This community mission was located out of town, almost a day tripper type adventure! We were joined by first timer Kirsty who is in the process of moving to Brighton from Guildford. Thank you for getting stuck in! Hopefully we will see you again at group runs, community missions and Parkrun soon!

Age UK has been associated with Goodgym right from the beginning across the country; however with there being no Goodgym in Newhaven or the surrounding towns this is a first for Age UK East Sussex. Age UK provides services to the older community, supporting its service users with understanding the benefits they can claim, providing advice and being a friendly face delivering their weekly shop or someone to speak to on the phone. Much of their work matches the coach runs and community missions Goodgymers across the country do and have been a literal life saver to those in need over the last 18 months.

Newhaven have set up a donation sorting centre to process the huge amount of stuff that has been given to the charity since the lockdowns gave people the time to have a good clear out at home. Though the charity is not short of volunteers, they were very excited to have some physically fit people to help with the more demanding tasks! The warehouse has four (4) shipping containers full of donations that are yet to be sorted, even finding the time to bring them into the warehouse to be sorted has been a struggle! Amro, Michael, Sherman and Peter pulled bags and boxes out of one of the containers and filled the warehouse, giving the regular volunteers something to get stuff into on Monday. Tabitha and Kirsty bagged up clothing and shoes that were unsuitable to sell for the rag and bone man to collect as well as boxing up Christmas themed donations to go into deep storage until the festive season comes around.

With the team getting these tasks completed so quickly we walked through the show room part of the warehouse to see all the furniture that was for sell; a few Goodgymers keeping an eye out for some bargain!

Age UK also carry out clearances of properties, usually after someone as passed away leaving houses full of furniture and bric-a-brac. Much of these are not sellable and have been left in the backyard waiting for it to be dismantled - and that we did! With MUCH gusto the Goodgymers broke up damaged furniture and topped up the huge skip the charity has to have emptied once a week! Unfortunately, not all donations are created equal, with some people handing over literal rubbish (old pants, ripped sofas, car tyres).

A absolute HUGE thank you from me for making the journey out to Newhaven, as the photos show, there is so much to do and more donations are coming in everyday. Caroline, the warehouse manager, loved metting everyone and was utterly gobsmacked at how much we achieved!

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!