Our final visit of the year to St Botolph’s Church garden was upon us, and there was no time for holly-dollying about! We were back in the poppy garden, continuing the clearance work we started last week, determined to get things looking shipshape ahead of Remembrance Day.

Elvira kicked things off by tackling the ivy and brambles before joining Julia in the somewhat prickly business of cutting down two holly trees. She pulled and pushed and nearly lost her feet on tackling the first one - the photos give the essence of that particular situation!! The bigger tree one needed a final bit of pulling and pushing from John to persuade it to give up its place. It seems our holly was no longer jolly, and the ivy was definitely getting ideas above its station!

Meanwhile, Belinda was working incredibly hard to get the ivy under control, showing impressive determination and an eye for every last detail. No sneaky tendril was going to escape her attention!

John and Stephane were busy digging out brambles, enabling Julia to collect the prickly spoils and ferry them off to the compost heap. A proper team effort, with everyone rooting for the same result!

Having already clocked up an impressive 7k run, Ricky pitched in to give Stephane a helping hand . Plus there was an extra reason to celebrate, as tonight marked Ricky’s 7th GoodGym anniversary! Seven years of running, volunteering and being part of GG Worthing , Brighton and parkrun — now that really is something to crow about. A lucky seven for a thoroughly deserving GoodGym member.

As a special 'end-of-term treat' we were invited inside the church to see the memorial wall in the Lady Chapel, bearing the names of the fallen servicemen. It was a very moving moment and a reminder of why our work in the poppy garden matters so much.

By Remembrance Day, there will be one poppy in the garden to commemorate each of the 89 men who lost their lives. Sadly, one of those named was recorded as a boy. 😪 A poignant tribute to those who never returned, and a lovely way for the garden to help keep their memories alive.

And, of course, no end-of-term celebration would be complete without a little appreciation for our efforts. We were presented with thank-you cards signed by members of the parish council, along with enormous homemade ginger and fudge cookies baked by Rik. Yum yum!

A huge thank you to everyone at St Botolph’s for making us feel so welcome throughout the year, and to our wonderful GoodGym gang for another evening of graft, good company and community spirit.

We may have reached the end of our gardening year, but the memories — and hopefully not the weeds — will keep on growing!

It was one of those thoroughly miserable autumn evenings when the weather couldn’t decide whether to rain, mist or just make everything feel damp! After a day of fine ‘wet’ rain, the heavens had settled on scotch mist, the gloom was closing in and the light was fading fast. Perfect conditions for a spot of GoodGym gardening, obviously! 😂

Thankfully, my four stalwart GoodGym buddies, Belinda, John, El and Roxy, weren’t going to let a little atmospheric misery dampen their spirits as we headed to St Botolph’s Church garden for an autumn tidy-up.

There was an immediate fashion mystery to solve. Everyone was sporting red… except El, who began to suspect she’d missed an important memo. We reassured her that no memo had been issued, although we did enjoy teasing her.

John, Belinda and El got stuck into pruning a large tree, with the sawing action providing a good upper-body workout. Meanwhile, Roxy and I tackled the ivy creeping along a fence surrounding a very special garden of handmade poppies. After finishing their pruning , John , El and Belinda joined us for some very welcome help.

These beautiful poppies are being prepared and added to ahead of Remembrance Day. By the time the special day arrives, there will be one poppy commemorating every fallen hero listed in the church’s Lady Chapel. A truly poignant project, and a lovely reminder of why our little gardening missions can mean so much. ❤️

Some of the ivy had other ideas and decided to spread itself over the fence. Never one to shy away from a challenge, I took the direct route and jumped over to deal with it. El and John were on hand to capture my acrobatics on camera, before El likened me to Spider-Man! 🕷️ Clearly, I was getting into the 'swing' of things… although I’m not sure Marvel will be calling any time soon!

We certainly had our hands full getting to grips with the ivy, but we refused to let it 'creep' up on us. We were determined to get to the root of the problem and 'leave no vine behind' ( Are you groaning yet ?!😂)

With the light disappearing quicker than our enthusiasm, we eventually called it a day. Despite the gloomy conditions, we all agreed we’d made a huge difference to the garden and were delighted we’d made the effort to turn out.

Another evening of good company, community spirit and a little friendly banter — proving that even when the weather is thoroughly 'unbe-leaf-able' GoodGym can still help things grow!

Another lovely autumn evening found us back at St Botolph’s Church Garden with our hosts, Val and Rik, who had a rather prickly job lined up for us.

The mission? Some serious pruning of the Laurel bushes along the perimeter of the church wall. They’d clearly been enjoying their freedom and were beginning to take over!

