The best things come in threes

Back at one of our favourite tasks, we were celebrating 3 epic events Daisy celebrated her 50th good deed, Rosalind celebrated her 100th good deed and Barbara celebrated her 200th !

Sue, who looks after the cemetery, is always is so well organised with her tasks and has a clear idea of how to use our energy! Tonight she asked us to rake the strimmed grass from the graves together with high level pruning around the outside of the cemetery. Paul, Belinda John andDuncan took on the job of the pruning around the back whilst Gillybean concentrated on the wall near the entrance. They all did an amazing job clearing huge branches and running the discarded debris in wheelbarrows round to the compost heap ( great for the step count! )

Back in the cemetery, Ryan who was looking great in his new red t shirt and Rosalind had a great opportunity to work on their squats whilst using grass pruners to clear a small area of war graves that had been missed during the strimming process.

Daisy, Sarah , Ricky, Barbara and Sue concentrated on raking and clearing ( and chatting 🤣)

With the light going and the pub calling we had to pack the tools away and finish up. After the photo finish most of us ended up in the pub with cakes that Barbara had kindly bought and the celebrations began!

For Daisy a 50th frame filled with lots of photo memories ( most of which she loved!) Looking forward seeing you in black Daisy !

For Ros ,who got her GG wings tonight, it was a beautiful needle felt crafted by John featuring her famous scarf!

For Barbara it was an absolutely epic highland needle felt cow doing a poop that John had also made. It caused a lot of laughter with John finally getting his own back on Barbara's pile of squidgy s*** that she had previously 'gifted' to him. Just to be clear Barbara adores these cows and fills her house with decorative items but this piece will get pride of place 👌

Thank you John and congratulations to all 3 of our Worthing dream team.

Congratulations also to Sue on her Great Parks half marathon 👏

Huge luck and love to Barbara on her cycling adventure from Vietnam to Cambodia. We can't wait to hear and see all the memories! If you would like to sponsor her she is doing it for the Worthing MND society and here is the link https://www.justgiving.com/page/barbara-barrett-1690290622398?utm_term=YmkGkevJN

..... and finally all the best to all the GG Great South Runners this Sunday

Bravo all of you 👏

Have a great week

Julia x x x

Happy 60th Birthday Mr Robinson

On a very happy evening we all convened at the cemetery to combine good deeds followed by an epic celebration in honour of John 60th Birthday.

With volunteers aplenty we had to bolt on an additional task to accomodate everyone. Luckily Rik and Val came to the rescue and half the group headed to Heene Church Rooms garden to start work on a new project for us.

Back in the cemetery we welcomed Ryan to our group. Although many of us know Ryan as being Sarah partner, it was especially nice to see him at his first task. Luckily Lucy was on hand together with Ricky to partner up and do some very fine raking and bagging!

Elsewhere in the cemetery Sue was busy pruning brambles from the grave looking extremely fit in her shorts and long compression socks!

Meanwhile, Anne and Sarah were busy raking - this was certainly the case when I left to check in with the other half of the group but I'm not entirely sure that the work rate was kept up in my absence - ha ha! Some of the photographic evidence may support this!

Duncan, fresh from a 3 day stag event and a board meeting was busy digging whilst trying to stay awake!

Back at the new task - the ground force makeover team were certainly going at full strength.

Belinda had partnered up with Gillybean to clear the area around the steps ( credit to Belinda for some great before and after photos! )

John. Tamsin, Daisy, Barbara together with Rik and Val made great strides with clearing bindweed, wild garlic, brambles, weeds and rubbish !

We will return to this site in the coming winter months to really get a grip with it and smarten the whole area up.

We all reconvened at the cemetery for a Happy Birthday sing song followed by a group photo and a well deserved drink at the pub where we presented John with a variety of presents from his GG buddies!

Great job and smiles all round !

Hope to see lots more of you at the tasks in the coming weeks !

Julia xx

Welcome Craig

We returned to one of our favourite tasks tonight, Heene Cemetery, for our final visit this year to assist Sue ( who coordinates the volunteers ) with raking the area after strimming, together with a general tidy up before winter sets in to this idyllic nature reserve themed graveyard.

