Tonight Michelle, Louis, Jay, Frannie, Roy, Rosemary, Abi and myself met at the Bevy community pub in Bevendean. Whilst most of us arrived hot and sweaty after a hilly climb, Abi arrived looking fabulous having taken the unconventional option of getting an Uber!

The Bevy is the only UK community pub on a council estate and Warren explained how much fantastic work they do to support the local community. Unfortunately most of their activities have been cancelled during the pandemic but this haa not stopped their team of volunteers pulling together to deliver more than 5,000 meals to vulnerable local residents.

Feeling inspired we quickly got to work clearing weeds from pathways in their allotment and along the pavement. Jay was a bit too enthusiastic with his hoe which unfortunately didn’t survive the experience but a short while later we had collected a tonne bag full of weeds and were ready for an unofficial run to the pub.

Being my 50th good deed it was lovely to enjoy a couple of drinks and some tasty vegan pub grub with other GoodGymmers. Special thanks to Tabitha for accepting the challenge of writing a song to celebrate the occasion. Some time later she announced “I’ve got a song, you must all join in”, “but how will we know the words?” asked David...”oh you will...Happy Goodgym to you, Happy Goodgym to you...!”

To top off the 50th theme we were extra pleased to eat out to help out and get 50% off our food bill. With a little too much beer on board we all took a slow jog/walk home and (as far as I know) no Ubers were needed.

Fourteen originals met tonight with love in our hearts, sanitizer in our bags and tissues in our pockets. Ain't no corona going to stop us from doing good deeds.

Our original task was unfortunately cancelled so after our rather windy warm up in Pool Valley we headed off towards Tara's gaffe on Lansdowne Place to pick up bundles of Extinction Rebellion leaflets.

We split into groups of four, Tara provided us with maps and we proceeded to deliver like crazy...barking dogs and darkened basement flats allowing.

Then making our way to the i360 we set about our fitness session...a combination of tricep dips, Russian twists, press ups, short sprints and step ups alongside the upside down house. The night was also our monthly social at the Bison Beer House and after having picked ourselves off the floor when seeing what £4 got you for an order of french fries, a good time was had by all.

Who will reach 100 Goodgym tasks first? My money is on the writer...see you next week.

Goodgym Brighton’s Tuesday evening run (jog, walk, crawl) to Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove took in, in my opinion 80% of Brighton’s steepest hills, I really did crawl at some points !

In tonight’s news…… Well done to Helena on your shiny Silver medal (for the Sussex 2019/20 Cross Country League) and also to Katharine for running further than she's ever run before. And ideas for next weeks social are most welcome (in the Whatsapp group).

Armed with feather dusters microfibre cloths in assorted colours and enough spray cleaner to rid Europe of the corona virus we set about our task of buffing the hell out of the staircases. Noticing a sign on the stairs saying UP ONLY, I could only imagine the pile up at A&E as uninitiated year 7’s figured out inventive ways of getting back downstairs.

As we chanted our mantra ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ handrails were spruced , strings were polished, stanchions scrubbed, balustrades buffed and newel’s rendered spotless. We were so devoted to our task that many of us missed an impromptu acoustic gig taking place in the music room…….

Task completed we retired to the field to complete our exercises, good+gym =

And just a reminder that we are having a Goodgym volunteering takeover at Junior parkrun this Sunday. Sign up here.

I can’t believe its Pancake Day again! That really creped up on us! And what better place to go on Shrove Tuesday than Elm Grove so that we could make a flippin’ good pun. Ok Hove might have been a bit batter!

In tonight’s news…… Well done to Roy for storming the Brighton Half marathon in really quite shocking conditions on Sunday and coming home with a brand spanking new PB! And kudos too to our task owner tonight Cllr David Gibson for also completing in a very impressive time. And cheers of admiration go out to any one else connected with Goodgym who also ran.

In other news a quick reminder of the community mission happening this weekend. Check it out here.

So we’ve had several visits to Hanover and Elm Grove ward to do battle with the taggers, scribblers and as it’s pancake day I think I can say tossers, who have outgrown their crayons and moved on to the spray can. But every time we go there is a little bit less for us to do which means we are winning! So just a couple of walls to paint tonight, with lots of local residents stopping to express their gratitude for our efforts. It’s really good to know that we are making such a difference!

Whilst half of us were painting and litter picking the rest were delivering the ‘Hourglass’ newsletters on behalf of Extinction Rebellion to spread the word about the climate crisis. This monthly newsletter is distributed entirely by volunteers, and tonight with 9 of us delivering hard we achieved in 30 minutes what would take one person most of a day!

After the good was done we gathered on the Level to indulge ourselves in some ‘do-gooding’ our own health and fitness with some Level laps and a couple of circuits of various exercises that make us all a little bit fitter than we were yesterday!