Friends of Round Hill Society

The Round Hill Society represents the area comprising the Round Hill Conservation Area and the north side of Upper Lewes Road between Wakefield Road and the eastern end of Roundhill Crescent. Its purpose is to preserve the conservation area by promoting high standards of planning and architecture, to educate others, to improve the environmental quality of the area and to create civic pride and a sense of community within the area of benefit.

36 GoodGymers have supported Friends of Round Hill Society with 5 tasks.


Top supporters
STEFANIA ROSSO
STEFANIA ROSSO (she/her)
TaskForce
Sarah Katharine
Sarah Katharine (She/Her)
TaskForce
Jane Dallaway
Jane Dallaway
TaskForce
Rosie Baker
Rosie Baker

Previous sessions
BrightonGroup run
+5
Ben
Liam
Jane Dallaway
Sarah Katharine
STEFANIA ROSSO
Frances Ruocco

Binders, creepers, and no weepers

Tuesday 23rd September

Written by Liam (He/him)

11 Goodgymmers jogged and walked the short journey over to Round Hill to help keep the neighbourhood tidy. When we arrived we joined forces with Dom and the volunteers from the Round Hill Society. The Round Hill Society helps to preserve, improve and create pride in the the area. We also welcomed new Goodgymmer Andrea to her first task!

After going to pick-up tools from the local community store we split into 3 groups to tackle a few different areas. Armed with secateurs, shovels and brooms we got to work on cutting back bindweed, trimming overhanging hedges and clearing the edges of the pavement. With 3 big teams and a can-do attitude we made short work of the pesky bindweed and quickly filled-up 14 bin bags. The looming darkness at the end of the task reminded us children of summer that autumn was indeed coming!

Once we finished all our tasks and regrouped, in scenes reminiscent of Jesus feeding the 5000 Stefania fed us all from huge reserves of end-of-life croissants, bread and salad. Fully carbed-up we all jogged back home in the autumn darkness.

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BrightonCommunity mission
+9
Euan Hill
Rebecca
Diana
Nicola Thomas
STEFANIA ROSSO
Ruth Milne

I'm a (Cat's) Creep… What the hill am I doing here?

Tuesday 15th April

Written by Ben

Following a brief but comprehensive deluge hitting the coast, this week's task - a slice of green community action as part of WWF x GoodGym’s Workout for Nature - saw an impressive fifteen GoodGymers descend on Round Hill Conservation Area to paint over graffiti tags gathered on the local Cat's Creep stairway and hoe stubborn weeds on the nearby Wakefield Road.

After GoodGym's visit, Cat's Creep, famous for its wavering apostrophe (depending on whether you think one or more cats are involved), 116 steep steps and resident toads and newts, was lined once again with freshly painted magnolia walls. Meanwhile, finely honed hoeing skills from the recent GoodGym Palmeira Square challenge meant that the flint wall on Wakefield Road was similarly smartened up.

Through its collective endeavours in the Round Hill, the GoodGym Brighton team are hopeful of another appearance in the local Round Hill Reporter (published since 2000) following previous articles in recent editions. The Reporter is the printed newsletter of the Round Hill Society and is evidence of a lively local community with regular events including an annual water fight.

The mission drew to an energised end with the packing up of tools, swiftly darkening skies and GoodGym area activator/ Round Hill resident Stefania handing out ciabatta and luminous doughnuts sourced via the Olio app, which helps prevent good food from going to waste.

With thanks to volunteers from the Round Hill Society, including Dominic and local councillor Raphael.

Executive summary haiku

Fifteen GoodGymers

paint and hoe. Local acclaim.

Toads enjoy the rain.

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BrightonGroup run
+3
Edel
Jane Dallaway
Pippa A
Michelle
STEFANIA ROSSO
Euan Hill

Missing the summer, GoodGym-ers?

