A grand welcome was given to new members Sarah and Stefan at yesterday GoodGym’s session at the Fitzherbert hub helping the Real Junk Food Project.

A running stroll on the seafront and high knees step ups the stairs enriched our fitness session on route to the venue. And once there, … surprise! We found some construction work-in-progress but, regardless, the unstoppable Brighton GoodGymers managed to clean safely all the exposed surfaces, swept and mopped all the floors in a blink of an eye, by equipping themselves with helmets – not these ones not 😊, but yes indeed with all the available brooms, brushes, dust pans, backets and mops!

We also extended the job to the neighbouring Brighton Table Tennis Club to make our cleaning session more fulfilling. It was a grand group, so with no surprise we finished off everything very quickly to get ready for the follow up entertainment: The Quiz night at the Kempt pub.

B'fest is the Brighton Youth Arts Festival.

Now in its 10th year, it is run at the Brighton Youth Centre for and by young people, 13-19 years old. B’fest launches this coming Saturday 21st and will be running until the 28th of October during half term bringing together young people from across southeast to celebrate all things creative and cultural, from skateboarding to stand-up, dancing to D n D, street art, radio, music, theatre and more.

The organisation and delivery of B.fest is supported by a team of volunteers. GoodGym Brighton responded with enthusiasm to their call for extra help to get all well set-up in time for the coming up festival, soon approaching!

It was our first visit at the Brighton Youth Centre, and WE LOVE IT!

We loved the venue, slightly disorientating and to be rebuilt soon, but so shiny in all its colours and colourful offering for everybody who is or feels young (like we do 😊), including football, basketball, music production, cookery, archery, table tennis, dance sessions and an indoor skatepark at the top floor!

We loved the volunteering tasks offered by Charlotte, B’fest producer, keeping us moving and in full action for an hour or so, by moving and stacking chairs, tables, dismantling furniture and clearing all throughout to create a more open and creative space to host lots of workshops during the festival.

And, of course, we love the B’fest programme. We will be back again next week!

Sign in here for our next Tuesday’s group session on 24th October

There are also more B'fest volunteering opportunities during this and next week, via the BYC sign up B'Fest Volunteers Form

Despite the evenings getting darker, GG Brighton made a welcome return to Sloane Court to practice our specialty: destructive gardening. Over the summer the plants and weeds had grown wild, to the extent that the paved area was difficult to use and residents couldn't access their shed due to a giant buddleia.

Selecting our tools from the highly organised collection, we got stuck into pulling weeds, lopping branches, and trimming the herb garden, while Frances had the privilege of trimming a notorious bush at the front of the building. Head torches came in very handy, and the fragrances of snipped sage and rosemary accompanied our work. In the space of 45 minutes we transformed the back garden from an overgrown obstacle course into an accessible space for the older residents.

Huge congrats to Jane, who has completed over 50 good deeds with GoodGym and has a snazzy new black t-shirt to show for it!

After the task there was a unanimous decision to ditch the fitness session and get back home/to the pub, although Sarah got in some hill sprints on our behalf! Thanks everyone for another great session, see you again soon :)