Impressive was the stamina of yesterday’s Brighton GoodGym-ers who did not even hesitate to get out in a cold Autumnal evening for a short run to Palmeira Square to help the Palmeira and Adelaide Garden Group. New heroic GoodGym-er Sonam joined us for the first time, in shorts 😊

As usual, our lovely Stuart, who is the patron of all the good conservation happening in Palmeira Square’s green spaces, welcomed us ready for action with rakes, brooms and leaves grabbers to remove all the Autumnal leaves from the footpaths around the Floral Clock.

On continuing move and with grand co-ordination of group effort, we managed to clear all the pavements without (almost) freezing our hands and feet. Soon after the GoodGym-ers were joined by Brighton & Hove council's forces contributing to the clearance of the streets and to our greatest satisfaction!

The Floral Clock is now ready for the Christmas lights switch-ons happening this coming weekend!

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One Goodgymer ran to Queens Park to help out with the Junior Parkrun. With a winding two lap course in an out of wooded areas lots of marshalls were needed to help. Standing at marshall position 2 I cheered the juniors through the secret garden on up the hill. There was a great turn out with lots of smiling faces even after two laps of the park! After helping pack up at the end I headed off with a great feeling of achievement!

Upon being greeted by Mr L, I was led through to what he described as "a bit of a jungle" and rightly so! But I assured him us GoodGymers are used to a bit of jungle bashing and set to work pulling up brambles while he made me a lovely cuppa. Mr L's late wife used to look after the garden and in recent years it's gotten out of hand, so hopefully with our help the garden can be enjoyable once again. Four bags of bramble, cup of tea and a visiting robin later, I'd made a good dent in taming the jungle!

Sanctuary Runners is a solidarity-through-sport initiative founded in Ireland and launched in Brighton by Tim Holtan in July 2024. It uses running, jogging and walking to bring together asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and all residents - a Good Initiative, that Brighton GoodGym is happily partnering with.

Usually, we run alongside other Brighton Sanctuary Runners at Saturday's Preston Park parkruns.

We are now also running together at their Thursday's weekday session as an additional opportunity to share our 'Solidarity, Friendship and Respect' by bringing Our Smile to ALL, including whom arrived in our city seeking safety and sanctuary.

Yesterday was a special gathering for Brighton Sanctury Runners with its extended family of other community runners and walkers in Brighton & Hove, including pro-marathon runners from London Marathon Events and our friends from Run & Rave, who brought spark and music to our 5K evening run altogether on the Brighton seafront. The inspiring welcoming words of Joe and Graham, one of the founders of Sanctuary Runner, and even more warming living testimony of our friend and table tennis player, Alban, strengthened our sense of togetherness in bridging the gap among culture and language diversities thought our shared passion for moving united!

We could not miss this, in full GoodGym spirit, so Stefania and Sarah happily joined the run with this new Brighton family and the after-run celebration with a Good feast prepared by our other friends of the Real Junk Food Project.

We will be back soon here for another GoodGym Brighton’s community group run and mission!

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On a cold November night 13 intrepid GoodGym-ers made the short run over to the Brighton Community Kitchen to give it a good clean and a freshen up. We were joined on the task by first-timers Steve and Nicole!

Upon arrival, Jo from the kitchen explained to us the mission of the kitchen (part of the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership) to offer practical cookery skills and nutrition education to people facing food insecurity with their community cooking classes. The classes also help foster a community spirit, tackle social isolation and promote mental health.

With the help of one of Jo's famous checklists we split into groups to tackle sorting out the plastic bowls (Russian Doll-style), ordering plates, chopping boards and cutlery, giving all the stools and chairs a thorough clean, giving the ovens a deep clean and squeegeeing the outside windowsills.

Although ostensibly an altruistic mission, some GoodGym-ers got immense satisfaction from ensuring that everything was in its proper, ordered, place in the kitchen (cough, cough, Jane).

Once we'd got through all of that Jo thanked us and said that although it seems like a small thing to do these tasks, it makes a huge difference to the her as they are things that she just doesn't find time to do.

We said goodbye to Jo with a promise to return early next year and headed-off to the nearby Basketmakers Arms for a pie-and-pint social which was expertly organised by an absent Frannie!

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“Remember, remember! The fifth of November, The Gunpowder treason and plot; I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot!”

The Lewes Bonfire Night, #LewesBonfire, is the most famous Bonfire Night festivities, with Lewes being called the bonfire capital of the world. A remembrance of history evolving mainly from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and Guy Fawkes (Guido Fawkes) and the Seventeen Martyrs burnt at the stake in Lewes, Sussex during the period of 1555–1557. It also remembers the Protestant Reformation in 1517, which was a schism from the Catholic Church. Nowadays, #LewesBonfire features a ‘free expression’ of local problems or any reasons of grievance, which will be blown up at the end of the processions by the five Lewes Bonfire Societies, culminating with a magnificent fireworks display!

This year, I decided to join the Bike Train from the Level to Lewes Bonfire - A fun festive ride organised by Brighton Bike Hub and Cranks, with music, at a gentle pace, promoting sustainable transport initiatives of the 'Lewes Road for Clean Air' community group with the aim to increase the uptake of cycling and enable a shift away from car dependency.

Bike Train’s marshals, Sarah, Gav, Maria and Stefania encouraged other GoodGym-ers, including new comers Patrick and Amanda, to join the fun by offering their help and budding up each other as well as other less confidents cyclers, and so by creating a safety-in-numbers environment for everybody to take part!

It was a great experience – Très Bon! Very GOOD, GoodGym!

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