Two runners set out from the low floodplain of the river Ouse up four chalk brows — a single lane road to Telscombe Tye reservoir, tracks skirting the fields of Saltdean dip and up to Pickers Hill, windswept grassland to the smock mill at Beacon Hill, and finally past a decidedly orderly Ovingdean Hall Farm through East Brighton Golf course, dropping into (currently sheep-free) Sheepcote valley and to The George where foaming pints awaited.

History was found in the middle — a bomb crater, the knapped flint- faced obelisks of Kipling’s walled gardens, a local croquet lawn, and two dear ancient volunteers opened the doors of the Grange museum for us - just across from where Kipling quilled his imaginative tales of Lamarckian adaptation in the Just So Stories.

Stimulated good chats of travels, spreading the English language and noble endeavours on a bright if chilly Sunday.

This Tuesday, 10+ of the GoodGym Brighton crew ran, cycled and walked over to Lavender House for a full perimeter clear-up. Headtorches on, we weeded, detangled and plucked our way through the edges of the building, filling up multiple wheelbarrows for compost and giving the outside a noteworthy November glow-up.

Jane had a moment of magic finding a red admiral butterfly and having it stay still on her hand long enough for a photo and a video. A flash of summer in a little bit of a November drizzle!

Also on this week's GoodGym Brighton’s wildlife watch: an honourable shout out to the many ‘bench bugs’ we had to yank coats and jackets away from, and a healthy, stocked-for-winter looking worm. Christophe’s ‘bright’ idea to light our group photo with headtorches gave us a more sinister, ghostly energy than our normal group shots, but it’s not been too long since Halloween so I think we got away with it.

Weeds tackled and all equipment returned, a few of us ran over the road to the Sidewinder for some burritos and much-needed trail run chat.

This week GoodGym Brighton returned to its annual appointment with a community mission at the Brighton Youth Centre in their shiny newly refurbished venue in Edward Street.

The rings under the eyes of our host, who welcomed 13 GoodGymers at the door, showed the clear signs of tiredness on his face due to the long working days of moving from 94 Gloucester Rd. But the arrival of our GoodGym volunteer-force turned those rings in a big smile of immense gratitude! We managed to move three massive cabinets, a wardrobe, a sofa, a fridge, 10 drums, and several heavy speakers in the record time of less than 30 minutes! It was ‘super cool’.

We love to visit and help Brighton Youth Centre. This partner organisation is one of Brighton & Hove’s longest running and best-used youth services in Brighton & Hove, helping Young People to thrive all their best creativity - from skateboarding to stand-up, dancing to D n D, street art, radio, music, theatre and more. B'fest is the Brighton Youth Arts Festival run by and for young people, 13-19 years old, and this Saturday 25th will open the doors for the first time in the new venue until the 1st of November during half term, bringing together young people from across southeast to celebrate all things creative and cultural. GoodGym is inspired by you!

We left the building with good vibes and in good terms, with the agreement of a return sometime again during the winter.

Welcome new GoodGymer Katie. I trust you will be back soon GoodGym-ing together with your new active friends in Brighton Area.

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