Making a Final Push in Church Community Garden Transformation

After many months of dedication, persistence, and muddy boots, the GoodGym Worthing team returned once again to the Church Community Rooms garden — a space we’ve been battling with for quite some time. The weeds nearly won on more than one occasion, but our team’s resilience and determination proved stronger. Through every season and in all types of weather, we’ve shown up to transform this once-overgrown patch into a usable and welcoming garden space.

Finishing Touches With Val and Rik

This evening’s task saw us helping our longtime community partners, Val and Rik, with the final touches. On our last visit, we had begun the groundwork for laying membrane under paving slabs — a key step in reclaiming the garden from the weeds. Today’s mission was to complete that task and edge the slabs with recycled bricks for a neat and finished look.

A Team Effort

John, Ryan, and Craigrolled up their sleeves and tackled the heavy-duty job of positioning and bedding in the final slabs. Working with precision, they ensured the black membrane was neatly in place before setting each slab down securely.

Meanwhile, the precision team — Sarah, Gillybean and Megan took on the meticulous challenge of laying the recycled bricks along the edge of the path. This wasn’t a task for the just anyone ! Each brick took about five minutes to dig in and position perfectly, and their attention to detail made all the difference ( even if Sarah did keep shoving soil into where I was digging ! 😂

Ricky and I were on some solid groundwork, digging out and preparing the final areas with spades before the precision team moved in to finish the job.

Whilst all this was happening Belinda Belinda was a whirlwind of efficiency, busily weeding and hoeing the entire garden area with energy and flair. Her efforts gave the space an instant lift and left it looking tidy and well maintained. Craig also helped by transferring over from the slabs and raking over the freshly hoed area.

With some final massive slab action from John , Ryan and Craig together with Gills finishing touch of sweeping the slabs we called it an evening.

A Victory Over the Weeds

What once seemed like an overwhelming and never-ending battle with weeds has been transformed into a meaningful and beautiful community space. It’s been a long journey, but one defined by teamwork, consistency, and a shared belief in making a difference.

A huge well done to all involved — tonight and over the many months that came before. The garden stands as a testament to what can be achieved when good people turn up, again and again, rain or shine.

💨 Wind, Weeds & a Whole New Look for the Seafront Flowerbed! 🌊

It was an extremely windy evening down on the seafront, but that didn’t stop a hardy team of three GoodGym volunteers from giving a much-loved community flowerbed a well-earned makeover. Check out the before and after photos!

Gillybeanand Paulatackled the task with determination, battling gusts as they cleared out old plant debris and spent bulb matter. Despite the blustery conditions, they worked efficiently to tidy the bed and prepare it for replanting.

The new plants—donated by Nick and delivered by me were a mix of beautiful varieties, all lovingly grown from seed. Once the space was cleared, Gill and Paula carefully planted them in, bringing structure and life back to the space.

Thanks to their efforts and some excellent team watering ,the flowerbed now looks bright, fresh, and ready to face the sea breeze in style. A fantastic team effort in less-than-ideal weather—well done all! 🌱💪