This past weekend, Brighton GoodGym-ers have been running or volunteering while engaging their heart with their friends Susan and Joel in Mind.

We are big fans of Parkrun and are always keen to lend a hand.

Bevendean Down is known for its amazing views and challenging climbs. It is a smaller Parkrun but with a loyal following.

Myself, Stefania and new member Lucia helped out the other volunteers.

We all enjoyed cheering on the runners including Doug another Goodgym friend. Stefania and Lucia joined forces to do the important role of timing the run and the runners. While I scanned barcodes. We had stunning views of menacing clouds and a rain shower which just missed us.

We headed to Bevy Community Pub for a well earned breakfast. There we chatted to other runners and browsed the community stalls.

GoodGym sessions, parkruns and races like the Brighton Half are not just great ways to challenge ourselves and support our fitness goals, but also provide an opportunity to come together and remember friends like Susan and Joel, GoodGym-ers who sadly lost their lives.

Massive thank you to everyone who supported the fundraiser for Mind.

We’re fundraising for Mind because their work supports people like Susan and Joel, providing mental health information, advocacy, and peer support. Since the pandemic, the demand for mental health services has been increasingly overwhelming, and charities like Mind are doing essential work to help keep up.

If you’d like to donate, you can still do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/brightongoodgym-halfmarathon2024?utm_term=MqPB5rDjy

After a hiatus tonight we returned to one of our favourite tasks at The Bevy! 9 runners (and a dog!) ran and cycled their way deep into Moulescomb to help out with the incredible tiered vegetable garden that provides food for the Bevy pub and local community.

We were joined for the first time at Brighton Goodgym by Siobhan, an experienced Goodgymmer who will be a great addition to future tasks. A handful of us enjoyed the long sunny run from the centre of Brighton picking up people on route and meeting everyone else there. Everyone was pleased to see us but with the niceities over we soon got to work. We split into two groups, the chosen few had the fun but precarious task of picking plums from the steep fruit bank. Chanelling their inner mountain goat the team made light work of the picking, building up a great pile to be used at local community events.

The unlucky second group were tasked with weeding the vegetable garden path. An unglamorous task but important- with the last chance to grow some produce coming up, the planting beds need preparing. We set work pulling up bindweed, bracken, grass and all manner of weeds. Our reward for this was to pick the pears from the trees at the top of the garden. We were soon joined by the first group and made quick work of the path in the evening sun.

As a thank you we were treated to homemade Eccles cakes and stayed for a sunset chat before heading off back into central Brighton. The Bevy has had some difficult times of late but is bouncing back amazingly, make sure to get down in support when you can. We will be heading back there on Saturday for a post Parkrun breakfast!

This week we made our way to the one and only Bevy - a community pub owned and run by locals for the locals. We were warmly greeted by Dave, Warren and Sheila along with two hippo bags and a variety of gardening tools!

Dave had let the bank go wild this summer to concentrate on other parts of the garden, but wanted to clear it to make way for new planting in a few weeks time. Carla and Rebecca were already hard at it when the rest of us turned up and so we quickly got stuck in!

Ensuring we saved the roses and primroses, we pulled EVERYTHING else out which were covered spiders and snails! Michael was ready with the hippo bags as we threw the pulled up plants down onto him(!) There was also a huge amount of table tennis balls, a result of the new table the pub had put up this summer.

With everything cleared, and the light failing us, we jogged back towards central Brighton with the promise from Dave that we can come back for planting!

Thank you to Jason for the ah-mazing pun!

It is always a pleasure to visit Warren and Dave at the Bevy - the community owned pub who support all in the local area. From activities for unadvantaged children during the school holidays and ensuring a hot meal and social company for the senior members of the community. The pub is not typically open on a Tuesday, but there were loads of locals enjoying a cool one on this hot evening.

With the weather recently being wet and warm the garden had become very lush and that included the weeds across the paths and an explosion of bindweed EVERYWHERE! Dave asked us to tackle the pathways so it could actually be seen! He kept a watchful eye as we worked our way up the winding path of the stepped garden keep the endless amounts of bindweed separate from the other green waste. Rachael and Philippa made sure there was plenty of room in the garden waste bin by packing it down.

Time flies when you're having fun and we ended up staying at The Bevy a little longer than expected and didn't quite get time for our core inspired work out. For anyone who want to give it a go check out this core work out for runners: Core Exercises

A soggy sandwich, a packet of crisps and a fizzy drink for a few quid? No, you’re alright thanks.

A couple of hours weeding and spreading muck in the rain for a vegan curry? Now you’re talking, that’s my kind of meal deal!

Luckily 7 other Goodgymmers are of a similar mind so despite the rain we headed to community pub The Bevy to help them prepare their fruit and veg garden for spring by weeding around the raspberries and spreading manure. Yes it was raining but no we didn’t care and the food we were given as a thank you was very much appreciated by all!

Phew! That’s quite a hill you have to climb reach The Bevy but definitely worth it to get to this fantastic example of what can be achieved when a community pulls together. So much more than a pub, The Bevy is a community hub, providing a space for various clubs and activities, including Friday Friends a group of older people who have lunch there every Friday. And lots of the food on the menu is grown in the pub garden which over the past 4 years has been transformed from a bank of bind weed into a vegetable and fruit garden.

A steep path climbs the terraced bank which we’d weeded on our previous visit and tonight’s task was to top up the gravel to keep the path weed free. Directed by gardener Dave we formed a chain and shifted 32 heavy bags of gravel to the top path and then spread it around to cover up the weeds and fill in any bare patches.

Path completed we also picked loads of rhubarb and black currants for the chef to make into a tasty fruit crumble for the Friday Friends group (mine with custard please!)

Football was discussed, raspberries were eaten, new t-shirts were sported (black for 50 good deeds for Rosemary and Juliett’s wings for 100) and snails were squashed (by Dave, apparently they are out of control this year)

At the moment the pub is closed on Tuesday’s but with restrictions easing and the Tuesday darts group returning perhaps on our next visit we’ll be able to stay for a pint!