Was that the hottest Brighton Goodgym run ever? It certainly felt that way to me as we headed up the steeper than usual hill to the Community Kitchen for our regular monthly cleaning session.

Lots to talk about in the “Welcomes and News” section this evening as we were joined by Bernard & Sarah for their first run and we welcomed regular Stockport Goodgym runner Rachael, down south for a family visit and a bit of Goodgym tourism.

The big news tonight was all about Michael hitting the big 100 good deeds, becoming only the second Brighton runner to achieve this milestone. It’s a rare week that Michael doesn’t show up for the group run, he joined us for the first time on our 3rd run and has been to almost all of them since. He’s also done several missions and has risen to the dizzy heights of Run Leader. Well done Michael and thank you for all your input, support and commitment over the last 2 years. And with all the excitement of your 100th we didn’t even mention that you competed in the 5.30am race this week so well done for that too!

Back to the Community Kitchen and great work was done on chair cleaning, oven scrubbing, window wiping and surface cleaning and it only took about 20 minutes for us to leave the kitchen looking spick and span. If you are interested in the work they do then check out the community kitchen here and maybe even book yourself on a course to help them continue their great community work.

Up yet more hot and sweaty hills to get to our gym, St Nicholas Rest Garden has got to be one of the most charming outdoor spaces in Brighton. In groups of 3 you took turns to run, hold and rest with a series of static exercises especially chosen to prevent burn out in the heat.

Hopefully normal cooler service will be resumed next week when we visit Hanover & Elm Grove ward, meanwhile enjoy a good rest in the sun, stay hydrated and wear suncreen!

On the outer reaches of the GoodGym Brighton galaxy, a trip to Moulsecoomb Primary School is always a total joy, and last night was no different.

Our 4.5km run to the school was livened up by busting not one but two GoodGym regulars – Paul, and then Juliet – out and about, living their lives. The absolute cheek of it.

We were greeted at the school by Warren, one of the governors and quite an inspiration when it comes to education and horticulture. As well as giving us tasks according to our level of gardening knowledge (‘basic’ or ‘dangerously ignorant’), he told us about the school’s philosophy and methods and why the grounds are so important.

Off we went to give the school’s orchard a bit of grooming - pruning fruit trees, freeing them from bindweed, getting rid of weeds and chopping down ‘suckers’ – a.k.a. unwanted tree growth.

There was just time for a pose in front of one of Moulescoomb’s amazing replica dwellings – built by the kids as part of their history curriculum – before heading back into town in the sunshine.

It was a big night for Brighton Goodgym as we celebrated our second birthday, that’s 2 whole years, 104 weeks of getting fit by doing good! And a big group of you answered the call and made sure we had plenty of hands on deck to complete our two tasks.

Welcome tonight to Ian, Ellie & Carly joining us for the first time and welcome back to Dennis who we haven’t seen since last summer. It was also a lovely surprise to see Jonathon & Lydia waiting for us at the task, who were both present on our epic rainy launch night two years ago. So with Helena and me, that made four of the 38 original Goodgym runners from 2 yeas ago present tonight. But whether it was your first night or your 100th really doesn’t matter, the joy of Goodgym is that it welcomes runners who come every week or those that drop in from time to time, You all contribute and you all make us special!

So after our usual warm up round the fountain, we headed east to Kemp Town, dropping 4 runners off to help a group of residents reduce noise and air pollution from delivery vehicles at the back of Morrisons by filling 2 large planters with soil and limiting the space those pesky lorries can idle their engines. Everyone else headed to Somerset Point, a council run seniors housing scheme surrounded by a garden, maintained mostly by residents. Eilleen set us to work on various weeding, pruning, sweeping and chopping tasks including giving a Hebe (that’s a plant!) a radical haircut, resulting in tonights pun (thank you Megan!). Somerset Point is currently surrounded by scaffolding due to maintenance work, so the gardens have taken a bit of a bashing, so tidying up was the order of the day and Eilleen was delighted with how much we were able to achieve in just 45 minutes.

I thought as a birthday treat, as well as some brand new gloves, I’d keep the fitness session easy and fun with a twist on the game of ‘pass the parcel’ but David complained it was too easy so a bonus AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of 11/7/17 squats/crunches/jumping jacks to mark our birthdate upped the ante slightly and ensured you were all breathless and sweaty for our birthday celebration social.

We had another great turn out for the social this month, a huge thank you to Helena for making the evening special with a cake featuring photos from the previous 2 years, party hats and Happy Birthday banners. We even had a Happy Birthday message all the way from Hong Kong from regular runner Sherman. What a special night, what a special two years! Thank you all for your amazing contribution to Brighton Goodgym.

p.s this Saturday is our monthly park run meet up at Preston Park and good luck to anyone running the Phoenix 10k on tonight!