Four GoodGym-ers helped out to run a tailored session at the Hummingbird Refugee Project - A Community Standing Together for the Rights and Protection of Young Refugees.

We were invited to run a guest workshop at the Black & Minority Ethnic Community Partnership - BMECP centre on occasion of their weekly Social Club. After some fun welcoming game and physical introductions Stefania talked all about GoodGym and the handed-out information to enable the young adults to join if they wanted. We then set off to The Brighton Greenway to pick litter. Nearly 30 young people joined in with much enthusiasm despite the spitting rain! Like Hummingbirds, who find refuge from rain under leaves or in dense foliage to stay dry, we simulated a similar shelter-seeking behaviour while looking for rubbish under the foliage in this green belt close to Brighton station.

We collected 5 bags of rubbish in 30 minutes, a great achievement and a lot of satisfaction!

We then went back to the centre and ate a meal together. It was such a joyful evening, enriched by the participation of experienced GoodGym-er Frances and our kind soul Ebrah. I was so impressed by the young people of the Hummingbird Refugee Project and how they threw themselves into the task. I think a few of them really enjoyed it!

I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some new members too! HERE how to become a GoodGym member!

We are Running Out of Time – Save the Planet!

2436km. 29 days. One mission! 🌎 👇 GoodGym Brighton joined other runners, walkers, and cyclists passing the Relay baton from Ben Nevis to Big Ben. 🙌 We run the two relay legs in Brighton & Hove from i360 to Cardinal Newman School, and from here to Goldstone Primary School, in Hove, passing by Cottesmore St. Mary's Catholic Primary School.

“Save the Planet! Save the Planet! Save the Planet!”- That was the school children’s hiatus cheering the baton at each arrival of the runners!

Children showcased amazing practical actions, from planting hedgerows, litter picking, solar panels on the school’s roof to drinks dispensers with reusable cups, leaving a promising legacy for the benefits of the climate and nature! 👏

Jane and Stefania were proud to hold the baton taking pledges and showing commitments as individuals, at community, national and international level. GoodGym will keep running, cycling, walking with human power to show we can move and act together to make a difference!

On day to go and the Relay will arrive to London – just on time for the general election!

We finally managed to return to help our friends from the The Bevy Pub – More Than a Pub! The Bevy is the first community run pub whose events and profits support the local community: from kids who need a square meal to seniors who want some company and everyone in between, The Bevy is there.

As well as being Brighton’s only community owned pub, is the Bevy Brighton’s first zero food waste pub? Every weekday lunchtime they serve up home cooked community lunches at affordable cost thanks to their link with Fareshare Sussex who redistribute surplus food, feeding bellies not bins. Any food waste is then put in their new hot composter, to produce gold standard compost that is then used in the edible pub garden. They’ve been adding 400 litres of mixed waste per week. For every 3 parts they put in, they get 1 part of top-quality compost - and the punters and fruit, veg and flower garden all love it!

Yesterday, GoodGym Brighton welcomed new member Euan and helped Dave, Shirley and Warren to enrich the soil with Bevy-Made compost, planted pumpkins, harvested rhubarb and cleared the Rubus Fruticosus, also called brambles, from invasive weeds – in a few words, we got the edible pub garden ready for the summer season, when we will come back to look out for the juicy berries to make the most of this place favourite.

The Bevy struggles to make money from food, but ironically it is their community approach to food that is a shining example of how this untypical pub on an ordinary estate working with a host of different organisations, is helping to achieve extraordinary things. Nowdays the Bevy’s work is more important than ever, with economic pressures on the rise. Let’s help our friends to realise their current plans and crowdfunding ambitions! Please Donate and Share

Six Good Gym runners helped local volunteers with setting up and running Spring in the Patch community festival. It was luckily mainly a dry April day for set-up until about half way through the event when it started raining unfortunately. Juliet (who is also a Patch volunteer committee member) ran the community mission. Sarah and Pippa helped with set-up which involved putting up tents, carrying boxes from the container, setting up the bar and tea tent. Sarah came back for another volunteer shift later collecting donations on the gate, the innovation of being able to now take card donations has really helped. Nikki and Michael joined later too for different shifts, both on the tea tent serving tea, coffee, cold drinks and a range of home-made delicious cakes. The event attracted about 300 people and had four bands, bar, tea tent, a range of stalls including craft, hair braiding, face painting, Green party, Labour party and activities such as yoga and archery. We event had a potential MP volunteering on the bar! It was a very successful event, despite the rain and the Good Gym volunteers made a big difference.

6 Goodgymers made their way 7km to Moulsecoomb hall to assist in their volunteers day on Tuesday 9th April 2024.

We were provided with white paint for the walls and doors of the lobby of the building to help refresh the space and give it a bright welcome for visitors. The hall provides a much needed space for the local community to hire at affordable prices for weddings and parties but also for regular classes etc. We painted the foyer before a new carpet will be laid in a few days time.

We were then given pizza which we devoured before making our way back home. A warm welcome to “new” Pippa too.