With El in charge of the photographic evidence, Barbara, John, Roxy and Ricky got stuck into the cutting, while I took on the glamorous role of wheelbarrow shuttle driver, ferrying load after load of leafy casualties over to the compost heap.

And finally, after what seems like a good few years of GoodGym intervention, we’re beginning to feel that we might actually be gaining control of this beautiful — but wonderfully wild — garden!

Slowly but surely, we’re getting it into shape… one bush at a time. Although judging by the amount of Laurel we removed tonight, the garden may have other ideas!

Another lovely autumn evening, great teamwork and plenty of fresh air.

A small but mighty GoodGym team headed to St Botolph’s Church tonight, where we were warmly welcomed by our hosts, Val and Rik.

Under Val’s expert guidance, tonight’s task was to heavily prune the laurel bushes along the south-east side of the church, which had been getting a little too big for their boots and enthusiastically overhanging the wall!

The aim is to open up the view over the wall and into the secret garden, where some interesting displays are set to appear over the coming months. We’re hoping our efforts will really help the garden come into its own — you could say we’re helping to turn over a new leaf! 🌿

A huge GoodGym thank you to Mr and Mrs R — aka John and Belinda — together with Ricky, freshly back from his holiday and clearly ready to get stuck straight back in.

It was a small team tonight, but we certainly proved that good things come in small prunings! 😉

Thanks to Val and Rik for keeping us on task and for the warm welcome. Another productive evening of GoodGym graft, one branch at a time!

It was a beautiful warm July evening, the sort that reminds you why volunteering outdoors is such a joy. With sunshine, plenty of laughter and a garden that had well and truly embraced the "rewilding" trend, we returned to St Botolph's Church Garden to help bring some order back to the wilderness.

A huge welcome back to Mel and Paul, who have both been living life at full speed recently between work, a cycling tour and campervan adventures. It was brilliant to have you both back where you belong—in the middle of a bramble patch!

Joining our wonderful hosts Val and Rik were John, Belinda, El, Ricky and Julia (me), all ready to ' leaf no branch unturned' 

Massive thanks to John and Belinda, who arrived  complete with a battery-powered hedge cutter, a handy little step, secateurs and other bits and pieces too. 

There wasn't much standing around—we all got stuck in straight away, taking on thick ivy, towering brambles and enough unruly foliage to keep a small army busy. Nature had definitely taken root!

Paul claimed the west side of the garden, battling both the overgrowth and a rather enthusiastic wind that clearly hadn't read the forecast. Meanwhile, I took on the glamorous role of chief wheelbarrow chauffeur with multiple trips to the compost heap as greenery flew in from every direction.

Once Paul's section was under control, he joined John and Ricky, who were busy uncovering the hidden area behind the old air raid shelter. With every thorny branch removed, more of the forgotten space emerged from its leafy disguise.

Nearby, Belinda, Mel and El were making fantastic progress clearing thick ivy and stubborn brambles from the church wall. Refusing to stop there, they ventured beyond the wall into the tranquil church garden itself, where they continued their assault on the undergrowth. Safe to say the weeds were firmly on the back foot by then.

Slowly but surely, the mountain of cuttings grew, the compost heap became ever fuller, and the garden started looking less Jurassic Park and more Secret Garden.

By the end of the evening there was a huge sense of satisfaction. Hidden paths started to reappear, walls could be seen again, and another treasured community space had enjoyed a proper GoodGym makeover.

A gorgeous summer evening, fantastic teamwork, plenty of banter, and proof once again that when GoodGym gets to the root of a problem, there's no stopping us.

With Julia on her holidays , it was down to Mr R to leas the task and write the report so her it is !

Four GoodGymers were back at one of our favourite good weather tasks today. For a large part of the day, it looked like the weather might be against us, but the clouds moved on, and the warmth of the evening sun accompanied us during the task.

Weed ‘i’d alright

Rik greeted us with an apology (see Julia’s report from last week) and the news that parishioners had noticed a real difference along the wall of the church we had worked on last week. Whenever we come here, we can always see the difference we make; it’s great to get feedback that the work we do is noticed and appreciated.

Weed been here before

Today’s task was to clear the weeds around the front and side of the old air raid shelter. It’s a task we’ve tackled on many occasions, but nature will have its way. Ricky tackled the side wall where the brambles had chosen not to cling to the wire we had attached to encourage them to reach skywards. Charlie, Anne, and John tackled the front. Did we make a difference? Yes, we did! It was great to wind up our efforts just as Anne brushed clean the path that GoodGym had laid many tasks ago!

From Julia

Thank you all and John for helping me tonight !