During a mild late-September evening, a core group of five GoodGymers laced up their trainers and ran out to join Round Hill Society committee member Dominic—a true force of nature in the local neighbourhood.

The Autumn Community Clear-up is now officially done (Ehm, almost)! The team tackled the Cats’ Creep first, clearing away the worst of the overhanging branches to keep the pathway clear. From there, we channelled our best energy into scraping weeds along Round Hill Crescent, successfully clearing an impressive 80 metres of pavement.

Usually, a massive surge of weeds often strikes after the late summer rains (!) throughout August and September. Scraping during this specific autumn window is crucial, as it targets winter annuals and perennials right before they go dormant. Fortunately, GoodGym never goes dormant! We had a fantastic session, and I reckon we will be back for similar action very soon.

Shout-out to GoodGymer Sarah on hitting the big 50 on the Heroes Leaderboard! 🏃‍♀️✨

Driven by community spirit, GoodGym fuses fitness and volunteering by connecting GoodGymers with local partners and volunteers through a "one workforce approach." I borrow that brilliant term 😉 from yesterday’s Active Sussex Conference, which showcased the innovative Stronger for Life programme. This award-winning initiative improves strength and balance, prevents falls, and combats muscle loss from inactivity among older adults and stroke recovery patients.

Join GoodGym for another session!

9 GoodGymmers walked, ran and cycled over to Round Hill to help the Round Hill Society keep the streets of the neighbourhood tidy. We welcomed local councillor Raf for his first mission as a GoodGym member and welcomed back 3 of our recent marathon runners (Rosie, Liam and double-champ "more marathons than a 1980s tuckshop" Ruth).

Upon arrival we got a quick pep talk from Dom and then went to pick-up brooms, shears and spades and set to work trimming back the hedges, cutting back bindweed and picking up litter. It was great to see the hedges still looking in a good condition after our visit last year and this time we didn't need to cut back anywhere near as much - although there was of course a healthy chunk of bindweed.

This mission was part of the Workout For The Future campaign recently launched by GoodGym to promote activities that help the environment, create a community connection and keep people healthy. Look out for more over the next few months! The task marked the 1 year anniversary of the creation of the Round Hill Community Pocket Park by the Society.

We made quick work of the topiary and after a snap with Dom we crept back home in the fading spring light.

*Report title must be sung to the tune of One Step Closer by Linkin Park

11 Goodgymmers jogged and walked the short journey over to Round Hill to help keep the neighbourhood tidy. When we arrived we joined forces with Dom and the volunteers from the Round Hill Society. The Round Hill Society helps to preserve, improve and create pride in the the area. We also welcomed new Goodgymmer Andrea to her first task!

After going to pick-up tools from the local community store we split into 3 groups to tackle a few different areas. Armed with secateurs, shovels and brooms we got to work on cutting back bindweed, trimming overhanging hedges and clearing the edges of the pavement. With 3 big teams and a can-do attitude we made short work of the pesky bindweed and quickly filled-up 14 bin bags. The looming darkness at the end of the task reminded us children of summer that autumn was indeed coming!

Once we finished all our tasks and regrouped, in scenes reminiscent of Jesus feeding the 5000 Stefania fed us all from huge reserves of end-of-life croissants, bread and salad. Fully carbed-up we all jogged back home in the autumn darkness.

Following a brief but comprehensive deluge hitting the coast, this week's task - a slice of green community action as part of WWF x GoodGym’s Workout for Nature - saw an impressive fifteen GoodGymers descend on Round Hill Conservation Area to paint over graffiti tags gathered on the local Cat's Creep stairway and hoe stubborn weeds on the nearby Wakefield Road.

After GoodGym's visit, Cat's Creep, famous for its wavering apostrophe (depending on whether you think one or more cats are involved), 116 steep steps and resident toads and newts, was lined once again with freshly painted magnolia walls. Meanwhile, finely honed hoeing skills from the recent GoodGym Palmeira Square challenge meant that the flint wall on Wakefield Road was similarly smartened up.

Through its collective endeavours in the Round Hill, the GoodGym Brighton team are hopeful of another appearance in the local Round Hill Reporter (published since 2000) following previous articles in recent editions. The Reporter is the printed newsletter of the Round Hill Society and is evidence of a lively local community with regular events including an annual water fight.

The mission drew to an energised end with the packing up of tools, swiftly darkening skies and GoodGym area activator/ Round Hill resident Stefania handing out ciabatta and luminous doughnuts sourced via the Olio app, which helps prevent good food from going to waste.

With thanks to volunteers from the Round Hill Society, including Dominic and local councillor Raphael.

Executive summary haiku

Fifteen GoodGymers

paint and hoe. Local acclaim.

Toads enjoy the rain.

I miss the summer, I really do! Don’t you? Regardless, it was such a great pleasure to be running with other 8 brave GoodGym-ers at yesterday's group session. We also welcomed Mariam, who was not discouraged at all but the rainy introduction to GoodGym Brighton!

Armed with rain cover ☔, weeds scrapers🧹provided by the B&H Tidy Up Team, loppers ✂ and other garden tools borrowed from Brighton Borrowers, we joined forces 💪 with a few other brave volunteers from Round Hill: the community hero Rob, my lovely neighbour Josh and the super active Aurelie from the Sylvan Hall Residents Association.

Together, we managed to clear Cat-Creep (ie the long steep stairway connecting Wakefield Road with Roundhill Crescent, where tods are crossing 🐸), a great length of the pathway of Wakefield Road, and the surrounding of the orchard at the East end of Sylvan Hall, which is aimed to flourish as a secret biodiversity spot of this residential estate. Mariam also managed to save cute snails from the green clearance! 🐌

This was a great and fully appreciated effort! Thank YOU all, GoodGym! Thank you also for helping to save good bread loaves and pasties from being wasted. Hope you enjoyed them for dinner 😊.

To the next one, and to the summer to come (hopefully).

Brighton’s topography may not have been the inspiration for Kate Bush’s classic track, but our hills are remarkable in both number and steepness. Great for some challenging and rewarding running sessions!

10 GoodGym-ers tackled not one but two of Brighton and Hove’s most challenging hills. The group split our efforts between parallel street clean-up tasks, supporting groups in Hanover and Roundhill to paint over graffiti tags and pick up wind-blown litter to encourage others to keep the community tidy.

Striding up the sun-drenched lawns and splitting off to our separate sites, we were joined in our mission by a crew of local residents and councillors and cheered on by many passers-by as we paint rolled and litter picked our way around the neighbourhood.

Or, to paraphrase the prescient words of Chamillionaire:

They see me rollin’

We painting

Patrollin’ for litter making town less dirty...

Brighton and Hove City Council helped by supplying paints and brushes for painting over graffiti in the Roundhill and Lewes Road area. Good Gym volunteers did sterling work sprucing up the area!

We finished with a fun, increasingly fast paced training session around the Level led by Pippa and were rewarded with slices of still warm chocolate beetroot cake (yup, one of our five a day! :) ), as part of Stefania’s extended Birthday Celebrations. Buon compleanno, Stefania!