Today we headed back to the allotment at the Turning Tides hostel, where our mission was to tackle the weeds and give the area a much-needed strim.

A huge thank you to John and Belinda, who kindly brought along their battery-operated power tools. This meant we could crack straight on without having to bother any of the residents to find somewhere to plug in!

It was particularly lovely to see Barry back for his second GoodGym task, proudly sporting his brand-new GoodGym red T-shirt! ❤️ And it was equally great to welcome Anne and El back too — it’s always brilliant to see familiar faces returning.

There was plenty of hard work happening across the allotment. John got stuck into some serious strimming, transforming the overgrown areas, while Anne and Belinda got busy re-digging the potato trenches ready for the next stage of growing.

Meanwhile, Barry, El and I concentrated on clearing the weeds and generally getting the beds back under control. El was particularly talented at finding a selection of children's toys ( possibly stolen by the playful foxes who live in the allotment )

There was a great team effort all round, and by the time we packed up, the whole area looked so much better for our visit. Another job well done by the GoodGym crew! 💪🌱❤️

What a lovely way to spend a warm June summer's evening! ☀️🌱

This evening's GoodGym task took us to a local homeless hostel, where residents have created a fantastic allotment. Its work in progress but there are already courgettes and other vegetables growing.

Our team of El (official photographer 📸), Ricky (lead walker and tonight's outstanding pun-dit 😂), Gill, Belinda, John, Charlie and myself, Julia, got stuck straight into digging over beds and raking the debris onto the makeshift compost heap.

We were also joined by a very special guest – Mr Fox 🦊 – who kept a curious eye on us from a safe distance throughout the evening.

As always, there was plenty of laughter, great conversation and teamwork. What a wonderful bunch of people to spend an evening with!

A huge congratulations and thank you to El, who has now become a Task Force member! 🎉 Not only that, but she also went the extra mile by watering the seafront flower bed after tonight's task. Thank you, El! 🌻👏

A real feel-good task, helping to keep a community garden thriving for the people who enjoy and benefit from it. Roll on next week! 💚

Ground Force? More Like Ground Source!

Tonight we paid a visit to Turning Tides to help with an exciting new project at their Victoria Road site. This beautiful Sussex flint house, nestled in the grounds of an equally beautiful church, is set to become something really special.

We were warmly welcomed by Franca, who shared her inspiring vision for the space — a huge allotment area filled with vegetables, wild flowers together with fruit bushes and trees, creating not just a productive garden but a peaceful place for people to enjoy and nurture.

On this glorious sunny evening, I was lucky enough to be joined by Barbara, Sue, Stephane and Paul, who were all ready to really “dig in” with plenty of energy and enthusiasm! Armed with tools, teamwork and good humour, we got stuck straight into clearing and preparing the ground.

An hour later, we’d already made fantastic progress and could really start to see the potential of the space coming to life.

Round one complete… and we can’t wait to return for round two!

When a task takes an unexpected turn for the better

The fabulous Four met up along the walk to the task and had a good old catch up as we walked along a still and relatively balmy prom. It was nice to see Sue back plus Paul and Johntoo. Sue talked about her training for the Brighton half marathon in 4 weeks time. We also unwrapped Steve's Saturday evening GG get together which was thoroughly by all ( especially Steve's amazing chilli's )

When we arrived at Manor Road hostel ( previously known as Stepping stones) we were surprised and pleased to see that the garden looked well looked after. We had a friendly greeting by a slightly surprised Josh, one of the duty managers, who had just learned of our visit.He told us that one of the residents, Glen had been taking a keen interest in the garden since last summer and wondered if we would be prepared to meet him so that we could co ordinate our energies into what he would like done. We happily agreed to this.

Holly, Glen's good friend came down to explain how invested Glen is into the garden and how good it has been for him. She proudly showed us round the garden and seemed genuinely concerned that he may get upset if went ahead with our task tonight. We absolutely agreed and Holly was so relieved and grateful and happily went off to tell Glen.

This was a night where we felt we had, bizarrely, achieved more by not doing a task than we would have done by doing one. You cant put a price on someone's mental health especially when they have done so much work on their road to recovery.

Keep logging those good deeds and km's and I will look forward to seeing you on the other side of January - Hallelujah!

Julia

Rainy days are here again

On a particularly damp August evening we all convened on the corner of Manor Road in readiness to do a good deed at Stepping Stones. This house is one that has been converted into medium to long term living accommodation for adults who have fallen on hard times and are in need of a helping hand to get back on their feet again.

In years gone by we have done a lot to help this hostel so it was good to be back ( despite the rain and a bit of heckling!)

In all honesty it felt like - Where do we begin? there was so much to do and minimal time to do it in. The garden looked fairly sad in comparison to how we ( I) remembered it. Due to internal improvements the major contents of the kitchen were either on the lawn or in the drive, rubbish was strewn everywhere and the lawn and beds were overgrown.

GG Worthing - thats the spirit!

In true GG style the team just got stuck into the task, and, little by little the work got broken down and progress evolved. John together withJay began clearing leaves and debris in the front corner of the garden near the composting area.

Belinda and Sue started on litter picking together with Ricky who multi tasked with litter and sweeping up.

In the back drive, Anne, Paul and Sarah had the unenviable task of clearing this scrubby area. Shortly Duncan also joined and together we all pitched in to make the area look a little less grim.

Swapsies

John turned his attention to raking the front garden and was joined by Sarah with her broomstick with Sue and Belinda keeping a close eye on proceedings whilst also pitching in!

Paul turned to pruning , Ricky stuck with his sweeping as did Anne with her weeding and sweeping.

Jay and Duncan then transferred their attention to drinking tea and eating chocolate mini rolls which were kindly provided to us by the duty officer who had stayed late to accommodate our visit.

We finished with a photo and a promise to return in drier weather to cut the grass and strim the borders.

Next week we will take a 1 week break due to the bank holiday but will return on 5th September.

Have a great bank holiday all of you and happy holidays Paul !

Julia xx

On a perfect Sunny Worthing early evening eight runners gathered at our traditional starting point outside Splashpoint Leisure Centre. We welcomed Sarah to her first Worthing GoodGym, and very much look forward to one of Worthing's newest residents joining us on many future occasions.

After our initial "hellos", and of course the all important health and safety briefing, we set off for the task. Ricky led the runners on a loop around the two nearby parks, while the walkers took a more direct route. Thanks to a slight detour taken by the walk leader both groups arrived pretty much together. We were then joined at the task by Tamsin and Paul.

We had two tasks today. One was to dig out a new flower bed in the shape of an eye, the other to cut back a very overgrown area.

Sarah, Daisy, Ricky, Paul and John set about digging out the pre-marked bed. The hard ground provided a solid workout for everyone as the eye shape slowly revealed itself.

On the other side of the fence Belinda, Sue, Tamsin, and Sue tamed the wild area. First with shears, rake and willpower, but with a power source secured the mower made short work of the long grass.

Ros, obviously aiming for maximum impact, contributed to both tasks with gusto.

With the cuttings raked in and the sods by the eye bed moved to the compost area we drew the task to a close. Despite everybody's determination and keenness to undertake Julia's pre-planned sprint session, a look at the time showed we had already overrun, and with heavy hearts we decided "maybe next time....."