With the late evening sun still shining, we headed north towards Moulsecoomb Primary School some on two wheels and some tackling the 4km run.

A particularly big welcome back to Daniel, returning to GoodGym after a break and, impressively, taking on his first run in a year! What better way to make a comeback than with a sunny run followed by some serious gardening?

Arriving at the school, we were greeted by the brilliant Warren, who quickly got us equipped and pointed in the direction of the evening's tasks.

One group headed into the school's orchard to clear around the bases of the trees, while another team got stuck into pruning and clearing parts of the veg patch. The veg garden was looking especially impressive, with some absolutely enormous sunflowers towering over us a few of them even taller than Ruth!

There was plenty of shearing, grass cutting and general hacking back to be done, accompanied by chats about holidays and summer adventures. As ever, many hands made light work and before long we'd generated an impressive mountain of greenery, eventually packing the compost heap to bursting!

With a little time still on the clock, there was just enough opportunity for some fairly brutal hedge trimming to tidy up another corner of the grounds. The hedge did fight back though, and I managed to finish the task with a literal thorn in my side. Occupational hazard of GoodGym gardening!

With the garden well and truly blitzed, tools were gathered, everything was tidied away and we disappeared off into the fading light for the long run and cycle back into Brighton.

It's always a pleasure to return to Moulsecoomb Primary School and lend a hand with their ambitious nature gardens and outdoor education projects. Another lovely evening of running, riding, chatting, chopping and doing some good.

We met by the Peace Statue and unanimously agreed on one thing before we’d even set off: how is it still this incredibly hot?! Nevertheless, we got ourselves moving and made our way through the warm Brighton evening to our task.

On arrival we met Tom, who welcomed us, showed us the tools and pointed out the areas of the garden most in need of some attention. And there was certainly plenty to get stuck into!

We set to work clearing a huge amount of weeds, with bindweed making a particularly determined bid for garden domination. Many handfuls, armfuls and bags later, we’d brought some much-needed order back to the space, opening it up for residents to enjoy again and hopefully giving them the chance to develop their own green fingers.

As ever, the conversation flowed as quickly as the weeds disappeared. Tom kept us entertained with some fascinating stories, while our very own Jane treated us to a potted history of Arundel Castle and England's Dukedom. We also learnt from Tom about Father Mark and the history of how 58 Cromwell Road came to be.

More importantly, Tom reminded us why places like this matter and of the real difference a welcoming, cared-for space can make to people’s lives. It was lovely to be reminded that, although pulling weeds might seem like a small thing, lending a few pairs of willing hands can contribute to something much bigger.

With a rather less jungly garden behind us, we said our goodbyes and ran off into the still-light, and still very warm, summer evening.

6 GoodGymmers ran and cycled their way to FareShare Sussex and Surrey’s depot this evening, to help them prepare for tomorrow’s deliveries and collections.

After donning our mandatory kit of boots, high viz vests, and gloves - we were given our instructions by task host Steven.

After a rather hot and sweaty 2.5 mile run, Rosie, Jane and Nicola were eager to help out in the refrigerated section of the warehouse, picking orders ready for collection, while cyclists Rachel, Sarah and Sarah opted to keep warm and help load the van with tomorrow’s deliveries to the Guildford hub.

FareShare Sussex & Surrey provide food to more than 144 local charities and community groups that not only deliver meals but provide additional services, such as advice and guidance, health support, counselling and befriending. They are an environmental charity that uses surplus food as a vehicle for good above and beyond alleviating hunger.

Yesterday, six magnificent Brighton GoodGymers ran up to Lavender House for a weeding blitz. The sun was out, and so was our appetite for destroying invasive vegetation to help the local retirement housing community thrive.

A massive GoodGym Brighton welcome goes out to Douglas, who joined us for his very first session! Douglas jumped straight into some intensive gardening, proving himself to be an absolute natural.

Meeting at our usual spot, we kicked off the evening with a brisk group run up the hill to Kemp Town. It was a perfect leg-burner to get everyone’s heart rates up and muscles primed before diving headfirst into the physical task. Upon arriving at Lavender House, the crew was greeted by Nial with the massive task of tackling fast-growing "idle weeds" creeping along the perimeter. Armed with garden tools and plenty of enthusiasm, we split up along the property boundaries and fanned out across all edges of the building.

Working at a blistering pace, the group cleared pathways and gravel borders in just 45 minutes. The result: 100% of the building’s edges were completely transformed, leaving the outdoor space beautifully tidy, safe, and accessible for the residents. It was an incredible display of team efficiency, proving once again how much a small, dedicated group can achieve in under an hour! We packed the tools back into the shed, thoroughly enjoyed drinking some refreshing water with squash to rehydrate, snapped a quick group photo, and headed off on our well-earned cooldown run back down the hill.

This Tuesday, a group of runners, walkers and cyclists arrived at Stanmer Organics to lend a hand to the Centre of Ecotherapy CIC, the home of a brilliant community sauna and a healthy dose of eco-therapy. We welcomed new GoodGymer Rib, Rebecca.

We split into two teams on arrival. One tackled levelling and compacting a patch of ground for a future yoga and meditation tent, plus some enthusiastic branch-lobbing. The other went full nettle-ninja, clearing paths ahead of a kids' visit so no one will come away stung.

Liz, who runs the site, was clear on the house rules: nothing gets chopped back more than it has to. Nature's in charge, the odd branch to the face will just keep us humble.

In between tasks, there were rake-dropping reaction tests, grasshoppers landing on hands, and marjoram identified (delicious smell!).

Task complete, we had a very generous feast of cold courgette and broccoli soup (Liz went to lots of effort to cool it down in this heatwave, thankfully), bread, hummus, hot cross buns, cake, and watermelon. We finished by launching the watermelon rinds into a compost bucket from a distance. In GoodGym fashion, only slightly competitive.

Stamner are throwing open the gates for a public open day of lots of their projects on 25th July. Worth a look! https://stanmerorganics.com/2026/06/23/stanmer-organics-open-day-2/