On Saturday morning, Sarah, John, Ivar, Martin, Frazer and Marianna from GoodGym joined forces with the lovely SweetFig community crew, Tracey, Yvonne and Caroline, for a litter-picking session around the Days Lane area.

It was a classic round of litter bingo, with wrappers, bottles, cans and all the usual suspects making an appearance. But this session also had a surprisingly sporty twist, as we found a golf ball, a football and a dog ball. Not a bad haul, especially as Marianna had her children and dog with her, making the balls feel like a very on-brand discovery.

As we worked our way around the area, several local residents stopped to thank us for cleaning up, which is always such a brilliant boost. It is a lovely reminder that even a short session can make the streets look better and help people feel proud of where they live.

Once the bags were filled and the litter bingo cards firmly completed, we headed to SweetFig, where Samantha, the local café owner, very kindly treated the group to tea and coffee on the house.

Huge thanks to Samantha and the SweetFig community for supporting the session, and to everyone who came along to help.

Fancy joining the next one? Come along to a GoodGym session. No special skills required, just a bit of enthusiasm, comfortable shoes and a willingness to make the local area a little bit lovelier.

The cheers received by 9 good-gymers were great to hear as we made our way to this evening's task meeting point. (Although apparently said cheers were in fact not intended for us, rather for some football players...?)

A quick warm up & ice-breaker discussing favourite sports and we made our way uphill to Dee's Childcare, where a rather exciting challenge awaited us, involving "base camp" in the nursery garden, an ambitious project where the children plan to dug a tunnel to New Zealand. Our task was to help with the aesthetics though, and soon we were moving, arranging & stabilising logs around the tunnel entrance so lots more digging can be done.

Our next task took us to the big screen, this time showing Forest Dump, as we tackled the weeds in an overgrown, fenced off area, clearing multiple bags of vegetation.

Task complete & Stump duty paid! Thanks all & see you soon! ⭐

I was one of the 11 Goodgym-ers who signed up for this task, and this was my experience. I completed the task on my way home after finishing a long day shift.

I’d also like to share a little story from earlier that day. On my way to work, I was walking (and occasionally jogging!) across the common carrying my litter grabber. I noticed a lady feeding the hawks with some bread, which I thought was lovely. However, when she finished, she simply threw the empty plastic wrapper onto the ground instead of putting it in a nearby bin.

She was walking just ahead of me, and I found myself wondering whether I should politely remind her that it wasn’t the right thing to do. After a moment, I felt it was the right time to say something. I walked past her, slowed down, and kindly said, “You can put that plastic in the bin, you know.”

She looked at me, noticed the litter grabber I was carrying, smiled, and seemed to acknowledge what I’d said. Perhaps seeing me with the grabber made her think, “That makes sense.” I’ll never know, but I hope it encouraged her to dispose of her rubbish properly in the future.

I walked away feeling surprisingly empowered. It reminded me that sometimes it’s all about choosing the right moment and using a respectful approach. A simple, kind reminder can make a difference.

I hope that small conversation made a positive impact. If we all help each other in little ways, we can keep our community clean and make it a better place for everyone to live.

Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Cecilia D🍀

Note: By the end of my litter pick, my bag was mostly filled with recyclable items.