Week 2 at this seafront garden and,despite the darkness it was a stunner of a starlit night.

Most of us met at Splashpoint LC. How nice was it to see Gillybean Paul Paula and John

After a short walk to Anchor Gardens we arrived armed with headlights and our GG flood lights ready and raring for week 2 at the community garden. It was lovely to see Anne after her recent mini break to Norway. It really did begin to feel like it used to PC 😁

The group split into 2 with John, Gill and Paula cracking on with the gardening task and me taking Paul and Anne out for a run . On the way we picked up Ricky before heading off along the seafront to Lancing.

At the half way point we stopped under the old bandstand for some squats, lunges and lateral walk drills ( Paul - ooooh my inner thighs ) before heading back along the same route to the gardens.

After another 20 minutes of clearing and some 'fine pruning' from Gill 😁 we bagged up the debris and called it a night.

Watch out for the November core challenge and for some social dates too!

See you all next week:)

On a bright and breezy evening in Sunny Worthing it was great that 8 of us met up at Anchor Gardens to give some pro active support to this seafront community garden.

It was a real milestone of a week with It being Belinda 200 Good Deed with us. What an epic achievement Belinda! many congratulations. It was also Ricky2nd year anniversary with us - That time has flown by. many congratulations Ricky, your running has been an incredibly successful journey since you joined us and its been great to have you as part of the GG team :)

Our host Freda, asked that we cut back a large hedge so JohnDuncanStephen and Jemmie set about the task in hand.

BelindaTamsinRosalind and Rickywere really busy weeding and sorting out the large overgrown flowerbed.

Tamsin, Jemmie, Ros and I headed off for a little bit of fun running followed by having bit of a play on the outdoor gym equipment. Steve joined us for some pull ups ( Impresssive!! )

We had a chat about a social in a 2 weeks time and settled on a meal at Chipwick after our beach clean. I will take numbers and book :)

Same time next week - I will be bringing all the light I can summon up as the clocks will have changed by then. If you have a head torch please do bring it along with your gloves.

In a week where GG Area Activators are feeling a bit glum I'm feeling how lucky we are to have the loyal, amazing, supportive, happy group that we have in Worthing

Rain, rain go away!

After a day of heavy showers it was such a relief that we thought the clouds were clearing so that we could get along to help our friends at Sea Lane Ferring with the long over due grass raking.

However just as we all got out of the car the heavens opened and the rain threw it down. Luckily the deluge only lasted about 10 minutes meaning we could get on with the job in hand and rake the wet hay like grass.

1 hour later the light was fading fast and we downed tools.

It was as delightful as ever to work with this friendly group of community volunteers.

Rain Check

After a hideous day of wet and windy weather it was such a relief that the rain stopped just in time for GG Worthing's Monday night's task and run.

Ros, Nick, Paula, Tamsin, Emily and Jay all convened at our usual meeting point of Splashpoint where we didn't hang around before heading off on our warm up run through the town. The walking group headed off first with the running group close behind.

We arrived at our task at Roberts Marine Gardens where we had cleared and weeded last month. Tonight the task was to treat the ground that we had so carefully prepared a few short weeks ago. Park Ranger Anthony was all ready for us with a lorry load of mulch in the truck together with wheelbarrows, rakes and shovels.

Mulch above ones weight

Tamsin jumped up on to the truck with great intentions and a lot of friendly advice on how to shovel the mulch.Willing wheelbarrows were waiting with Jay and Paula doing the running back and forth whilst Duncan did the lifting and Barbara , Ros and Emily were doing some precision raking.

It wasn't long before the technical advice and heckling got the better of Tamsin and she gave her role of shovelling the mulch over to Nick and Anthony.

Fine Raking

With a few slippages on the grassy bank but a lot of muscle power and determination the team quickly and effectively achieved the challenge presented to them .

The lorry was soon empty and the mulch distributed evenly and accurately distributed across the beds.

After a great few photo opportunities we said goodbye to Duncan and Barbara before the 2 groups headed off back in the direction of Splashpoint but not before we stopped off on the way for some weekly fitness challenges.

A ( Mac) flurry of exercise

Craving some shelter away from the damp breeze we headed to the undercover side of Montague Place,in the heart of the town centre and right outside Macdonald's to do some partner fitness work.

We combined high knees, star jumps, together with some dodgy looking skater moves and squat jumps topped up with some sprints to finish a challenging but fun dose of fitness.

With a leisurely jog back to base we stretched , basked in reflected glory about smashing our January challenge together with planning our next social activity ( Sorry Jay - no takers for curry tonight! )

Wishing you all the best for a great week ahead . Look out for social dates and ideas coming your way:)

Loyts of GG love

Julia x

No kidding at Kamelia

Oh No ! The task tonight cancelled with 50 minutes to spare leaving me not a lot of time to arrange a back up.

