On a dark Tuesday night in December 15 Brighton Goodgymers combined their evening run with some doing good and headed into the depths of Moulsecoomb to help The Good News Community Group at the Hillview Centre.

A couple of weeks ago James joined us for his first run and enjoyed it so much this week he bought along not one but two brothers! A big Brighton Goodgym welcome to Alex & Robb.

In the news…. we congratulated Paul for doing a mission at the weekend, it’s really great to see more of these being done in the past few weeks. We also reminded all that its our Christmas party this very Thursday, aka tomorrow, and I forgot to remind you it’s our parkrun meet up at Preston Park on Saturday.

One of our longer runs of 4.5 km each way tonight but that didn’t seem to phase anyone once we’d got past my mental muddle about the difference between the London & Lewes Road! A stinker of a hill to finish and we were met by sometime Goodgymer & community leader Sean.

There’s a lot going on at the Good News Hillview Centre including family group sessions, coffee mornings and & a Men in Sheds group. I don’t think anyone would disagree that the building they’re working out of is past its prime, but Sean & his team have done a great job of keeping it functional and cheerful. One of the things they plan to do is to refresh the mural on the front wall so our main task tonight was to whitewash over the old one. Other jobs included weeding the area in front of the wall and cleaning the well used kitchen. As we were limited on time due to the length of the run I didn’t think we’d have time to complete the wall but you guys pulled out wall the stops (!) to get it done in around 20 minutes.

Sean and team were delighted that we got the job done and now they have a blank canvas to complete their project. Sean also let me know that The Bevy are having a Christmas Carol singalong at 4pm on Sunday 16th December so if you find yourself free and in that part of town pop in.

As we headed back, most of you peeled off to head straight back to your homes, and as the last remaining runners were nearly back at base the rain that had been threatening all night burst forth and hopefully didn’t wash all the paint off!

See you next week when we're back in the Hanover Elm Grove ward. We've had a cancellation on our last task before the break on December 18th, I am doing my best to find a replacement but if any one has any ideas for a Christmas task then let me know!

On the coldest night of the winter so far and with sleet in the air 19 of us braved the arctic conditions and set off on our task. We welcomed 3 new willing volunteers James, Peter and Sophia who joined us all in congratulating Tara, Michael,Roy and Paul in all achieving PBs at the Brighton 10k. Quite a feat and we all basked in their reflective glory.

The evening was not a typical one...we started our run as normal along the seafront after some warming up but it was followed by a lengthy fitness session before the actual task. Three separate sessions took place and it's fair to say Tara put us through our paces. Under leaden skies with the i360 towering over us we carried out a mixture of tricep dips,boats,one legged squats amongst others interspersed with lots of quick sprints...or in my case fast jogging.

After being suitably tested we then ran up to the Brighton Community Kitchen on Queens Rd where we met Jo and her colleague Helen. We were told about the great things that they do...community cookery courses for the health and wellbeing of others and how they are funded and then proceeded to clean as though our lives depended on it and were rewarded...oh and how we were rewarded...with delish carrot and lentil soup,crusty rolls and a cheeky little vino to follow. A really pleasant way to end the task.

A tipsy jog back was followed by our monthly social at The Black Lion where it was ascertained that I was ancient and that it could be all round to Nipun's for our Christmas get together. A rather splendid night was had by all.

And here's what Jo messaged....

Thanks for last night what a lovely crew you are !

Here is a discount code for you all GOODGYM618 which is valid until the end of March 2019 for any course https://bhfood.org.uk/events/. The new programme is coming out 29th Nov. Perfect for xmas presents!