We kicked off GoodGym Mondays in style with 11 of us gathering at Splashpoint for a litter pick. The weather was kind to us, so under a clear sky we paired up and one group set off in the direction of the pier, the other headed off towards Windsor Lawns. Amongst today’s notable finds were a very new looking, single flip flop, a reflective ankle band which had looked remarkably like the inside of a role of sellotape as it went into the litter bag. When asked by someone cycling with their daughter Paul swiftly dropped his phone into the litter bag to give light for a rummage. After a successful search the reflective band was returned. Not sure it would have happened if the full nappy had already made its way into the bag.

It was great to welcome everyone back for the new year. It was especially good to welcome Megan to her first task, and Belinda back able to actively take part after her recent operations.

Please remember, that January Saturdays are parkrun support days. If you are able to help please sign up on both GoodGym and parkrun (email worthing@parkrun.com). It’s a great opportunity for us to share with parkrunners our love of GoodGym.

After next week’s task there may just be the opportunity for our first social of the year. Go on, you know you want to……

Julia's edit John is too modest to tell you all that he will have reached 300 tasks by next Monday 13th January so we will be at The Brew House after the task. All welcome whether you come to the task or just the celebration. We will be there from 7.15pm onwards.

It is that special time we hear

‘tween Christmas and the coming year

When over full of food and drink

A GoodGym walk’s just the thing I think

We gathered at Splashpoint ready to go

Hudson appeared, with Julia in tow

Our traditional pre Christmas soldier trail

Postponed because of rain and hail

Before we left, some news was broken

We listened wide mouthed as it was spoken

When nobody noticed her glittering ring

Sarah announced some engagement thing

(A ring found on the beach said Ryan

while on one knee, his shoelace tyin’)

With our route clearly planned

We set off with our map in hand

Fourteen legs and a set of wheels

We set off showing a clean pair of heels

Ten toy soldiers we had to find

Out of order, but we didn’t mind

We set off quick along the prom

Belinda pushed along by John

We crossed the road at Heene,

To push the chair Ryan was keen

With Ryan pushing the chair along

Belinda nearly went headlong!

Ricky too pushed along the chair

The first time since Lourdes he did declare

The rearranged toy soldier walk

Gave plenty of time for us to talk

We stopped for a coffee, or latte or tea

And those in need popped for a wee

So ten soldiers we had found

Our GoodGym year, off to round

We now look to the challenge in Jan

To reconvene as oft we can

Birthday Celebrations 🍺 for John

It was a great turn out for Johns special day.

We spent 45 minutes doing a very productive litter pick of the surrounding areas. The Birthday boy himself, John teamed up with Mrs R, Belinda and together with Daisy Roxy and Paula they headed off in the direction of Windsor Lawns. For Daisy this was an irresistible opportunity for a competition to see who could fill their bag more 🤣 which they all good naturedly joined in with. For Mr and Mrs R it must surely have also been a trip down memory lane where they used to live.

Heading out in the opposite direction were our intrepid explorers Sarah and Ryan who were fresh from a weekend walking from Hove to Hastings. Joining them today was also Gillybean and Sue. We all feel for Gill who is missing her beloved running with a heel spur injury 😪.

Finally Barbara myself and Sueconcentrated on the area around Splashpoint where there was loads of rubbish caught in bushes 🥺

After completion we all headed up to the pub to raise a glass and knife and fork to John where we were joined by parents to be Natacha and Steve together with Ricky and Nick too. Happy Days 😍

John and Barbara helped me to strip out and weed the bed and plant shrubs that I purchased from The Range

Hopefully the lavender, ivy and hebe's will thrive over the autumn and winter than other bedding plants 🙏

Massive thank you to the support of my amazing team today for our seafront flowerbed planting and also for their friendship 🥰

Sarah

Daisy

Barbara

Let the watering begin !

No one is raining on our parade

On one of the wettest bank holidays since the last one we were blessed with a short window in the weather to do a combined task of a tidy up of our seafront flowerbed together with a litter pick.

It was great to warmly welcome back Roxy to the group and we all hope to see her again very soon!

Sue and Belinda quickly got stuck in to pulling up the spring bulbs together with some general weeding. The bulbs will be safely stored until we replant them again in November.

Ryan and Sarah together with GillybeanandRoxy headed off on a litter treasure hunt on the beach. Apologies I didn't get a photo of Gill and Roxy tonight. The rain started again and the group dispersed pretty rapidly!

We were also joined by Paul and John who helped carry the bag of bulbs and equipment back to Belinda and John's house where we were treated to a wonderful GG social together withnshelter from the torrential rain that followed!

Belinda had been hard at work making two chillies, one of which was vegan ( this was my personal favourite) There was also superb choice of side dishes including delicious salsa's and guacamole together with tortillas, rice and warm wraps to accompany the chillies. John took us on a tour of his incredible, must see, Dr Who collection in the tardis room. An absolutely outstanding labyrinth of stunning memorabilia. If you havent seen it then I recommend you book a tour with John!

We were joined by Natacha and Steve who shared news of a GG baby boy on its way in October - wonderful news to share on such a happy evening!

Thank you to our amazing and generous hosts - we were truly treated tonight!

See you all next week

Julia