Tonight the GoodGym crew headed back to our local school to tackle a storage room that was in desperate need of some TLC. The room was packed with science, geography and maths equipment, with trays and boxes in various states of disarray. Our mission was to bring some order to the chaos by sorting everything into colour and alphabetical order.

Well, what sounded like a fairly straightforward job soon turned into something of an epic undertaking!

Paul and John took charge of operations in the storage room, bravely tackling the mountain of muddled equipment. It was quite a job, and one that definitely tested Paul's patience and sanity along the way! There was plenty of sorting, shuffling, rearranging and no doubt the occasional head-scratching moment.

It was certainly one of those tasks that took considerably longer than anticipated. In other words, a right fiddle! We were beginning to wonder if we'd accidentally stumbled into a maths problem with no obvious solution.

It was lovely to welcome Mel back to the fold, along with Barbara, fresh from her recent epic Thailand Action Challenge cycle. After all those miles in Thailand, a spot of school storage-room sorting must have seemed like a rather different kind of endurance challenge!

Eventually, order began to emerge from the chaos, with trays and boxes finding their rightful places and the room looking considerably more organised.

Another school task ticked off, another little job making a big difference. Hopefully, the teachers will now be able to find their science, geography and maths equipment without having to embark on an expedition of their own!

Well done, team. We came, we sorted, we conquered… and Paul just about kept his marbles! 😁

It was a calm, dull September evening as the GoodGym gang gathered for a litter pick along Windsor Gardens, the lawns stretching out beside the sea.

Tonight’s clean-up crew was Belinda and John, Barbara, Stephane, Julia, Roxy and her four-legged companion Mali the Malinois.

Although there was a slight hitch before we even got started, when I managed to go to the wrong meeting place. 🤦‍♀️

After a bit of backtracking and a gentle reminder that the task leader really ought to know where the task is, we eventually all converged in the right place and got cracking.

Armed with litter pickers and bags, we worked our way along the lawns, clearing up the usual assortment of rubbish that somehow finds its way onto the grass. We certainly weren’t going to let the litter get the better of us but Southern Water has beaten us to the majority of the rubbish having done an extensive clear up yesterday ( Sunday )

Meanwhile, Mali was doing her own thorough investigation of the area, although we're not entirely sure whether she was helping with the litter or simply supervising playing stick chasing with the humans.

And talking of impressive performances…

Roxy had run an absolutely AMAZING 3:36 marathon just TWO DAYS earlier! 🏃‍♀️👏

So while the rest of us were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves for a brisk evening litter pick, Roxy was recovering from 26.2 miles at a pace that most of us would struggle to maintain on an electric bike!

With the lawns looking considerably tidier, the bags filled and the pickers finally put away, it was time to move on to the evening's real highlight…

The Autumn Social!

Belinda and John very kindly welcomed us back to their house for some wonderful hospitality, where we could relax, chat and enjoy some well-earned drinks and a wonderful selection of savoury and sweet snacks.

And, of course, there was the all-important inspection of the new kitchen! It received the full GoodGym seal of approval — beautiful, stylish and definitely worth having a good nose around. We continued our nosing in Johns iconic Dr Who room ( has to be seen to be believed ! )

A lovely way to round off a peaceful September evening: a little litter lifted, plenty of steps clocked up, an extraordinary marathon achievement celebrated, and excellent hospitality enjoyed.

Hanging Up the Gardening Shoes

Our final visit of the year to the Beehive garden was a rather poignant one, as we said goodbye to a very special chapter in the GoodGym garden story.

When Margaret moved into the home several years ago, she took on the garden as a way of helping herself settle in after having to leave behind her own much-loved garden. Over the years, she has lovingly tended it, making it her own little patch of green — and we’ve been very lucky to be able to join her along the way.

But the time has now come for Margaret to hang up her gardening shoes and let someone else take the strain!

So, for our final task of the year, Paula and Barbara got stuck into the weeding and general tidying, while Margaret kept a watchful eye on proceedings and made sure standards didn’t slip!

And because we couldn’t possibly leave empty-handed, Paula and Barbara brought Margaret a lovely bouquet of flowers as a thank you for sharing her wonderful garden with us over the weeks, months and years.

It really does feel like the end of an era.

But hopefully not the end of GoodGym’s visits to the Beehive — and certainly not the end of our support for Margaret. We’ll just have to find new ways to keep her involved… preferably ones that require considerably less weeding!

Thank you, Margaret, for letting us be part of your garden story. ❤️