Marshalling at Hove Parkrun was another fun way to start the day. Cheering and hopefully motivating the walkers, joggers and runners on warm Saturday morning.

Mr. E is housebound due to a respiratory illness and relies on Co-op food deliveries for his groceries. Co-op is currently experiencing a nationwide system outage and aren't offering any delivery slots.

Due to this Mr. E has been unable to get fresh food. After going to meet him to collect the cash we visited the 2 Co-ops at Seven Dials to get the things he needed. Unfortunately the system issue impacts the stock in the stores too and we couldn't get everything.

Mr. E was still very grateful for the bits we could get to tide him over for a few more days.

After some wondering and running along the colourful streets in Hanover, Brighton GoodGymers landed to the Phoenix Community Centre to join Simon and other residents from the Phoenix Estate Community Association and Hanover Action.

Hidden, mainly by the weeds 😊, in the heart of this small neighbourhood within the Hanover and Elm Grove area, we found a small allotment that Simon looks after with passion and where he grows vegetable for the Phoenix Food Shop. This is a Social Supermarket run by the community for the community to provide an equal provision of good quality and nutritional food at an affordable cost.

And so, equipped for full action and spit in two groups, one weeding and the other one painting over graffiti, GoodGym contributed to several grassroots initiatives aimed to make the Phoenix estate a better place for residents to live and thrive.
We welcomed new member Elle and returning Jenny!

Let's tell our friends WHAT's ON at GoodGym Brighton.

It is a wonderful life in a wonderful land!

I had a great time marshalling with my wife at Hove Park Parkrun, supporting walkers, joggers and runners as they complete their 5k at Hove Park. I also got to cheer on a fellow Goodgymer as they run Hove Park for the first time!

On a very warm Tuesday evening 9 GoodGymmers braved the long uphill jog to Manor Paddock - a lovely communal garden in sheltered housing that we visit regularly to help them keep the space tidy and accessible for residents.

On arrival we met some more GoodGymmers and our host Luc, who put us to task with a list of jobs for the session.

The main task for the evening was digging out two large Lavender bushes which had become quite unruly, and replacing them with some smaller plants for the summer season. It was tough going, but at least it smelled great!

The rest of us got our hands dirty helping with other jobs in the garden; collecting dried grass for mulching, cutting back conifer bushes and weeding in the raised beds.

Once we were done (and had made friends with resident Doggo Max!) most of us made our way back to our meeting point - enjoying the cooler temperatures and downhill elevation.

And a big welcome to first timer Jenny , we hope you enjoyed your first session with us :)

Finally, the Sun Gods were shining on ‘Spring in the Patch.’ Six Good Gymers helped support the volunteers from Friends of William Clarke park in the neighbourhood of Hanover and Elm Grove with the set up of this much-loved local community festival, bringing friends, neighbours and families together. On arrival, Sherman, Michael and Amro were tasked with helping to set up the beer tent, tea tent, reflexology tent and a tent over the stage which all took some time. Later Michael was given a particularly satisfying task of chopping wood. Then Liam and Natasha helped set up the fire to roast potatoes and popcorn. Thanks to all the help from the Good Gymers, the site was set up in no time, and several committee members commented how thankful they were for the help and support. The event was very successful, partly due to the weather and the good promotion, with a wide variety of attractions which means with the funds raised, the Patch community festivals will be able to continue. Several of us stayed for the event to enjoy the music, beer, dancing and soak up the great atmosphere of people coming together.