those living with dementia and those with physical/mental health conditions, empowering disadvantaged groups with cooking skills while providing advice on creating money-savvy nutritious meal plans.

The Community Kitchen is also available as a community venue to hire, which GoodGym Brighton made exuberant use of for its most recent Christmas bash, which featured rounds of tricky quizzing and a flotilla of pizzas. As this task fell on Shrove Tuesday, floury treats of a different kind were flipped at the follow-up social, as a contingent energised by Pippa's pancake-themed HIIT session wolfed down stacks at the nearby venue Hope and Ruin, dowsed in maple syrup and ice cream.

A great session to welcome Sam on his first go with GoodGym Brighton!

10 goodgymmers ran, walked and cycle over to the Brighthelm Centre for a indoors, winter, cleaning mission.

We welcomed new goodgymmer Jen for her first mission and visitor Ricky over from Worthing!

The Brighthelm* Centre serves a wide range of charities, public health and local groups. We've had a long term partnership with this centre dating back to our first ever session in 2017. They run regular Zumba classes and tonight we left at the same time the Brighton Men's Gay Chorus arrived, through a very busy reception area!

The focus for the task was to wipe down skirting boards, clean the bathrooms and give the staircase areas a good clean. We were given magic white sponges for using on the skirting to avoid spreading the paint and vast quantities of blue cleaning paper and sponges for everything else.

Swiftly splitting into groups of 2 and 3 we made short work of the grimy skirting boards and toilets. We gathered outside for a quick group photo and a peptalk from Stefania before heading off to the skirting boards of our own.

*Did you know that Brighton is referred to as Brighthelmstone in the Domesday book in 1086. Brighthelm was a name and "tun" was the saxon for "town", so Brighthelm's town.

Last Tuesday evening, for our Brighton GoodGym’s regular weekly group session, the rain couldn't dampen our spirits. We saw a winter-record turnout, with 17 GoodGymers walking, running, and cycling through the downpour to reach the Fitzherbert Hub. The gang included: Rob – happily returning after a busy time at work😊; Ricky – visiting GoodGymer from Worthing on a 200 good deeds + 250 parkruns mission for 2026; and, David – new GoodGymer who opened the doors of the venue and all its cupboards needing some action. It was time for some cleanup duty! 😉

It was great to be back at The Real Junk Food Project Brighton - an organisation we’ve long admired and that we love supporting for their mission to feed the community using surplus food.

Here is Ricky’s report - A Visitor’s Perspective on his first GoodGym Task with the Brighton group:

*“Yesterday, I had the opportunity to join a Brighton GoodGym task as a visitor from Worthing. I have been meaning to do this for some time, but it never quite coincided with logistics after work. Everyone was very friendly and although I had to trail behind the running group due to only being equipped for the day job (and having run already) it didn’t take that long to reach the task.

*I had heard about the Fitzherbert Centre before but had never been inside so it was interesting to find out how it is now co-operated by four different charitable organisations.

*I found someone to work with, and we set about cleaning one of the toilets before going back into the main room to join in with the others. It turned out to be a small world, discovering my cleaning buddy was a friend of someone in my Goodgym Worthing group. I also met another who I had previously got chatting to spontaneously on a train when one or both of us must have been dressed for running!

I hope to return for future tasks when circumstances permit and one day I will be able to run when not wearing or carrying anything that might impede me!”

Thanks Ricky, and all. Let’s keep the momentum going for some more sparkling sessions! HERE’s what’s on at GoodGym Brighton in the next few weeks.

I volunteered as a timekeeper at junior parkrun in Queens Park on a very wet and blustery Sunday morning. Despite the heavy rain, the runners showed incredible enthusiasm and determination, splashing their way around the course with big smiles.

My role involved timing each child as they crossed the finish line to ensure accurate results. Concentration was key — especially with rain on my phone screen! Innspite of the challenging conditions everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and embraced the weather.