Nine runners meet at Surely Chine to do a litter pick. It was nice to have good weather after the gale's from the day before. We split into pairs and we soon had bin bags full of litter. Keith found a statue what it was doing there who knows Bea found a child's play set to use in the sand. By the time we had finished we had filled seven bin bags full of litter a good job done by all. Please check the Website as we have another Community Mission on Saturday we meet at 10.30 out side the rear entrance of the Sovereign centre we look forward to seeing you all on Saturday

On the agenda for this week was giving Meyrick Park a bit of a makeover.

It attracted 10 of the best!

Lea, fresh off her exploits of appearing in the Guardian in an article about her part in the keeping Bournemouth tidy efforts with the amazing Dorset Devils. Glad there wasn't any human excrement this time round!! And she topped that by completing her 15th Good deed!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!

Emma and Lea are seasoned pro's so they brought their own litter pickers, and Emma even had her own reusable "bin bag".

Only a couple didn't bring gloves....which now reminds me there wasn't a forfeit for them!!! DAMN!!! That's ok....I'll remember for next time...I think?

We have a very committed group, you know....Charlotte managed to step on a Weever fish in the morning, went to work and then still turned up to do some good with us! And Lea, along with now having to deal with being famous, had a pretty serious cut on her head from an accident on Tuesday and still turned up!

With bikes locked up, gloves on and litter pickers at hand we set off....in two naturally forming groups....boys and girls....it just happened. And it was amicable!

Daryl, Sam and Sean combed the right hand side of the park, finding less than expected behind the toilets.... Sue, Hannah, Emma, Lea, Karen and Char set off across the field to the left side of the park.

We soon converged at the top of the park and the main entrance to the park where the team hit the jackpot!

Sue and Karen managed to itsy bitsy spider lots off cans up and over a fence with their pickers....Hannah and Daryl managed to break theirs....

Char discovered 2013 ear buds and then took it upon herself to pick them all up and then we all wondered what the ear buds were being used for...except Emma she gagged each time we mentioned ear wax hahaha

Hannah forced me to climb a tree to get a bag down that had been safely stored away...we felt bad and put it back...I miss climbing trees!

Lea reported some fly tipping, Sam probably was possessed...in a good way! Each time he headed off into the bushes he came back with loads of stuff!

In the end we filled up all our bags, spent time outdoors together, left things better than when we arrived and headed home feeling that little bit better than when we started. Improving your life by just 1% can have a great impact.

What's your 1% going to look like today?

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Seven of us met at Bishop Aldhelm's school in Poole, eager to get stuck into some gardening. After warmly greeting us, the caretaker Paul took us past the flower beds we'd previously cleared (still looking good!) to the area outside the reception classrooms. Our task was to dig up the grass to allow a weed-proof membrane followed by bark chippings to be laid at a future date. Simples?! Erm...not really we soon discovered! The ground was rock hard so we had to really put our backs into it but thankfully no backs were put out over it (or not that became apparent during the mission anyway)! And where was Manu? Running a bit late... Until we stood back and looked at the whole area, it felt like we weren't getting anywhere very fast but Paul knew how to incentivise flagging volunteers and produced biscuits and squash. Refuelled and refreshed, we ploughed on until the area was clear. A job well done! As if on cue, Manu arrived just as we had finished digging and helped us to put the play equipment back onto the cleared site. Paul was super happy and is already planning our next visit!

Back in March, when things were different, we used to get together on Wednesday evenings for a group run and good deed....

....it's July now and although we didn't run together, we did get together on a Wednesday again to do some good. It's an amazing feeling, and maybe it was just me, but I slept much better last night!

We had Abby come back to join us after her last check in for a litter pick last year and she brought along Claire for her first GoodGym good deed. Keep an eye on the website and please come and join us again!

We also had Grace back and we're hoping we can keep her for good this time, work your magic Roshana! Anyone with a short term rental available get in touch!

Andrew almost got caught up in the police cordon in Boscombe Gardens and had to backtrack quite a distance to get down to meet us...so much excitement and we hadn't even started yet!

There were 16 of us in total so after a big hello and mini safety briefing and a bit of group planning we set off to tidy up either side of Boscombe Pier...make things unconfortable enough for some teenagers to move their drinking elsewhere....and then combed the beach out towards Bournemouth Pier.

At first sight the beach looked very clean and we thought we'd get to meet Nellie at Bournemouth Pier no problem! However, once you start to look properly you realise that there's a lot of plastic everywhere.

We didn't fill bags as there wasn't a lot of large stuff, but so much plastic isn't disposed of properly and it's really heartbreaking.

We know that most of us have a lot on our minds at the moment and that the pandemic has caused a lot of upheaval...plastic isn't like the pandemic, it's not going away...it takes forever to decompose...and it's something's we need to be a little more conscious about.

Amongst the things we came across were little toys, eyeballs and uncovering an ancient burial ground of toy soldiers....check out the photos!

So combining picking up little things here and there and lots and lots of lovely catching up with everyone, we managed to only get a mile down the beach before we got cold and ran out of time.

So back we headed, said our goodbyes, and got home feeling that little bit better than we were around 7pm.