"The bindweed roots pierce down/ Deeper than men do lie" (Walter de la Mare)

Following an already legendary mission at The Bevy which saw the gang split into idyllic orchard/ pungent backyard areas resonant of heaven/ hell, this week GoodGym Brighton looked forward to all the carefree associations that a bed of roses might suggest in sunny Portslade. However, the latest challenge was no walkover, instead the sisyphean task of removing bindweed, whose rope-like roots can plunge 4m deep, from an attractive rose plot in local open-space gem Vale Park.

No number of hurdles, including sharp thorns, stinging nettles and even an errant deadly nightshade, could deter the vigour of the GoodGym gang's gardening or dim the volume of its high-tempo zeitgeisty chatter. Lucy, from Friends of Vale Park, heralded the group 'angels' and bestowed ice pops in orange, lemon and pink flavours. Meanwhile, the group applauded Olivia's recent milestone of 50 good deeds, and finally celebrated with a collective vertical leap, appropriate in a week when GoodGym founder Ivo Gormley is featuring at a B2B event called Elevate, exploring the link between "physical activity, community connection, and climate action".

Friends of Vale Park is a recently-formed community organisation in Portslade, keen to improve and use the park for the benefit of the local neighbourhood and residents. Formerly a hazardous flint pit and training ground for soldiers in WW1, Vale Park is now a popular leafy space with outdoor exercise facilities, scout hut and book swap chest, and events run by the Friends include an Easter egg hunt, a pumpkin carving workshop and picnics in the park.

One of the longer distances to a mission for much of the GoodGym Brighton crowd, we ran and wheeled our way out west to Vale Park in the beautiful late summer sunshine.

Main mission: removing a huge proliferation of dock plants and bindweed from the park’s beloved yellow rose bed, giving the roses space to really do their thing.

Yellow roses are aptly a symbol of friendship and we always welcome new friends at GoodGym Brighton! Tonight, we were joined by Harrison, Edward, and Nick on their first GoodGym community mission.

Working under the excellent direction of Lucy and other Friends of Vale Park we donned gardening gloves and spread ourselves around the rose beds. Moving between waves of excited chatter and meditative hush, we pulled up plants and unwound bind weed from branches and stems. At points we were all so hidden in the depths of the flowerbeds that only occasional flashes of red t-shirt gave us away.

Creating an ever-growing pyramid of leaves adjacent to the flower bed, we stacked our spoils higher and higher like a childhood game of dare until the pile eventually slumped. Then started all over again.

Roses freed, we ran off into the sunset like the subtle superheroes we all are.

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Ciao Ciao Carla, Bye Bye, lovely friend and GoodGym Brighton Hero.

Tonight, with a sightly tingled heart, GoodGym Brighton said GoodBye to you but we truly believe it is only a "Bye For Now" . Wherever you'll go you will be always shining, having fun and keep dancing💃. You are already a lovely and confident GoodGym Fitness Run Leader and, soon, so you will become for GoodGym Warwick & Leamington Spa. 'Lucky they are' :-), says Stefania

Be [GoodGym] always with you!

You might move elsewhere but our friendship stays forever, and we will be here waiting for your return ❤.

What a turn out at yesterday’s GoodGym session together with the Friends of Vale Park. This is a local community in South Portslade, near Brighton, dedicated to improving Vale Park. They want it to be a place where the neighbourhood comes together, enjoys themselves, takes care of the public green space and becomes the heart of the local community.

Historically, Vale Park was a ‘Flint Pit’. In 1917 it was a quarry used for the extraction of sand and flints, and then became a dump. During the First World War the area was used as a training ground for soldiers who built bridges over the water-filled pits. At the south east corner, there was a deep pond fed by a natural spring. It seemed to be a popular place for children to play, to have some great games and excursions there, not without some incidents. Now it is a lovely park with colorful and flowering roses.

The Friends of Vale Park love their park and hope we do too. And we do!

15 GoodGym-ers cycled or ran to the park to help unbinding wonderful roses from the attack of burning nettles and other itching and stinging weeds. With extraordinary results! A great session for a belated celebration of Volunteers Week with some proper “Beerbusiness” at our follow up social gathering in the pub.

VALE PARK GARDENING GROUP is STARTING SOON. You might be interested to know that starting on Sat 28th June at 10 am, and then every LAST Saturday of the month, there will be a new Vale Park Gardening group. It’ll be a great chance to be a part of a lovely community, meet new people, do some gentle exercise in the fresh air and keep those weeds at bay in their beautiful rose beds. Good for the body, mind and soul!

The Friends of Vale Park are looking for a group name for the new Vale Park Gardening group, with “Weedy Ones” getting my vote 😊!

Ten Goodgymers ran, walked and cycled the 6k to Vale Park in Portslade. We met the hardworking volunteers from the Friend of Vale Park Group. Today Jane completed her 50th session and Sherman celebrated his 6th year of being a GoodGymer!

Making the most of the evening sunlight we got to work clearing the bindweed and brambles from the rose beds. All the wet then hot weather had meant that the weeds had taken hold. Luckily the bindweed had glowing white flowers and was easy to see in the dusk. We employed our destructive gardening skills and managed to clear some of bindweed.

Vale park is now ready for hosting the Halloween games 🎃 for the children and the scouts of the local area.

A very satisfying task where we made a visable difference!

On a hot September night, five of us ran, cycled or went by bus 6km to Vale park in Portslade to help with a new task of rescuing a rose bed from bind weed. Task owner Lucy from Friends of Vale park told us if it wasn’t weeded regularly the council had said they would remove the rose bed!

With the help of several enthusiastic children and their parents, we all got to work with clearing the bind weed or ‘strangle weed’ as one girl aptly named it! Several piles of bind weed were produced to reveal three beautiful yellow roses, and we hope many more to come.

The task was very rewarding followed by a pleasant cycle ride home along the seafront.

Bindweed.....it's definitely a bind. Greeting us at Vale Park in sunny Portslade was piles of it suffocating the lovely roses. We met Naz there and with assistance from Peter and Mike we set about tackling the afore mentioned bindweed with secateurs and sweat! Vale Park is a lovely spot and the sun came out to provide us with a lovely morning unlike the monsoon we dealt with last time we were here. This time the only drizzle present was the delicious lemon drizzle cake provided by local resident June who can't help because of health issues but wanted to contribute. After an hour and a half of weeding the difference was huge so the little picnic we had was well deserved. Plenty more to do so I'm sure we'll be back.