Tonight we welcomed a new face to the group, Craig Big welcome to you! Many thanks for all your hard work this evening and for being an absolute star at joining in with the group in such a relaxed and sociable way. We all hope this will be the first of many visits to us :)

Special mention to the rest of my team

Heene Cemetery always attracts a great turn out due to its location and popularity and this evening was no exception

Many thanks (in no particular order)to Duncan. Gillybean Belinda Sue Anne Barbara JohnRicky Sue

Long Live Duncan

The team got straight on with raking, barrowing and moving a collection of logs. I pointed out a plaque on one of the gravestones with a large 'DUNCAN' printed on it ( you may just be able to see it in the photos) Luckily we had our very own live and kicking Duncan moving swiftly past the grave moving logs with Craig!

FIne Pruning

As ever, Gill led the way with her pruning skills together with Sue W, to remove the over branches overhanging the pavement outside with Sue ( heene) swiftly clearing up behind them with her wheelbarrow.

Chatting as we work

it was such a lovely vibe tonight with everyone taking time to catch up with each other whilst we made Sue really happy ticking off all her jobs.

With a great photo to finish and a promise to return next year ( or even next week to St Botolphs Church garden round the corner!) we ll headed home.

Social dates and tasks will be uploaded later today!

Have a happy, great week!

Julia xx

*Running for Pleasure *

3 of us met for a sociable run to kick off the evening on a stunning evening in the best seaside town on the south coast.

From a personal perspective it was just what I needed ! A lovely relaxed run with 2 of my favourites ( I have many )

Fresh from his hols Paul was busy selling and recruiting a prospect when I arrived together with Sarah acting as his back up - what a great job they made !

So we set off and hit the prom, discussed the usual work /life/retirement/holiday balance topics before we arrived back at the cemetery.

Nothing grave at all

We met up with Barbara, Belinda, John, Sue, Ricky, Duncan , Gilly bean and Sue.

It was a wonderful turn out - We love or visits to this special place. Sue and Peter have done a great job with turning the closed cemetery into a haven for wildlife and nature. This evening the bee man, Stuart came to put more trays in the hives as the bees are making so much honey. There is an open day this Saturday afternoon where he will be selling the honey. Tickets are available.

https://www.facebook.com/1594403500781693/posts/3178217049066989/?d=n

Sue got us to work with various different tasks including weeding graves ( some military ones), pruning, weeding and clearing the ivy off a large tree ( this had Paul name all over it!)

After a sunny and happy hour we tied up and promised to return on 3rd October for our final visit of the year.

Congratulations to Ricky on his completion of the P24 hour event and his contunuing progress with his park runs and pace!

Good Luck to Duncan and https://www.goodgym.org/runners/lucy-boothon with their Ultra event in the Cotswolds this Saturday.

Sunset in the Cemetery

On a beautiful stunner of an evening there was a great turn out for one of our favourite tasks at Heene Cemetery where we met our task hosts and friends Sue and Paul.

We welcomed ( in order of arrival )Julia Rosalind[Barbara](/runners/barbara-barrettRickyJohnBelindaSueAnneGillybean

Every year our final visit is around this time of year after the cemetery has been strimmed following a long summer of growth. This evening was particularly special as we followed the task our first social since pre covid in order to raise a glass to John after his ( not so big) Birthday last week.

3 of us headed out for a run along the prom ( Sue, Ros and myself) whilst the rest of the team got stuck in with raking and shearing off the pesky bits of grass that got missed when they were strimmed 2 weeks ago. With workforce we had tonight we finished slightly ahead of schedule so got to the pub earlier!

*Whatever the weather *

Earlier in the day we had thought the weather forecast was against us and we nearly had to cancel. Then the forecast improved and we were back on track but 10 minutes before the start of the task we experienced a tropical deluge which drenched many of the team . There was also a spectacular rainbow appearing over the pier which was a sight to behold for our trusty trio walking along the prom.

Meeting our friends Sue and Peter at the cemetery is always a favourite for the Worthing goodgymers and it was great to have a 10 team turnout.

From moving logs to shifting soil into the wormery, from raking the grass to clearing the pond and putting bark onto some graves the group just got on and did it all with more than a sprinkling of some lovely social chatter thrown in too.

Special mention to GG angel Paula who managed to up end herself into a grave. Luckily the fall from grace was soon righted!

Hope to see as many of you as possible on our rescheduled Lyndhurst Road task tomorrow ( Wednesday 30th June)