However it didn't stop ( nearly ) all of us all meeting as planned at our alternative the other side of town at Worthing Leisure Centre.

It was heart warming to welcome Lucy , Barbara, Emily ,Jay ( despite his serious scratches ) Nick ,Anne,Paula, Ros and Paul on such a cold January night. With us in spirit Gill, Tamsin, Michelle, Duncan and Dr Emma who all sent their apologies.

With a slightly delayed start we set off in 2 groups , one walk/run led by Nick and one running led by me. We convened for an alternative last minute task on the prom for a beach comb along the shore , pebbles and seafront community gardens.

Exercise ? I thought you said extra fries !

Despite Lucy favouring a run to the fish and chip shop we did in fact commit to our fitness session and resist the sprint to the chippie

Before we embarked on the task we decided to get really warm and do the much looked forward session first. Tonight we carried on some more partner work that was so enjoyed by the team last week with a variation on the theme .

The team paired up in readiness for some sprint shuttle relays. Whilst one sprinted the other did a combination of squats, jumping jacks, inchworms and squat tuck jumps. This was repeated 4 times ( In Jays case 5 times!)

This was followed by a 'you go I go' tag team circuit comprising of tricep dips, jumping jacks , high knee runs , squat jumps and plentiful high fives and some military style motivation.

I cant think of a shingle beach pun

Fitness done the team turned to a swift comb of the shore line and beach front gardens in attempt to fill the all important blue bags.

15 minutes later we reconvened, condensed the rubbish and headed back to base in our 2 groups where we spent another 10 minutes stretching and chatting.

Congratulations -You survived Blue Monday !

Well done everyone! We pulled tonight from the brink of disaster and turned into a great punny, funny evening full of energy , happy faces and infectious feel good vibes. Thats the way to smash a freezing January Monday

Massive kudos to you all for turning out and giving your time to GG tonight.

I'm really excited about next weeks cooking task. Although Meridian have postponed filming until February we will still be turning out in full force to cook for the annual Turning Tides sleep out on Saturday 2nd Feb.

I'm also planning to slide in a post parkrun task this Saturday so that we can comfortably achieve our target on the GG January challenge. Keep an eye on the whats app and website for details of this.

Have a great week

Julia x

Crocamole!

On our first task of 2019 it was a delight to convene at Splashpoint with this amazing team tonight . Stand and salute 2nd timer Paula showing off her new red t' shirt together with regulars Paul, Duncan,Emily,Michelle and Romeo, Ros, Anne, Barbara,Gill and Jay.

After a comprehensive GG catch up including news of ITV planning to film us on 28/ 1 together with our January fitness challenge both centrally and locally we headed set off promptly at 6:15pm.

This consisted of a warm up drill including a crocodile involving the back runner sprinting from the back to the front . Even I have to admit this did have a military feel about it and set the tone for the fitness elements of the task tonight.

This evening we headed to Roberts Marine seafront gardens just west of the parkrun turnaround point for some weeding and clearance.

GG crew welcomes boarder challenge

Our trusty park ranger Keith seemed 'delighted' to see us all and the team wasted no time in settling into the task of clearing the borders in the community gardens. They all had a lot to catch up on socially and it was great to hear them chattering with each other. Special mention to Anne who got a park run personal best at the weekend together with Paul who achieved his best time for 2 years. We are all loving the ( not so) thinly veiled healthy competition between these two beauts:)

The team worked swiftly and efficiently meaning that in 30 short minutes 4 large bags of rubbish had been filled. In true Gill style she managed to find a pair of abandoned shears tucked away allowing her to carry out some characteristic fine pruning :)

With the debris loaded into Keith's truck the group set off to find a grassy bank for stage 1 of the fitness session.

January fitness session order of the day

On reflection this was a tough session this evening and so no wonder the team went rather quiet on me!

We started with round 1 of our 10 minute daily fitness challenge of 10 x inchworms , squats, burpees , pressups, jumping jacks, sit ups replacing the sit ups for an extra set of burpees.

Following this we headed to the seafront for some lamp post training comprising of jogging 1 , sprinting 2 with squat recoveries so that all the team were rounded up to start the drill again. We also added 2 more rounds of our daily fitness session before a steady jog back to Splashpoint.

Headline scores on the doors

Great work on the fitness tonight team - We have started 2019 with 60 burpees , 30 inchworms with 30 press ups, 30 jumping jacks and numerous squats that I cant quantify because you did so many!

Who's aching today ?!

Registering for future runs

Wherever possible please do register for for our group runs on the website well in advance. As we are growing bigger this will really help me with the planning of tasks. I will go through all the weekly GG processes of this next week when we meet at 6 pm at Splashpoint LC.

Looking forward to it already

Have a great week

Julia :)