Will Belinda be able to restore the sewing machine, and make a GoodGym coat, before the official ones arrive?

How's that for a conversation starter courtesy of Mr R?!😅 It is, however one which I don't know the answer to 🙈

With the recent last Spring Bank Holiday of the year on Monday we opted for another mid week task and all arrived at Goring Gap for a litter pick. Usually we fill multiple bags of all sorts of rubbish and oddities .Today we found less rubbish but even stranger fly tipping.

Belindaand Birthday girl Roxy found two abandoned sewing machines ! There was one Singer antique one and one more modern boxed one. They were both fairly swiftly stashed in the boot of Belinda's car for John to renovate then both cherish.

Armed with a litter picker and bag, we set off on a sociable stroll around the roads. As always it was great to catch up with each other's news and hear what everyone got up to over the recent BH Monday. Stéphane had enjoyed a long weekend in Norwich and El had a really pretty new haircut.

Even thought there was less rubbish ( which was great ) we still managed to find plenty to fill our bags.

As I sit here in the departure lounge at Gatwick Airport writing this I'm officially handing over next Monday's task at St Botolphs Church and the subsequent report toJohn. With this in mind you will be guaranteed to have a long and witty report to share your Tuesday morning coffee with 😍☕️

As for me I have surprised my unsurprisable husband with a long weekend in Porto to celebrate his 65th Birthday.

Byeee for now. See you all very soon.

Happy GoodGyming

Julia xxx

April sunshine

With the light evenings and the recent beautiful weather we have all been enjoying , we were expecting a lot of rubbish on the beautiful greensward and surrounding roads near the beach. We did find plenty of rubbish but not nearly as much as we thought we would!

Many thanks to Paul, Roxy El Paula John and Ricky for turning out this evening.

We all set off with a litter picker and bag in hand. With new signs telling the public that it is an offence to leave litter in this beauty spot it does beg the question why there aren't any bins in the vicinity and also with so many security cameras everywhere why the council don't install some in this area.

Bizarrely this is one of my favourite tasks. Maybe it's because it's right on my doorstep,maybe it's because there is always so much litter and so it's a both needed and satisfying task or maybe because it's always such a relaxed task where we can walk and talk with each other.

Despite the area having been cleared recently we still filled 7 bags so we rant did feel it was a job well done. Many thanks to Paula who put all the bags into her favourite wagon and drove them down to a seafront bin where they will be collected by the refuse team tomorrow.

Next week is a Bank Holiday so we will all enjoy a rest and instead,meet next Wednesday at St Botolphs Church garden.

Wishing you all a very peaceful and Happy Easter long weekend.

Julia xx

A welcome back evening

It was so nice to see Sue and Craig back this evening and we do hope that we will continue to see more of you in the coming weeks and months - we have missed you both :)

Tonight we set to work to clear more rubbish in our local beauty spot. We have already visited this area twice in the last 6 weeks but sadly, it always needs more attention.

Craig started near where we had parked and found a substantial amount of litter straight away.

Barbara and Sue set of to the far end of the task and worked backwards walking towards us. they quickly filled a bag and started on a second!

Stéphane and El headed straight to the most littered part of the area where Roxy, Paula and I pitched in too. Highly addictive !

Before long we had filled 7 more bags to the brim. This means that in the last 6 weeks we have filled 22 bags ! Sadly we had to leave the bigger items of wood and parts from a computer but what a HUGE difference we have made ! Visually the area now looks clear. We will revisit this beauty spot every month so that we can get this area under control especially during the spring and summer months.

Thank you all for tonight and see you next week

Julia xx

Last minute change of plan

With the recent rain and subsequent water logged ground I needed to have a change of plan to the original one so we headed to Goring Gap to carry out a litter pick. This is always a great back up plan as, sadly there is always so much litter strewn all over this popular area.

Despite the change of location , I was so grateful for the turn out tonight. Thank you to my team - Paul, Sarah, El, Paula,Ricky, Ryan, Mel and Paul.

We split into two teams so that we weren't all following the same litter trail. Paul disappeared directly into the bushes near where we had parked and proceeded to almost fill a bin liner with discarded cans and bottles. Sad but true.

Paula, Paul,Mel Ryan headed off to do the top end of the task with Ricky in pursuit.

El and I worked as a team and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves chatting and alternating with a huge amount of litter picking. We joined up with Paul and although there was still litter everywhere we had to stop 'seeing' it as our bags were full to bursting !

We will return as there is still loads to do !

Have a great week. Special mention to Mel doing her first half marathon at Brighton on Sunday together with Paul who will hopefully be doing it if he gets better in time. Lets hoe the weather is kind and that we get the sun shining !

Hope to see you all soon.

Julia xx

With just hours until the finish of the January challenge, 4 of us put in a final surge to get the total GG tasks over 4500. With our contribution it went to 4501 ! 👏👌💪

Our Worthing target is standing on a tantalising 99 which is way more than we have ever achieved and above and beyond our target of 65 which was already an optimistic one 😇 We also smashed our 2500 km target which was also a challenging one.
I'm so happy and proud of our small but mighty area 😍

Bravo to John , Barbara and our intrepid runner Roxy who came out on Friday afternoon to make a start on litter picking our local beauty spot at Goring Greensward just near to the sea.

We managed to fill the bags we had with us which were soon laden and heavy too. Sadly, we only managed to scratch the surface of the litter strewn verges but we will be back!

Here endeth the 2025 January challenge Amen to that 🙏

**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