Tuesday 9th July 2024

Written by STEFANIA ROSSO (she/her)

I miss the summer, I really do! Don’t you? Regardless, it was such a great pleasure to be running with other 8 brave GoodGym-ers at yesterday's group session. We also welcomed Mariam, who was not discouraged at all but the rainy introduction to GoodGym Brighton!

Armed with rain cover ☔, weeds scrapers🧹provided by the B&H Tidy Up Team, loppers ✂ and other garden tools borrowed from Brighton Borrowers, we joined forces 💪 with a few other brave volunteers from Round Hill: the community hero Rob, my lovely neighbour Josh and the super active Aurelie from the Sylvan Hall Residents Association.

Together, we managed to clear Cat-Creep (ie the long steep stairway connecting Wakefield Road with Roundhill Crescent, where tods are crossing 🐸), a great length of the pathway of Wakefield Road, and the surrounding of the orchard at the East end of Sylvan Hall, which is aimed to flourish as a secret biodiversity spot of this residential estate. Mariam also managed to save cute snails from the green clearance! 🐌

This was a great and fully appreciated effort! Thank YOU all, GoodGym! Thank you also for helping to save good bread loaves and pasties from being wasted. Hope you enjoyed them for dinner 😊.

To the next one, and to the summer to come (hopefully).

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BrightonCommunity mission
+4
Philippa
Carla Washbourne
Rob Ward
Amro
Tabitha Hrynick
Frances Ruocco

Running up those hills

Tuesday 18th April 2023

Written by Carla Washbourne

Brighton’s topography may not have been the inspiration for Kate Bush’s classic track, but our hills are remarkable in both number and steepness. Great for some challenging and rewarding running sessions!

10 GoodGym-ers tackled not one but two of Brighton and Hove’s most challenging hills. The group split our efforts between parallel street clean-up tasks, supporting groups in Hanover and Roundhill to paint over graffiti tags and pick up wind-blown litter to encourage others to keep the community tidy.

Striding up the sun-drenched lawns and splitting off to our separate sites, we were joined in our mission by a crew of local residents and councillors and cheered on by many passers-by as we paint rolled and litter picked our way around the neighbourhood.

Or, to paraphrase the prescient words of Chamillionaire:

They see me rollin’

We painting

Patrollin’ for litter making town less dirty...

Brighton and Hove City Council helped by supplying paints and brushes for painting over graffiti in the Roundhill and Lewes Road area. Good Gym volunteers did sterling work sprucing up the area!

We finished with a fun, increasingly fast paced training session around the Level led by Pippa and were rewarded with slices of still warm chocolate beetroot cake (yup, one of our five a day! :) ), as part of Stefania’s extended Birthday Celebrations. Buon compleanno, Stefania!

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BrightonCommunity mission
+2
Sarah Katharine
Philippa
Angela M
STEFANIA ROSSO
Juliet O'Brien

Hilly Hop with Tods

Tuesday 14th March 2023

Written by STEFANIA ROSSO (she/her)

The Cat Creep is a secret shortcut between the upper and downhill residential roads in the Round Hill Ward, well known by its residents. Unlike some of the other Cat Creeps in Brighton, this one was initially wider and named Lennox Road in readiness for houses to be built along it. However, this plan was eventually abandoned: Lennox Road was just too steep for coaches to negotiate!

Nowadays, if you’re on the Cat Creep after dark, don’t be surprised if you see someone with a torch apparently staring at the stairs. From February to April, a group of local enthusiasts counts toads and newts as they migrate from one side of the cat creep to the other to mate. So, we did. We counted at least 7 tods at our passage! This greatly hopped GoodGymers up to undertake the group mission that involved the distribution of more than 150 copies of the local newsletter, “The Round Hill Reporter” to the residents of the ward, especially those who can't or don't want to be online, so they can hear all about the latest news in the area. It was a blast, so we had plenty of time for a fitness session hopping up the stairs together with the tods – indeed, using our phone and head torch to avoid stepping on them – and some sprint runs up hill. The second Tuesday of the month is Brighton GoodGym’s social night, and we concluded our evening with a Quiz Night to socialise at a local pub.  

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