On Tuesday 21st we carried out the last GoodGym session of the year. What a highlight this was!

Nicola, (new to the Task Force!) Sarah, Ben and Edel helped the Choir with No Name to set up and serve their meal before they performed their Big Christmas Singalong at a sell out Dome.

The Choir was set up for people who have experience of homelessness and or marginalisation. It is a community initiative building joyful singing friendships in Brighton and other major cities around the country with a link to GoodGym via the wonderful Stefania, who is a massive part of both organisations. Our coordinator and, to Ben's surprise! :-), a singing volunteer member of the Choir in Brighton.

After the choir had eaten, we were offered a delicious meal too. The food was provided by Greek Restaurant Nostos in Holland Road, Hove.

We then had a drink in a local pub and joined the rest of the GoodGymers (10 of us in all) back at the Dome for the performance.

A highlight for me was the choir’s special version of 12 days of Christmas!

I think we all found the evening uplifting, joyful and at times very moving; members of the choir shared their stories of homelessness and how the choir has helped them to feel empowered and part of a community, which is also what GoodGym does for me.

We left the Dome feeling full of Christmas spirit with big smiles and hoarse from all the singing!

Merry Xmas all!

On a cold and dark Tuesday evening 6 hardy GoodGym friends ran from the Peace Statue on the seafront to Palmeria Square. After establishing that the police officer arguing with some 'louts' was being filmed and we didn't need to intervene, we met with our host Stuart and wandered up to the Floral Clock. To note is that Stuart’s sensible doggy friend decided to stay indoors in the warm rather than joining us to work outdoor 😊! We spent a good hour raking and sweeping and gathering up leaves that had started to overtake the pavement, making it slippery for the locals and visitors. As always, Stuart got fully involved, and we filled up a large number of large garden rubbish bags with wet leaves and general mud and mush.

We managed to clear almost all the way round the small area and the only thing that stopped the mission being fully completed was that we used all the rubbish bags! And, really, the cold started to get into our bones. So, we all agreed that it was just the right time to jog back home to a warm cuppa and dinner!

We managed to clear the worst areas of the leaves, making the area once again pretty and safe.

On a cold (but dry!) December evening, 14 GoodGymers made their way to the tool library in Kemptown. Once there they were greeted by a cheery Gary and approximately a hundred crates of random tools in various states of rust.

The team soon got to work sorting the various items into boxes, and slowly but surely the room was transformed from a junk shop into a workshop.

Stefania then led us in a few rounds of squats/lunges etc., and then we went off into the night - some to the pub for taskforce strategising, others to a well-earned dinner.

Welcome new member Claudio!

A cold fast run led our evening to the warm welcome of our yesterday’s host: the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project. BUCFP was set up in 1981 and is a registered charity providing practical support, education, advice and much more to the unemployed and those in poor living conditions, benefit claimants, the unwaged, pensioners, families and those on low incomes in Brighton & Hove. The centre is run by volunteers for the benefit of all users, alongside a small team of part time paid workers.

All are welcome!

The centre is organising several festive events, including a ‘Community Christmas Lunch‘ with activities and presents on the 13th December and a ‘Families Christmas Party‘ on the 15th December. Lots of presents needed to be wrapped for the event’s raffle and this was our task yesterday! What a fun session, really. Reminded my childhood when my favourite entertainment was apparently to wrap-up everything in the house making to find things a real challenge for my parents 😊

We enjoyed fully wrapping presents and we ended up our session with a present ourselves, leaving the centre with a big smile on our faces and a loaf of rustic bread – surplus food. A nice welcome to new member Patrizia