Yesterday was our third appointment in a row with a very uncertain weather calling the greatest GoodGym motivation to get out to help St Andrew Church in Hove, for our weekly group session.

We BELIEVED in it, and all worked out very well – apart the fact that I punctured my bike 😊.
Those dull dark clouds and weather warning of risk of heavy rain did not even touch us - just!

St Andrew Church is a busy city community church with a visionary plan to change their asset to create an open and inclusive space more adaptable to all, from small to grown up audiences. It is a community building, building for the community, where everybody is always most welcome!

In front of the church, their Friday’s meetings in the sanctuary have been lacking space due to invading weeds, promptly now removed by GoodGym-ers. And, indoor, you can now smell the fresh fragrance of botanic scent and of wax (a bit less botanic 😉) because of additional GoodGym-ers’ cleaning action!

Our eyes are already shining of excitement for what will potentially turn to be a GoodGym indoor refurbishment workout! For now, we support the great expectations of Rev. Dan, John, and of the whole community.

A nice group session for Jasmin, a visiting GoodGym-er from London. Follow us to see what’s on next

Despite the weather was not on our side, Brighton GoodGym-ers were fully lined up to run and happily gather at the Waterloo Street Garden for restoring the original charm of this cute street garden, between Old Market Theatre and Waterloo Street.

A few weeks ago, the Friends of Waterloo Street Garden called for Brighton GoodGym ’s help! The recent garden dis-adventure, due to an act of bad-behaviour, had deeply upset the regular users of the garden, when they found several big plants ripped in half, terracotta pots smashed, and benches turned over. Any little helped to tidy this all up! Including the arrival of enthusiastic Brighton GoodGym-ers ready to help out on a wet day – to their surprise (or not) 😊!

Yesterday turned to be a ‘fast and furious’ group session grabbing a window of less rain and limited daylight to plant bulbs in the pots to flower joy back into the garden next spring. Friendly chit chatting among GoodGym-ers and Friends of Waterloo Street Garden seemed to have already resumed the unique magic of this lovely open air street ‘salotto’. We might wish to pop in again this coming Saturday for their workshop of watercolour painting – weather dependent of course 😊

Yesterday was a return to the Brighton Hove Food Partnership’s Clubhouse on the Downs at Wilding Waterhall. A return to re-wilding for some running GoodGym-ers and a discovery of a relatively new community project for new-er GoodGym-ers, who adventured the ascent to the hill (and descent even more 😉) on their bike!

Formerly a golf course, this rewilding area now boasts diverse flora & fauna, stunning views, wild horses, and ample space for hire. Since our visit last year, this clubhouse has become a well-used space for several wellbeing projects, immerse in the nature to generate a multitude of good emotions to its beneficiaries. The continuing improvement and maintenance of the assets requires multiple contributions, often in kind, from construction builders, renewable energy developers, rangers of the city green spaces … and indeed the always most welcome help of GoodGym Brighton. We were tasked to clear the pavements surrounding the clubhouse from weeds to make the structure more easily accessible by all.

Did you like it, GoodGym-ers? In Harrison’s words: “I would just say that it's been a motivation and an inspiration to be a part of the GoodGym. I felt completely welcome from the very first moment and everyone is so nice and friendly - who would have guessed? I've enjoyed all the activities so far, getting outside and helping the place look nice! It's very heart warming to hear and feel the genuine thanks from the people we help and the public that witness us doing it, it really feels like we are putting something positive out there, so thank you!”

Making the most of the of the evening sun we headed to the Bevy. We welcomed back Kitty!

The Bevy Pub– More Than a Pub! The Bevy is the only community run pub on an estate sited in Moulsecoomb at the margins of Brighton & Hove city. As well as pouring a good pint they run events for the whole community including a Kids Club, Disability Disco and Seniors Club. They are struggling for funds but still providing support and activities for the local community, thanks to the support of everyone for More than a Good cause! 😉

We had a longer run of approx 7k with a sting in the tail with a hill at the end!

We were helping master gardener Dave, a very much-loved member of The Bevy community, with the community garden where the produce grown is used for feeding the Seniors Club. The GoodGym Brighton’s group got busy weeding the bushes of berries, under great coordination from Frances, Nicola, Jane and Stefania for tools provision and time keeping! Some of us dug out compost to use as mulch to renjuvinate the soil all around those well managed bushes that are still gifting The Bevy’s chef with succulent little fruits to make apple & berries crumbles. While others prepared soil beds with recycled cardboards and carried out buckets of green waste compost up the sloping garden to improve the fertility and health of the soil, so reducing weed growth in the future. A smaller team, including Pippa, Liam and Ben watered the upper flowery allotment and picked up the grown veg, including beans and squashes that I remember GoodGym volunteers planted here last spring.

In a short time, we made a bit difference to Dave’s garden and left him with a big indulged smile on his face. You, Dave, Warren and all The Bevy’s community volunteers are greatly contributing to the future resilience of such a Good pub!

The Bevy Pub– More Than a Pub! An engaged community of friends and volunteers believing in a shared social good purpose. GoodGym Brighton is proud to befriend you, and we will be happy to return in winter for some painting!

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Well this summer continues to evade us, with a lovely day turning into patchy rain by the time we set off to Vicarage Bowls club yesterday evening. Luckily the rain didn't last and we navigated our way through the streets of Brighton out to the bowls club.

We have been regular visitors to the bowls over the years but sadly our host informed that this will be the last season the club is in use. After ninety-six years the club can no longer get the support it needs to keep running so will be closing come September.

With this in mind we set to work to make the planting look its best for the club's final hurrah! The main task was clearing a huge bed of overgrown brambles and weeds. All nine of us set to work cutting and pruning out any unwanted intruders. We had soon created a huge mound of debris filling eight bin bags!

With all this hard work on a humid summer's evening our kind host brought us water and biscuits to keep us fueled up. We then continued on clearing the bed, whilst some of us refreshed the path, with Jane in particular wielding her own weeding knife to great effect.

With such a big task we stayed later to try make a larger dent in the bed, skipping the fitness session. After a few photos we all ran and walked back into Brighton. If this is to be the last time we help the Vicarage Bowls Club then it was a great session to go out on and maybe we'll be back in future to help with whatever replaces the club. Thanks for everything VBC!