Great turn out tonight

It was lovely to see Roxy and Anne back today after recovering from a combination of injury and illness 🤒

Joining them was Sarah and Ryan, Paul, Gillybean and John

We had been asked to do an Autumn tidy up and in all honesty that's exactly what it was in this well cared for, pretty courtyard garden.

Leaves and pruning were the theme tonight. Most of the team were sweeping and gathering up leaves and weeds but I did turn round and find Gill stuck into some pruning too ( never misses an opportunity! 😍)

Tonight was a fairly short but satisfying tidy up whilst chatting with each other.

John missed the final photo as he is on extended nurse duties for Mrs R who is recovering from 2 operations 😍

Thanks everyone and see you all next week 😊

Julia xx

It was great to welcome back Mel and Paul for their second task with us - Luckily it was dry and marginally less dark than their first task with us last week! Both got stuck into digging a trench for the bulbs to be scattered in. Progress was swift!

Propped on a bench, it was also great to have our dedicated photographer, Belinda who is re cooperating from a foot operation capturing some lovely shots. Thank you for turning out on a November night when you could have snuggled on the sofa with a boxed set and Jellybean the 🙀

Gillybean was in charge tonight and armed with boxes and a large sack of daffodils and other spring flowers she shared out carefully between us all.

Paul and John dug out the border on the other side of the garden before planting the allocated bulbs there too. All work tonight was aided by Uncle Ivo's GG work lights :)

Paula dug out a half moon bed where we had previously planted sunflowers. Whilst the area needs a lot more TLC, this garden should look very pretty in the spring months.We will return to sort the grass and weeds another time!

Whilst the rest of the team went home , Mel and I headed out for a very sociable and enjoyable 2 km run.

Job well done :)

Have a great week and see you next time

Julia xx

October hues

After some morning torrential rain we were fortunate to have a stunning balmy evening for our final visit of the year to Heene Cemetery to help with an autumn tidy up of previous strimming and pruning work.

After 10 years of volunteering , sadly, it was the last time Sue would be there in her task leader capacity. Sue has been a wonderful presence and energy in the cemetery and we will miss her. However she's handing over to Kevin and Tracy who we will really look forward to working with.

Belinda is enjoying some days celebrating her 60 wonderful years and it was so nice to see her tonight in advance of a few parties! Wishing you all the best for both your celebrations together with ops B 🙏

It was also great to unexpectedly see Paul who after traveling for a month or so with John in his camper van, Priscilla, was back with his full force and energy 😀

Ricky was also celebrating 5 glorious years of GoodGym volunteering and also completing his virtual Great South Run earlier in the day.

Roxy and Gillybean teamed up to bag up all the debris. Both are recovering from injury and we are keeping everything crossed for a speedy return to regular running.

Sue and John worked hard with the chopping up and raking. Sue is enjoying her recent retirement and filling her time with some fantastic volunteering for local good causes👏

After the task we headed to the pub to raise a glass to Belinda' s birthday together with a great chatty catch up with good friends 😊

What a lovely evening !

*Welcome *

Tonights pun is dedicated to the newest members of our GG family

Handsome Ben was born to our very own Natacha and Steve last Friday whilst Nick and I welcomed our beautiful granddaughter Frankie Bea into the world last Wednesday. Very exciting all round ( and busy !) May they both have a wonderful life - maybe they may date each other one day 🤣😍

Mondays task

Back to this evenings task ..... We met up with Val and Rik who coordinate the volunteering in the church garden. Val is always super organised and has all the tasks on a board which is colour coded for both choice together with intensity guidance.

Gillybean got stuck in with digging out more unwanted shrubs ( I can't remember the name of them 🤣) It was good to learn that her heel is gradually improving and that she's getting the medical help she needs to expedite the process.

Belinda and Sue picked a high energy and very prickly job of pulling out very large brambles. They managed to clear a huge area so a great job done 👏

John also picked the strenuous job of digging over the area behind the old air raid shelter . The aim was to try and get it levelled too. Its fair to say that John went a long way to make this happen !

Barbara and Paula buddied up to pull persistent ivy off the stone wall. Paula was fresh from her 60th Birthday celebrations 🍾 and it was great to hear all about her adventures - especially the zip wire one! 😀

It was great to see Anne tonight who was helping Sue from Heene Cemetery with some pruning and sorting whilst Val dug over the compost heap and generally organised the whole task 😇

With the October light fading fast we finished up with a group photo and some chatter !

We are back next week for our final visit of the year to St Botolphs before the light goes.

Have a great week everyone and spare a thought for the sleep deprived new parents!

Julia xx

Brush Strokes

Tonight we headed back to continue painting the fence at English Martyrs school. After several cancellations the task is definitely one that has become one that we are determined to finish before the winter months kick in.

We warmly welcomed Rebecca from Woking to our group. Becky is also a friend of our very own Daisy and also GoodGym trustee so was interested to find out what happens on the sunny south coast. It was also really interesting to hear how Woking works being volunteer led (rather than area activator led like we have in Worthing)

Joining the team tonight was alsoSarah, John, Barbara, Roxy Gillybean plus Daisy too !

Injured Gill 😪 headed off to do a bit of pruning that she had spotted needing doing last time we were there ( Gill does love her pruning ! ) John cracked on with the painting whilst the rest of us headed off for some fitness.

We combined running and sprinting around the school playing field with some functional fitness moves including squats, lunges , the dreaded burpees 🤣 shuttle runs and frog jumps. Shout out to Becky who had done the Dawny Lake triathlon yesterday and who was somewhat hobbling today but still persisted 👏

We managed to finish one big chunk of fence but there is still plenty more to do . I'm looking at a few more dates to fit in the before the light goes at the end of October - watch this space.

If you fancy a chatty social 8k this Sunday we will meet at Sea Lane cafe at 9am. All welcome including bikes and dogs. The emphasis will be on chatting not running ! I will send you all more details via the whats app group together with a link to sign up.

I'm looking forward to catching up with you all again soon - if you hear of any groups or see any tasks that need doing then please do contact me.

Thanks everyone !

Big GoodGym love

Julia 💌