Four Goodgymmers, Roger, Keith, Lea and Sylvie, together with three Bournemouth Ploggers, Gemma, Katherine and Tom, got together to do another beach and surroundings litterpick. Armed with foldable (!) litterpicks, a wonky litterpick and “ordinary” litterpicks we set off, not before we got our gloves on and binbags ready. Keith’s first find was proof of a good party at the top of the chine: a canister with nitrous oxide… nope, not in the binbag, not in the bin, dutifully dropped off at the beach office. And the needle found in the car park: properly disposed of as well! Dangerous job, litterpicking!! Unfortunately no amazingly interesting finds this time, just the usual bottles and cans and, of course, again zillions of butts, making our designated “buttgrabber” Lea ecstatically happy… yeah duh!! Durley Chine being renowned for its deserted pooh bags did not live up to its reputation… i.e. we didn’t beat the still standing record of 24 poohbags. Agily Tom and Gemma climbed over fences to reach lower down places. Why of why people, do you throw your rubbish into bushes, down cliff sides etc. The “leave no footprints” message has obviously not reached everyone yet. But with seven of us going round, there was plenty litter collected, so that we could sit down for a well-earned cuppa afterwards. Thanks everyone for your hard work.

Three Goodgymmers, Roger, Keith and Lea, got their litterpickers out to see what they could find this time. Well, Lea being the designated “buttgrabber” lost count of the zillions of butts she had to pick up around all the benches. Keith and Roger scoured the path down to the beach from the top of the Tropical Gardens. Then on the beach itself… The recent rain and stormy weather had certainly washed up an abundance of nurdles, so at the end of our task the binbags weren’t overflowing but full of horrible tiny bits and pieces! And unfortunately there were no amazing finds, just ordinary boring rubbish, but at least it’s in the bin now and no longer on the beach! With binbags emptied in the big bin on the prom, and three litterpickers, including one wonky one, put to the side, we went off for a coffee! BTW the binbags are ready and waiting for next Saturday, hopefully there will be a few more of us?!?!

Millie, Sophie, Emma, Harry, Eleanor, Daryl, Roger, Keith and Lea all got together at Langside School where Nick had more tasks for us to do. Cham, new to Goodgym and to all of us, managed to find us and was raring to go. Sylvie arrived “a tad” 🤪 later…. To summarise today’s task: we were cutting, grabbing and tossing! Cutting A LOT, sweeping A LOT, grabbing A LOT, and the best part of it: tossing A LOT!!! The taller than tall hedge at the front of the school was attacked by the strimmer together with Harry and Daryl, with Cham sweeping to his heart’s content. Millie, Sophie and Emma got busy cutting back the rosemary bush and the garlic…making the air fill with lovely smells. At the back Keith started off cutting back major bushes on the edge of the playground. He was joined by the front squad and later on by Sylvie. Oh and not to forget about Roger: our ACE jetwasher, attacking the dirt on another classroom. As photos show: we got an awful lot done; very much appreciated by Nick who rewarded us with some sweet smelling bathbombs. What a Lush smell 🤗 And… Eleanor was proudly showing off her 50 good deeds tshirt! 😃 Thanks everyone for all your hard 💪 work!

Three Goodgymmers, Roger, Keith and Lea, met up with Nick from Diverse Abilities at Langside school. The shed we painted three weeks ago needed another coat. What with risking to run out of the paint we used for the first coat, we opted for a mix of the old and the new. As we didn’t have a bucket to do the mixing, Keith did a pretty good job of mixing it in the paint trays! … although the result may have looked a bit like a tie-dye job?! Makes a change to boring sameness though. Roger with the large roller was painting at an amazing speed, with Keith using a small roller coming in second and Lea with just a brush going at a snail’s pace. Well, actually, we all worked pretty fast only to be slowed down by the super tedious job of removing the masking tape from the windows. As it had been on those windows since our last visit to Langside school, it was not an easy task. Using our nails, ouch, and cloths doused in petrol, we managed to get rid of most of it. Which cannot be said of the smell on our hands … any tips on removing that smell will be gratefully received! Oh and Nick has quite a few more tasks lined up for us! Yay.