🎵 Oh we do like to be beside the sea side🎵

The biggest decision today was what pun to use as there had been several suggested which made reference to our very special visitor who had come all the way from the head office team in London to join us. Drum roll please 🥁.... Welcome Jack to the sunny south coast 😎 Belinda won the pun competition 👏

*Eat sleep GoodGym Repeat *

During the January challenge its all about clocking up the good deeds and km's and GG Worthing is absolutely nailing it this year. We have already hit our target of 65 good deeds. The target was set to challenge us and had already been increased from last year. This nicely illustrates the commitment and recent growth in our small but mighty area. Well done team. I'm super proud of you all 👏 🏆

🎵 Dancing in the moonlight

Not quite dancing but we did a nice jaunt along the promenade and around the pier! Anne led the runners, consisting of, El, Stéphane Roxy together with Jack and me back marking.

John led the walking group comprising of Mel, Paul, Ricky, Belinda and Paul We all met on the pier for the obligatory group photo 📸 before convening at the GG flowerbed for the task.

Double Good Deeds Tonight we split into 2 groups with the runners off on a litter pick run and the walkers helping with the tidy up of our flowerbed together with other straggly ones along the prom. The runners paired up. Anne and Jack together with Stephane . They were combining sprints with litter pick stops. This was a great way to combine some fitness with keeping the prom and surrounding areas tidy 😇😇

The walkers also paired up with Paul and El and Ricky and Paul who set off along the prom to work on the flowerbeds along the way. Belinda, John and Mel got stuck into the GG bed. Our flowerbed was transformed!

The runners return 2 bags came back with our intrepid runners ( I'm not entirely convinced much sprinting was done 😅) with Roxy and Steph taking the credit for the biggest bag of litter bounty!

We all packed up and made our way back to the starting point where some of us said our goodbyes whilst others took Ricky up on his suggestion .....

And so to the pub

A group of us finished off the evening at The Egremont for a quick drink and chat. It was a great chance to share ideas about GoodGym and parkrun.

Special mention to Belindawho went on a clandestine parkrun last Saturday which was behind lock and key at a women's prison not too far away. She had also coordinated a car full of kit donations which will be vetted by sniffer dogs, washed and then sold for charity to the ladies.

I sped away with Jack to the train station where he had 3 minutes to get himself on the train back to London. It was an absolute pleasure to meet and host you Jack ! As the headline pun says - we hope you will come back more and more ! 😊

Until the next time - have a great week everyone.

Julia xx

We kicked off GoodGym Mondays in style with 11 of us gathering at Splashpoint for a litter pick. The weather was kind to us, so under a clear sky we paired up and one group set off in the direction of the pier, the other headed off towards Windsor Lawns. Amongst today’s notable finds were a very new looking, single flip flop, a reflective ankle band which had looked remarkably like the inside of a role of sellotape as it went into the litter bag. When asked by someone cycling with their daughter Paul swiftly dropped his phone into the litter bag to give light for a rummage. After a successful search the reflective band was returned. Not sure it would have happened if the full nappy had already made its way into the bag.

It was great to welcome everyone back for the new year. It was especially good to welcome Megan to her first task, and Belinda back able to actively take part after her recent operations.

Please remember, that January Saturdays are parkrun support days. If you are able to help please sign up on both GoodGym and parkrun (email worthing@parkrun.com). It’s a great opportunity for us to share with parkrunners our love of GoodGym.

After next week’s task there may just be the opportunity for our first social of the year. Go on, you know you want to……

Julia's edit John is too modest to tell you all that he will have reached 300 tasks by next Monday 13th January so we will be at The Brew House after the task. All welcome whether you come to the task or just the celebration. We will be there from 7.15pm onwards.

It is that special time we hear

‘tween Christmas and the coming year

When over full of food and drink

A GoodGym walk’s just the thing I think

We gathered at Splashpoint ready to go

Hudson appeared, with Julia in tow

Our traditional pre Christmas soldier trail

Postponed because of rain and hail

Before we left, some news was broken

We listened wide mouthed as it was spoken

When nobody noticed her glittering ring

Sarah announced some engagement thing

(A ring found on the beach said Ryan

while on one knee, his shoelace tyin’)

With our route clearly planned

We set off with our map in hand

Fourteen legs and a set of wheels

We set off showing a clean pair of heels

Ten toy soldiers we had to find

Out of order, but we didn’t mind

We set off quick along the prom

Belinda pushed along by John

We crossed the road at Heene,

To push the chair Ryan was keen

With Ryan pushing the chair along

Belinda nearly went headlong!

Ricky too pushed along the chair

The first time since Lourdes he did declare

The rearranged toy soldier walk

Gave plenty of time for us to talk

We stopped for a coffee, or latte or tea

And those in need popped for a wee

So ten soldiers we had found

Our GoodGym year, off to round

We now look to the challenge in Jan

To reconvene as oft we can

Birthday Celebrations 🍺 for John

It was a great turn out for Johns special day.

We spent 45 minutes doing a very productive litter pick of the surrounding areas. The Birthday boy himself, John teamed up with Mrs R, Belinda and together with Daisy Roxy and Paula they headed off in the direction of Windsor Lawns. For Daisy this was an irresistible opportunity for a competition to see who could fill their bag more 🤣 which they all good naturedly joined in with. For Mr and Mrs R it must surely have also been a trip down memory lane where they used to live.

Heading out in the opposite direction were our intrepid explorers Sarah and Ryan who were fresh from a weekend walking from Hove to Hastings. Joining them today was also Gillybean and Sue. We all feel for Gill who is missing her beloved running with a heel spur injury 😪.

Finally Barbara myself and Sueconcentrated on the area around Splashpoint where there was loads of rubbish caught in bushes 🥺

After completion we all headed up to the pub to raise a glass and knife and fork to John where we were joined by parents to be Natacha and Steve together with Ricky and Nick too. Happy Days 😍

John and Barbara helped me to strip out and weed the bed and plant shrubs that I purchased from The Range

Hopefully the lavender, ivy and hebe's will thrive over the autumn and winter than other bedding plants 🙏

Massive thank you to the support of my amazing team today for our seafront flowerbed planting and also for their friendship 🥰

Sarah

Daisy

Barbara

Let the watering begin !