15 GoodGym Barnet members took part in this year’s Big Butterfly Count (18 July–10 August), adding our sightings to the UK-wide citizen science survey. I managed three counts myself—numbers were low in my patches, so I’m keen to see the national results.

Butterflies are brilliant indicators of environmental health, helping scientists track the effects of climate change, habitat loss, and pollution. Early reports suggest a good year for gatekeepers, red admirals, and peacocks, plus a UK first—the southern small white fluttering in from southern Europe!

Citizen science is easy, fun, and open to all—you don’t need to be a runner or an expert. Next year, let’s get even more people involved: friends, family, neighbours… the more counts, the better the data.

Thanks to everyone who took part—your 15 minutes really can help protect our environment.

🦋 Count them, love them, protect them.

16 Goodgymmers made the short jog over to Brighton Community Kitchen on Queens Road for our regular clean-up mission. We welcomed new Goodgymmer Charli, who has recently made the big move from Worthing over to Brighton, for her first task.

The Brighton Community Kitchen does vital work in the community to teach valuable cooking skills to those who might otherwise might not have access. Recently they have been working with the Marcus Rashford-backed project to provide meals over the holidays to children who are eligible for free school dinners. They have hosted classes for both the children and their parents to impart practical day-to-day cooking skills.

We were excited to see that the Kitchen has recently been upgraded with new sinks and a Food Dehydrator. The dehydrator particularly allows them to preserve vegetables that wouldn't otherwise by used, store them and later use them as ingredients. There was a big batch of Tomatoes, Onions and Carrots in the dehyradator during our clean.

Jo greeted us with her usual enthusiasm and gratitude, along with her famous todo list on the wall. This time we cleaned all the windows both inside and out, transformed the drawers from chaos to order, gave all the stools and work surfaces a good cleandown, scrubbed the ovens and of course sorted the cheese graters! Our extra large turnout meant we were able to knock-off all the tasks in no time.

With our tasks finished and everything ticked off of Jo's list we sauntered off into the summer night back to our own (slightly less sparkly clean) kitchens.

Most GoodGym volunteers report high levels of satisfaction, with a strong sense of making a difference and increased social connection being key drivers to getting fit while making good.

At our group session yesterday, 11 handy GoodGymers fulfilled their expectations while volunteering to scrape weeds from the streets of Hanover 😊. After running uphill, we gathered in Islingword road to meet Chancellor Tim Rowkins and other residents who engaged with the session by handing over their tools and help, including Rose and Elaine.

Firstly, we manually pull-out weeds, ensuring to get the roots to prevent regrowth, and we then cleared all around to make the area looking well tidied up. Thanks City Clean Tidy Up Team for providing brooms and shovels! We managed to save the Red Valerian, known as Centranthus Ruber – a perennial herb with deep pink, almost crimson, flowers that are commonly found growing alongside roadside verges and on old stone walls, in bungaroosh. Did you know that Bungaroosh is a composite building material first introduced by the Romans and used almost exclusively in the English seaside resort of Brighton? I didn’t.

It was another of our Good sessions, helping Brighton & Hove council to keep our city streets clean! Cllr Tim Rowkins, deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Net Zero & Environmental Services of Brighton & Hove City Council, also updated us on the major plans to expand recycling to include all plastics and food waste in Brighton & Hove. Very Good!