Heene Community Gardens has been a long-term project for Worthing GoodGym – and tonight, we hit another major milestone in this journey .Over the past couple of years, we've fought the battle against weeds, uneven ground, and wild overgrowth... and it finally feels like we're winning!

We were warmly greeted this evening by Rik and Val, the tireless volunteers from St Botolph’s Church who have supported the garden’s development from the very beginning. Val’s long-held vision for the garden was visibly closer to reality tonight – and she couldn’t have been more grateful

The evening's mission was to lay paving stones along the garden path leading to the notice board, on top of a weed-suppressing black membrane. A precise, physical task – but nothing this team couldn’t handle.

Paul , John and Rickygot straight to work preparing the ground, as best they could , ensuring it was as level and firm as possible before the slabs went down.

They were soon joined by El and Roxy who set about weeding and tidying.

In just one hour, the transformation was complete: a smart, clean path guiding visitors to the notice board, with surrounding areas freshly weeded and looking their best.

Val was delighted. We were proud. The garden is starting to become the beautiful, welcoming community space she always imagined.

👏 Huge well done to Paul, John, Ricky, El, and Roxy – each of you brought something different tonight, and together it made a real impact.

Thank you all :)

Julia xx

💨 Wind, Weeds & a Whole New Look for the Seafront Flowerbed! 🌊

It was an extremely windy evening down on the seafront, but that didn’t stop a hardy team of three GoodGym volunteers from giving a much-loved community flowerbed a well-earned makeover. Check out the before and after photos!

Gillybeanand Paulatackled the task with determination, battling gusts as they cleared out old plant debris and spent bulb matter. Despite the blustery conditions, they worked efficiently to tidy the bed and prepare it for replanting.

The new plants—donated by Nick and delivered by me were a mix of beautiful varieties, all lovingly grown from seed. Once the space was cleared, Gill and Paula carefully planted them in, bringing structure and life back to the space.

Thanks to their efforts and some excellent team watering ,the flowerbed now looks bright, fresh, and ready to face the sea breeze in style. A fantastic team effort in less-than-ideal weather—well done all! 🌱💪

I'm still in the Worthing area, and wanted to visit my friends at Worthing Leisure Centre junior parkrun. This is my 6th time volunteering with them.

Today I was volunteering as time keeper. 89 junior parkrunners later, and the event was over.

There was a lot of excitement about the reopening of the Leisure Centre coffee shop. Today was its first day after being closed for renovation. The coffees were as good as ever.

The predicted forecast was for rain, rain, a bit more rain, and maybe even a thunderstorm. So that may explain the number of parkrunners. But all of them had fun.

I was volunteering at Worthing parkrun this morning. Worthing is also home to a GoodGym, and today's run director was also a GoodGymer.

The weather was, quite frankly, terrible. The rain was already in place before 9 AM, and didn't let up once. Runners and volunteers were soaked through. But, everyone finished with a smile on their face.

I was helping out on Finish Tokens, along with another visiting tourist. There were no problems, which is always nice.

This week, three caring GoodGymers — Barbara Roxy, and Paula headed to Beehive Care Home in Ferring to lend a hand to Margaret, a resident with a true passion for gardening.

Margaret had found it difficult to settle into her new home, having left behind the beautiful garden she’d lovingly tended for many years. But rather than give up her green-fingered ways, she took it upon herself to transform the communal garden at Beehive into something both pretty and purposeful — a place residents can enjoy and connect with nature.

With secateurs in hand and smiles on their faces, the GoodGym trio joined Margaret to help prune and tidy the garden, giving the plants space to thrive and restoring some order to the borders. Margaret’s joy was clear to see — a little teamwork went a long way in helping her feel supported and proud of her growing garden project.

It was a small but powerful act of kindness, showing how community and connection can help things — and people — bloom.

-Thank you to Barbara, Roxy, and Paula for helping out tonight and a big shoutout to Margaret for her inspiring dedication to bringing beauty and life to her new home. 🌸**

Helping Out at Heene Cemetery

Tonight, the GoodGym team gathered for a special mission at the beautifully atmospheric Heene Cemetery, a closed graveyard and conservation area designated as one of outstanding natural beauty. Our hosts for the evening were the ever-dedicated Sue, who helps maintain the cemetery grounds, and Dora a passionate fox guardian currently caring for Elf and his adorable family of cubs who reside among the gravestones.

Our tasks for the evening were clear (and nicely ambitious!):

Removing ivy from the ancient Sussex stone wall Clearing grass strimmings from the graves Tidying space around the flourishing apple trees. General Tidying and Pruning

The team quickly got stuck in with their usual energy and good spirits. John, Belinda, and Anne led the charge against the ivy, carefully pulling back years of creeping growth from the stonework. This was quite some feat and pretty epic. With what John pulled away from the wall , it clearly that all the strength training with me is paying off!

Meanwhile, Pauland Stéphane turned their attention to the orchard area, clearing under the apple trees to allow them more room to breathe.

On grave-duty, Ryan , Mel and Sarah tackled the freshly strimmed grass, lifting the cuttings off graves and pathways to leave the cemetery looking neat and respected.

Elsewhere, El and Gillybean showcased their multitasking prowess by pruning and tidying across multiple areas, all under the curious gaze of Elf the fox.

In true GoodGym style, there was a touch of mischief too, John had sneakily buried a fake skeleton hand under the grass strimmings for Sarah to discover giving her a good laugh once the trick was revealed. But the spooky vibes didn’t stop there — not long after, a real bird foot and leg mysteriously fell from the sky, landing right in front of me . Whether it was a strange coincidence or a little message from the cemetery’s resident spirits, we will never know. Personally I blame John 🤷

After a full hour of productive work, we wrapped up the evening with a lovely surprise: Sue kindly shared some of her birthday cake with us all — a nice end to a great (and slightly eerie!) evening.

Thank you to everyone who came out, and to Sue and Dora for their work and hospitality. We’ll be back in early October to help keep this special place looking its best.

Have a great week !

Julia xx