After a glorious sunny bank holiday weekend, it felt a bit windy-er our yesterday’s enjoyable outing and GoodGym group session at Wilding Waterhall. This is a project of The Living Coast Partnership restoring chalk grassland, improving biodiversity and supporting public engagement on a former golf course up in the middle of a scenic wildland just on the doorstep of the South Downs National Park.

It was our first GoodGym Brighton outing with double sport action, with Philippa leading a group of our enthusiastic runners, including Jane, Nicola, Ben and Angela who found her way without getting lost in the wild 😊

And, with Stefania riding by bike together with Juliet, Sarah and new member Maddalena. WELCOME! Joining Doug, and Richard coming from the further West and Frances, who is always the first one up and ready for the community action of the day!

We saved 1.2 kg of CO2 riding or walking to Wilding Waterhall rather than travelling by car. This is what the Brighton & Hove BetterPoint App tells me to encourage sustainable travel across our city!

We were hosted by Laura from Brighton & Hove Food Partnership for tacking a spring deep clean in what was a former golf clubhouse. The list of cleaning tasks was neat, clear and long but, as usual, we managed to sort all out with our GoodGym superpower, despite the missing hot water, the lost buckets and the hidden additional hoover with dodgy electric supply 😊

Brighton & Hove Food Partnership has just taken over the management of Wilding Waterhall venue that is now available for hiring to host projects like “Land Use Plus” and “Meat Share” to encourage nature friendly farming and improve food production practices that impact less on climate change. Read more here about Wilding Waterhall: https://thelivingcoast.org.uk/project/changing-chalk-wilding-waterhall-2 And, on BHFP website about their projects https://bhfood.org.uk/land-use-plus-project and https://bhfood.org.uk/meatshare-project/

Six runners met by the Victoria Statue, ready for a slog up the hill to Brighton Table Tennis Club 🏓. This club provides inclusive table tennis lessons to local people, and Tuesday night is Ladies Night 🙌

After meeting some other GGers at the task, we were given instructions by the task owner and got to work 💪

Michelle and Thomas hoovered and mopped the reception area to make the place look welcoming for club members. Meanwhile, Sarah, Jane and Amro got stuck into the rampant weeds growing along the front of the building, while Ben, Sherman, and Rosie tidied up the shared garden over the road. We soon had the weeds pulled, the litter picked, and the borders looking braw ✨️

If that wasn't enough, some brave souls jogged to the seafront for a fitness session combining hill sprints and a core workout 🥵 Being by the sea on a sunny warm evening is one of the joys of being in Brighton, and we're looking forward to some lovely summer evenings with our GoodGym squad in the months ahead 😎

Keep an eye on our Instagram @ggbrighton for the latest reel crafted by Rosie, featuring some highlights from tonight's session. Looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming session soon!