**A big GG Worthing welcome 🙏

On a dark drizzly night at the end of October we were really pleased to offer a very warm GoodGym welcome to Mel and Paul who joined us for the first time on our task tonight. It was so good to meet you both and we sincerely hope it will be the first of many tasks together.

Despite the darkness and rainy conditions there was plenty of cheery chat :)

There is an area of Goring Greensward that is not covered by Worthing Borough Council bins and attracts a lot of rubbish. As a dog walker in the area it has been bugging me for a while. Last month myself, together with Mr and Mrs Robinson ( aka John and Belinda) we had made a really great start but tonight, with more people and armed with our trusty GG work lights together with bright head torches, we continued this fantastic work.

In the course of the task I learned that Sarah and Ryan have recently been to Italy - did anyone know this ? If they hadn't before the task they certainly will do by now ! However, on returning from running, both of them completed their virtual Great south Run on Saturday and Sunday in signature style - well done both of you :)

Ricky had also completed his VGSR in true Ricky style and pace - many congratulations :) Ricky was very illuminated tonight ( see the photo) which, given the theme of the evening @thisgirlcan ' lifting the curfew' was perfect timing.

Daisy also happened to mention about her up and coming holiday in the Lake District where the weather looks forecast to be dry ! Regardless of the weather Daisy will love it - tonight she especially loved clearing up all the litter ( quite competitive ! )

As ever, Paula and Barbara dug in tonight with their usual energy and good humour helping to ensure that, despite the weather, the task was a really worthwhile one.

With the dark nights here we will continue to do good in the community throughout the winter months - your continuing participation and support is much appreciated. In addition to the Monday night tasks and community missions, I will be adding in fitness and socials to help us through too :)

Have a great week

Julia xx

Curb Crawling

The three of us met, feeling decidedly chilly, but determined on this blustery evening on the sea front Armed with our litter pickers and bags we started an epic task - to clear litter along the verges of the roads alongside Goring Greensward beauty spot.

It was heartbreaking to see the volume of litter strewn everywhere. We could have done with 20 of us to have completely got rid of all the rubbish.

However, we jammed 3 bags full before the light faded and we got cold. We vowed to return another day with more people and more bags !

Thank you so much to Mr and Mrs R Belinda and John Much appreciated and bizarrely it felt like a very worthwhile time spent.

Next time - more of you all please 🙏

Have a great week

Julia xx

Shingle all the way

On a gorgeous moonlit evening we met up at the west end of Worthing in Goring -by -Sea. The task tonight was to clear a busy seafront path with a plethora of stones and shingle that had spilled over from the beach.

It was an extra special evening tonight as we were celebrating 2 important milestones - Congratulations to

Duncan 200th task.

and Ricky 100th task

Whilst I took Sarah, Craig and Paul off for a 3 km run along the prom, plus Anne joined us too, the rest of the team started shovelling shingle.

On our return ,despite a few concerns about making the path too muddy if we removed all the stones, we compromised and left a layer of protection for both easier walking but less claggy. It was tough manual work which will be much appreciated by the 1000's of people both residents and visitors who use the path. Great work team.

99....100.... 200

Once the task was finished, we took a few moments of appreciation for both Ricky and Duncan on both their milestone tasks.

Ricky joined us in October 2019 and has worked on both his running and wellbeing ever since. 100 tasks later, multiple running PB's and now with a whole new wardrobe of running gear, Ricky will, I'm quite sure, continue to forge onwards with his GG and running journey. We look forward to catching up with Ricky's progress again on his 200th!

Many thanks to John for the wonderful 100th avatar momento that he had crafted so beautifully for Ricky - a really brilliant job.

Onto Duncan who not only joined us from day 1 in March 2017 -but also brought GG (and parkrun) to Worthing. Since then, Duncan has been stalwart in his support. As a task force member, he regularly organises tasks and is always looking to maximise opportunities for us all. Since 2017 Duncan has been on a lot of adventures with, almost weekly parkrun tourism ( sometimes with Ricky) but mostly with ([https://www.goodgym.org/admin/runners/lucy-booth]) and his other 'gentlemen' buddies! He has also covered a lot of km's both walking and running including completing an ultra last year with Lucy. Massive kudos to you Duncan and grateful thanks too. Wear that beanies with pride! Notice I haven't mentioned your legendary participation in the GG fitness challenges :)

GoodGym January Challenge

As a small but mighty group, i think its fair to say that we are quite competitive. With this is mind please do your best to get as many km's and good deeds in this January. We have a goal of 70 good deeds and 3,000km's to complete before 31/1. So far we are on 23 good deeds and 803 km's. We are on track but lets try and be crowned winner of group H !

Heres the link to the live tracker

https://www.goodgym.org/january_challenge#h

This weekend there is park run on Saturday and fitness on Sunday to sign up to.

Check out whats happening here

https://www.goodgym.org/my/happenings

See you all next week :)