Last night was a special GoodGym Portsmouth session – and a little different from our usual Wednesday evening!

After a run led by Jen, we headed to Aspex Gallery, where we were joined by volunteers from across Portsmouth – 25 of us in total!

The evening was part of Aspex’s COMMUNAL programme and Portsmouth 100, celebrating 100 years of Portsmouth as a city. Huge thanks to Aspex for bringing us together to imagine the next 100 years of volunteering.

We were welcomed by a brilliant photo wall of 50+ GoodGym Portsmouth photos celebrating connection, joy and community.

And a huge shoutout to Alex from GoodGym Central, who joined us from London. Alex was there when GoodGym launched in Portsmouth in 2018!

Using Appreciative Inquiry, we shared stories of volunteering at its best and explored what made those experiences special. Our themes included joy, purpose, friendship, community, environmental impact, inspiration – and embracing the weird!

Then we jumped forward to 2126, imagining the National Volunteering Awards. The acceptance speeches were hilarious, heartwarming and full of ideas about the future.

Perhaps in 100 years we won’t need litter picking because nobody drops litter anymore. ❤️

We finished by asking how we can share the story of volunteering – including asking “How do you help your community?” rather than “What do you do?”, and celebrating what’s in it for volunteers: friendship, connection, confidence, purpose and joy.

Because volunteering isn’t just about giving.

It’s about what we create together. ❤️

Huge thanks to Aspex, Portsmouth 100, Ideas Alliance, GoodGym Central and everyone who came along.

Here’s to the next 100 years! 🌱

We spent a rather soggy morning cheering on GoodGymers and other running community chums at the 7 Mile point of the Great South Run. We were close enough to enjoy some epic tunes from the "Feel Good" music truck, which was also very on-brand with our GoodGym gear!

Extra kudos to Dave for chasing down Super-Speedy Andy at Mile 9 for an action shot, and JB for the unexpected and delicious strudel!

GoodGym crafters put their designs skills to great use, creating bunting for GoodGym Portsmouth's 5th birthday party.

So many individual styles and decorations!

Photos of the finished bunting to follow....

Big thanks to Catherine for her promo stint in the rain today.

Fortunately the afternoon sunshine meant that the gazebo was dry for the pack down which I roped Tony in to helping with as we were post-race, post-lunch on our way home!

Hopefully the fitness festival was a success and a few more people will be aware of what we're about.

Fitness Festival in September and in a new venue, things are still very confusing!!

I set up the gazebo in a prime position and decorated it with our flags and some lovely photos and quotes from our members.

Now waiting for the official opening and people to chat to!!

Rachel took over the chatting in the early afternoon, good deed added here!!

Just myself painted faces of 5 young models. Hopefully for the next time the word will spread.