Six Good Gym runners helped local volunteers with setting up and running Spring in the Patch community festival. It was luckily mainly a dry April day for set-up until about half way through the event when it started raining unfortunately. Juliet (who is also a Patch volunteer committee member) ran the community mission. Sarah and Pippa helped with set-up which involved putting up tents, carrying boxes from the container, setting up the bar and tea tent. Sarah came back for another volunteer shift later collecting donations on the gate, the innovation of being able to now take card donations has really helped. Nikki and Michael joined later too for different shifts, both on the tea tent serving tea, coffee, cold drinks and a range of home-made delicious cakes. The event attracted about 300 people and had four bands, bar, tea tent, a range of stalls including craft, hair braiding, face painting, Green party, Labour party and activities such as yoga and archery. We event had a potential MP volunteering on the bar! It was a very successful event, despite the rain and the Good Gym volunteers made a big difference.

On a scorching Saturday morning, Sarah, Ben, Frannie and new member Taylor helped Juliet and Friends of William Clarke Park volunteers (of which Juliet is a committee member) with the set up for a community festival named ‘Soul in the Patch.’

The community group holds three events a year which are entirely run by volunteers. Sarah helped with the job of cleaning and taping down the vinyl dancefloor in ready for all the twists, turns and Northern soul shuffles! Frannie helped set up the shelter for the mod and Northern soul DJ’s on the stage and Ben, Taylor and Juliet helped with putting up a number of tents to give shade to the attendees.

In the evening Frannie volunteered on the bar which was non-stop! While Carla volunteered on the tea tent but soon joined in helping on the bar, learning to pull her first pint. It was a fun event and Friends of William Clarke park were very grateful to have the support of Good Gym.

Since our ancestors used to hunt for food, Brighton Goodgym decided that little rain ain't gonna stop us from helping out in the Spring in the Patch event at the William Clarke Park.

Juliet and Amro (I know! If I was called Romeo that would've been so cool but I'm Arab!!) showed up on a rainy Sunday morning to help the Friends of the William Clarke Park set up tents, carry some band equipment around, roll out some carpets and just get the Patch at the park ready to welcome neighbours and visitors to enjoy what the Spring in the Patch offers.

It was not just volunteering and hard work, we also got to enjoy amazing tunes from a local band, savour some tasty food from Ma Jah Ma, Oui Creperie and others, sip some cold and hot drinks, sharpen up our archery skills and much much more. It was an unforgettable Sunday filled with love and joy surrounded by friendly people.

I encourage everyone to get involved in this event next year.

William Clarke Park, better known as The Patch, is a public park in Brighton, England, which was opened in the late 20th century. The park has a sports area, which contains a basketball hoop and a football goal, a children's playground and a pond among other things. It can be accessed by paths from Hartington Road, Picton Street and Franklin Street

William 'Nobby' Clarke was a local councillor and secretary of the Brighton Labour Party during the '60s & 70's. He was also Brighton Mayor for a time. He campaigned to turn the site of the old Kemp Town railway into a recreation ground for the benefit of local children & residents in the Elm Grove & Lewes Rd areas.

In a twist of events, Sarah made a last minute entrance and helped with the take down and enjoyed the vibes as well and met a very floofy cat too.