Yesterday, we saw record GoodGym participation to help a new organisation: the MEP Multiculture English Project Garden Project. Since 2010, the project has taught gardening, horticulture, and English language skills to asylum seekers, providing a dedicated space to put this knowledge into action.

We welcomed back returning GoodGymers—Rob, Rachel, Rebecca, and Rosie — alongside tree brand-new members: Liz, Abdallah, Mohammed. They all took on the fitness challenge of running or cycling uphill for nearly 5km to reach Roedale Valley Allotments, located in a lush green valley near the top of Ditchling Road. Once there, Will welcomed the team with several tasks, including landscaping, weeding, turning compost, and wheelbarrowing mulch up and down the allotment slopes.

Another Workout for the Future!

Allotments are invaluable community assets that boost health and wellbeing, provide sustainable growing spaces, and create biodiverse green corridors. Beyond being a vital part of our city's heritage, they play a crucial role in our future. These sites act as critical urban wildlife havens, supporting plant, insect, and animal life by providing diverse microhabitats. In fact, these sanctuaries can support up to 50 times more pollinators than standard council-managed parks. Furthermore, the project's allotment sessions help participants learn new vocabulary, engage in physical activity, and adopt healthy lifestyles—massively benefiting their mental health, confidence, and self-esteem.

It was a thoroughly pleasant evening supporting a fantastic new initiative—definitely one to remember and return to!

Want to get involved? Check out what else is coming up HERE at GoodGym Brighton.

15 robust, wind-resistant Goodgymmers jogged over to St. Andrews church in Hove for our first visit of 2026. We welcomed new Goodgymmers Emily and Nancy!

Upon arriving we were welcomed inside by Vicar Dan and given a whole host of implements to get the church spick and span. We split into teams of dusters, sweepers, vacuumers and polishers and got to work!

Dan asked that we focus on giving the pews a good polish and sweeping the cobblestone floors. The church gets a lot of traffic from regular services and kids clubs. As made progress with the dusting an extra-long duster was constructed to get some pesky cobwebs* right in the rafters.

Cobwebs cleared, our big congregation of goodgymmers made quick work of the cleaning, posed for a team photo and then headed back once more into the breach (/wind).

*DId you know the difference between a cobweb and a spider web? A spider web can be new or old. A cobweb is typically an older web that has been left behind and has started collecting dust and debris. Some “cobweb spiders” make messy tangle webs even when they're fresh, so the best clue is usually fresh and sticky vs dusty and dull, not neat vs messy.

Yesterday session was held at the Brighthelm Centre, a well-known community venue in central Brighton that hosts a wide range of social, cultural, and support services and other community-focused volunteering activities.

The main objective was to help out the centre with practical maintenance tasks to improve the accessibility and appearance of the community spaces, currently disrupted by building works that are in progress since weeks. After a warmup tuned by Zumba moves (courtesy of Zumba with Mon), we engaged in a combined sweeping action of stairwells indoors and of leaves outdoors, accompanied by a festive weeds scraping workout of the garden pavements. The grace of Ewan, the building manager, revealed just how meaningful our contribution was to him and to all who benefit from this vital community centre in Brighton.

Yesterday mild night turned to be a bonus, bringing most joy to our GoodGym-ing and chit-chatting about the coming up Xmas GoodGym social events. We welcomed Pavel at his second GoodGym session on a personal mission to do as many good deeds as possible by 2025.

More to come? Plenty!