Wednesday night is GoodGym night- just for this week

Many thanks to my team tonight who accomodated a change of night from our usual Monday. The roll call was as follows. Gillybean Roxy Sarah

The task tonight was an ongoing one that we have been working on at Worthing Leisure Centre garden for several years. It has been one that we have been chipping away at gradually and, overview the months it has been a case of a few steps forward and then, sometimes quite a few back when the weeds have threatened to take over again. However the good news is that,finally,we seem to be winning the battle ! The area that we sowed with grass seed and bulbs last November is looking green and, in some places, quite lush!

Team works makes the dream work

Ryan worked on a litter pick then moved to raking the recently mowed grass. Sarah helped Ryan with the raking and also the weeding with Gill.Sarah also played a ' what's on your back trick' on an unknowing John who was so hard at work he didn't notice! He had started with some pruning then dropped to his knees to clear some significant weeds from paving stones surrounding the fig tree.

My final shout out goes to Roxy who was fresh ( apart from her legs !) from completing her 1st marathon in Brighton at the weekend. Many congratulations to our very own ultra runner and here's to the next one ! For tonight, Roxy had chosen a standing task ( understandably) of pruning shrubs plus the fig tree before assisting Gill with somemore,and this time very prickly, pruning.

We achieved lots tonight but there is still lots to do so we will return soon!

Have a great week!

Julia xx

It was great to welcome back Mel and Paul for their second task with us - Luckily it was dry and marginally less dark than their first task with us last week! Both got stuck into digging a trench for the bulbs to be scattered in. Progress was swift!

Propped on a bench, it was also great to have our dedicated photographer, Belinda who is re cooperating from a foot operation capturing some lovely shots. Thank you for turning out on a November night when you could have snuggled on the sofa with a boxed set and Jellybean the 🙀

Gillybean was in charge tonight and armed with boxes and a large sack of daffodils and other spring flowers she shared out carefully between us all.

Paul and John dug out the border on the other side of the garden before planting the allocated bulbs there too. All work tonight was aided by Uncle Ivo's GG work lights :)

Paula dug out a half moon bed where we had previously planted sunflowers. Whilst the area needs a lot more TLC, this garden should look very pretty in the spring months.We will return to sort the grass and weeds another time!

Whilst the rest of the team went home , Mel and I headed out for a very sociable and enjoyable 2 km run.

Job well done :)

Have a great week and see you next time

Julia xx

As the weather was grim I decided to have a dig out of the storage Shed . Managed to fill 3 blacksacks ,really enjoyed organising our tools to make them easier to get to. The Grass seed isn't looking great but im hopefull it will be healthier come spring, if not we can sprinkle it with wild flower seeds.

Up coming jobs... *Another tidy of compost area. *Some cutting back of hedges *Tidy round the storage Shed. *Bulb planting

Little by little

This was our third visit back to this leisure centre garden. It's a project that we have kind of adopted as we found it sad to see it uncared for. Gillybean has always led the way on this task and we are always happy to get behind her ideas to give a helping hand.

Tonights task was to get the rectangular area of ground prepared and planted with grass seed.

Belinda armed with John's pads got straight down on her knees to weed. Paula was also part of the weeding team and the two of them also chatted about their up and coming BIG Birthdays and how they were feeling about the milestone together with how they may be celebrating them.

John himself, got some great pruning of shrubs and brambles done at the far end of the garden where its very overgrown whilst chatting to Daisy who was busy raking reading for sowing.

Roxy in her signature style got into some energetic digging followed by scattering the grass seed and watering.

Gillybean was part of the weeding, raking and sowing team with me pitching in wherever needed including lots of watering, plus the all important, taking of photos.

We will wait to see how the grass seed takes and return to dig some borders so that we can plant lots of bulbs which will make it look wonderful next Spring

Next week it's John's Birthday so we will be combining a litter pick / walk / run with some celebrating 🍾 😀

*Paul's special day *

What a great turn out it was for Paul epic 200th good deed. What an amazing journey its been since Paul came along with Tamsin in October 2017. We have absolutely LOVED every minute of our time with you at tasks and also at socials when you bring your husband John along too ( not forgetting Pepper and Milo too! )

Tonight was no exception with Paul, John and the 2 dogs helping to celebrate the amazing milestone. However, before the celebrations came the task!

What a group turn out

It was great to see Lucy and Duncan who came over especially for this evening from Portsmouth. Thank you both - much appreciated. Lets also not forget a guest appearance from our social secretary Tamsin who already has plans afoot for our annual Christmas get together - this year we are going to try for a December date and at exclusive location !

Our task tonight was to continue the remodelling of the garden at the leisure centre. Barbara had made a suggestion that the raised beds would be removed to be replaced with grass and Duncan also suggested wild flower beds. This has since been approved and will mean it will be much easier to maintain together with making it a prettier area for sitting out in.

The first job was to dismantle the beds and level the soil over the ground. Roxy was especially pleased as she was able to reclaim the wood from the beds for using in her allotment. We cant wait to see the photos of what she creates with her stash!

Thank you all for all the hard work tonight from all the team - Another special mention must go to Gillybean for her leadership and consistency in looking after this garden over the weeks, months (and years! )

Ryan and Sarah get the prize for the cutest photo of the evening :) Plus kudos to Ryan for not giving up his rake when we did the speedy swap in changeovers.

Anne and John get the prize for the best caption photo ( we still are unsure quite what was going on here but we are sure it was, somehow, a sign of Ann's appreciation of John! )

Sue and Lucy had a great action shot demonstrating 'lunges whilst you work' !

After the task came the awards ceremony with Paul loving his bespoke GG engraved tankard and putting it into immediate use! We all shared drinks and a picnic with everyone's contributions. Yum!! What a happy and buzzing night it was for GG Worthing! We were definitely feeling the love :)

Hope to see lots of you next week - in the meantime have a great last weekend of August.

Julia xx

Deja vu Duncan and I again (plus Albie) Duncan and i got on with the task of dismantling the two beds and putting the soil in the borders ready for new plants!! Albie helped with some digging and i cut back the hollyhocks that had finished. staff from the Centre did an amazing job of tidying the bins area , they are also going to fix the tool shed door that is hanging off its hinges. we need a list of hardy plants and I've requested a sturdy broom.