This evening’s GoodGym crew headed over to the local primary school to help give some tired walls a well-deserved refresh.

Paul, Stéphane and the school’s friendly facilities manager, Richard, rolled up their sleeves and got straight to work in the main hall, carefully transforming the space surrounding the noticeboards with some smooth fresh cream paint.

Meanwhile, Paula, Mel, Megan, Barbara and I tackled the cloakroom, turning what started as a scuffed and well-used area into a clean, welcoming space ready for the children’s coats and bags. With teamwork, laughter and a bit of friendly paint-splatter competition, we made great progress.

By the end of the session, both the hall and cloakroom looked brighter and fresher, Huge thanks to everyone who came along — and to Richard for keeping us supplied with brushes, rollers and also to Head Teacher , Helen for staying on too.

Another productive evening of doing good and getting paint on our sleeves (in the best way)!

It’s the C word time

No, not the C word that garden centres seem to be promoting already. Its Cutting Back time. The holly and the ivy that adorned the outer wall of the cemetery stood no chance against the might (and height) of Craig! Ably assisted by Stéphane and John the wall was cleared of the invading greenery and the pathway swept.

Raking up that old joke

Meanwhile Ryan, Sarah, Ricky and Paul raked their way around the cemetery. With Sue wheeling the fruits of their labour to the compost area as quickly as the raking progressed (there it is!) the graves and paths looked neat and definitely tidier than when we arrived.

Overgrowth, undergrowth

Meanwhile Gill headed into the overgrown area behind the no entry sign to lead the clear out party. With support from Roxy, El and Megan the unwanted growth stood little chance.

The Final Cut

For weeks John and Paul have been keen to release their chainsaws on a GoodGym task. The opportunity to cut down to size one of Craig’s larger conquests could not be resisted. Paul’s tool was out, and the branches trimmed, before you could say “group photo time”.

Squalls well that ends well

The first Monday of September brought us a blustery evening, with squally showers sweeping through during the day. By the time we gathered, the sun had broken through, but the wind was still whipping around and there was a definite autumnal chill in the air.

That didn’t stop my brilliant crew of Paul,Ryan , Gillybean, John, Roxy and Meganfrom teaming up for tonight’s task. Armed with litter pickers, bags, and plenty of determination, we all set off along the beach towards the pier.

The wind had clearly left its mark. The wind whipped across the promenade and litter had been blown into awkward corners. Underneath the pier was especially bad, but between us we got as much done in the time we had. By the end, it was satisfying to see the whole area cleared and looking so much better.

On the way back we took a moment to admire our GoodGym flowerbed which is looking extremely healthy and still not reached its best yet ! It may need a few more weeks before it will be a contender to win the community competition 😀

A huge thank you to everyone who came out in less-than-ideal weather to make a real difference for our community and our coastline.

💪 Great work team – windy or not, you smashed it!

Have a good week.

Julia 😀