Could we have had a more glorious day to do our “cheeky little” litterpick? Four Goodgymmers, Roger, Keith, Lea and Sylvie, once she managed to find us, all joined efforts to get rid of rubbish. Surprise, surprise… in spite of the half term crowds having been and (nearly) gone, the litter wasn’t too bad. We still managed to pick up a fair bit though. And with two thank yous from the public, another Goodgym deed completed. And… the first one for Keith in his ‘100 tasks completed’ Goodgym shirt! Basking in the sunshine sipping our cups of coffee and tea, we are not complaining! No idea why the group photo was such a disaster 🤣🤣🤣

Yes, the Grockels had done it again: plenty of stuff to be litterpicked today. We had a new Goodgymmer join us: Alina! Then there were four more: James, Roger, Keith and Lea. The Durley Chine car park and the steps up and down got a good going over! On top of the cliff, around Cherry Tree Walk (not that many people know about its existence) and back down to Durley Chine Beach, enough rubbish to fill 6 bin bags. And one huge pile to be reported to the council. Unfortunately no amazingly interesting finds today, just lots of cans, cigarette butts, bottles and… rubbish! A few “thankyous” from passers by and a nice cup of tea (coffee, latte, decaf latte) afterwards and we are happy to have done our bit again. Alina assured us she would like to join us in other tasks, so a good Goodgymmer morning was had by all.

Three Goodgymmers, Daryl, Keith and Lea, got together at Vesuvios. Unfortunately they nearly got blown off the beach, with bin bags in high spirits almost getting torn out of their hands, so it was decided to go up the path to the car park. And yes, plenty to be found. High spirits for Daryl: his loot contained a 5 pound note and a bottle of “Love Island WKD”, though the latter was empty. Lea’s loot was a hundredth of Daryl’s: a shiny 5p piece. And not to forget the biggest find: “millions” of cigarette butts! Oh and the kiddie’s bike… unfortunately too far gone to be upcycled for Lea and Keith’s grandson. But the plastic rake will be added to the huge collection of beach toys already waiting for him. The rather rusty love lock led to the comment: hopefully that means these people are still together?! Lots of “thank you” and “you are doing a great job”… which is always very nice to hear. Mind you, Lea ended up having to politely react to a man thanking her who then launched into a tirade against the council, the government, the lgbts, the far rights, the immigration policy etc etc. (Yikes, man, I’m only litterpicking, you know!, was what she thought, not what she said.) With Keith studying the information at Spyglass Point even some interesting bits of history were divulged. Anyway, the world and his wife may descend on Bournemouth on hot days and leave the place a mess, but us, Goodgymmers, happily do our bit in high spirits in spite of very grey skies.

Four Goodgymmers, Caprice, Daryl, Keith and Lea were ready to tackle the rubbish the Grockles left behind. We know ‘good weather = lots of rubbish’. And going round the Durley Chine car park, this was very true, well, judging by the profanity coming out of the oldest lady in the group! This was when Caprice and Lea spotted big cartons of orange juice with lots of plastic cups as well as crisps bags and empty coffee cups in between two parked cars… But other areas were actually not as bad as we had expected, yay! Interesting finds this time?!?! Enough tissues to wallpaper a room with, the brown spots on the white tissued walls not to be contemplated too much 🤮🤮🤮🤮. A box of Dunkin Donuts, no thank you, I’ll pass on these, just put them in the bin, a Tesco bag full of naans, a pair of boxers and one gardening glove. Oh, not to forget the totally logical item of a stainless steel metal scourer, yes, you need that on the beach…. And And yay, some members of Joe Public expressed their gratitude tonight, which was nice! Mind you, standing at the top of the steps by Durley Harvester with a perfect view of the Purbecks and good Old Harry… makes you realise how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful spot.

Two Goodgymmers joined forces with three Bournemouth Ploggers to look for litter around Alum Chine. Beachcombing had us pick up loads and loads of tiny nurdles, all washed up by recent high winds. On West Overcliff Drive a double mattress was found (and now duly reported to the council). Not too many interesting finds, just a little spade, which will find its way in my grandbaby’s beach toy box and a colourful bag to put your swim stuff in, now soaking in suds before it will go in the washing machine. And the “devil” then… well, walking around with a second litterpicker in my backpack, somebody commented on the devilish shadow! Some photos added to show WHY we do it… Anyway, another Goodgym mission ✅.

Two Goodgymmers, Daryl and Lea, were joined by two Bournemouth Ploggers, Gemma and Roger, for our first litterpick of 2024. Obviously for loads of people “I will litter less” was NOT their New Year’s resolution! We stopped counting butts (cigarette butts, that is) after 1 million and 7…. Luckily for us we also found some interesting, even thought provoking stuff: a Christmas bauble near the beach, a cannabis grinder (and may I stress that I, little old lady, did not recognise it for what is was, I was enlightened on that topic by Gemma), a bottle of Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium perfume, which we could have used when Gemma found some underpants with contents 🤮🤮🤮🤮. Anyway, we worked hard in spite of damp cold weather and filled quite a few bin bags. Goodgym task ✅!! Thank you very much, Daryl, Gemma, Roger and Lea.