*White Rose Lane Nature Reserve 🍁 *

This morning we were out in nature again assisting WeAct 🌎 at white rose lane nature reserve amongst the big Oak Trees 😄

Wayne & Anne finished volunteering at junior park run and met up with Luan at the leisure centre. From here we ran 2k to the nature reserve 🏃🏼‍♂️

The meeting place was by the bridge going over the Hoe Stream. Here we met up with Chris and the rest of the WeAct 🌎 team. It was great seeing Chris again, Luan did fantastically well running the 2k.

From the bridge we walked over to the other side of the stream where Charlie showed us what we had to do. The main job was ro remove the Himalayan Balsam which grows up to 14ft in very quick time.We also had to removed Laurel and create dead hedges.

We split up into 2 groups armed with all sorts of tools we got stuck in. Wayne & Chris started cutting the big Laural logs into smaller sections while Anne & Luan gathered the Laurel and started to build the dead hedge it was a beautiful morning to be out in the reserve ☀️.

While removing the Himalayan Balsam Anne came across a pile of old shoes under the laurels (No Matching Pairs 🤣)

Luan was loving her time out this morning and found it some interesting facts. The laurel that was cleared today wasn't native to the reserve 🌳 it was brought over in the Victorian age because it was fashionable to have green hedge leaves and branches cover the forest floor, but actually it smothers other plants and trees and shades everything so it cannot grow, hence the reason why it needs to be managed.

Half was through a well deserved cuppa was had and in no time we had done so much this area of the reserve was looking great.

We have many more out door tasks coming up please check the listings , Happy Mothers Day to all you amazing mums. 💐

Chris, Luan, Nadia and Anne met at the leisure centre for this week’s hill training. We started with a warmup and were ready to run gently to the hill!

It was decided to run according to our own abilities/experience. We ran in two groups, Chris and Nadia started going a bit further than Luanand Anne. Adam joined Chris and Nadia later on. (Anne did not recognise him as his OVNI headlight was not on…)

We all pushed ourselves, Luan who is new to running should be very proud of herself. Poor Luan being partnered with bossy Anne, kept going up and down, up and down! Well done Luan, we are all impressed with what you achieved tonight.

Chris and Nadia motivated each other all the way up. They were running so fast that all the photos taken are rather blurry. In total they ran 8 times uphill: fantastic training.

We thought of Katie, Kirsty and Wayne who wanted to join us but had to cancel at the last minute. Kirsty and Katie, we wish you a prompt recovery. Wayne, we cannot wait to hear about the Brutal run you will do on Saturday!

Are you joining some of us on Sunday: - Either helping junior parkrun in Woking Park - Or trail running 10 kms at Polesden Lacey? The choice is yours!

In the meantime, happy running to you all!

It was a chilly and rainy evening, but that didn’t stop the fantastic Woking Goodgym members from coming out in full force to wrap up the year with a final mission!

This evening, we were thrilled to welcome Chris, Karen, and Laura for their first time with us. We’re so happy to have you on the team and hope you enjoyed the mission as much as we did!

Tonight's adventure was organised by James, who brought along his Christmas backpack packed with 1,300 leaflets for the Shooting Star Children's Hospice fundraiser.

Shooting Star is collecting and recycling as many Christmas trees as they can this year in exchange for donations, which helps support children with life-limiting conditions and their siblings — what a wonderful cause!

Our determined group of ten set off toward the town centre, running through Woking Park, with Quinn, the dog, wagging his tail even harder in excitement beside us! We decided to extend our session tonight to get as many leaflets delivered as possible.

The GG army arrived at our first stop, and thanks to James and his magical keys, we quickly accessed 7 of Woking's apartment complexes to fill their letterboxes. It was like witnessing the world's most efficient production line!

After we finished there, we agreed to keep the leafleting going on our way back to the leisure centre, targeting both sides of Hillview Road, White Rose Lane, and Ockenden Gardens.

By the time we regrouped at the leisure centre, we were all buzzing with excitement after delivering a whopping 1,240 leaflets in just over an hour!

Karen, Laura, and Nadia took a few leaflets to share in their neighbourhoods, tonight, Anne, Wayne, and Alys had fun taking turns as backmarkers. Kirsty played the role of the unofficial lollipop lady, making sure everyone crossed those busy roads safely and struggled to keep up with the current, "not a runner" Agathe who whizzed through the streets.

Wayne captured some fantastic photos, and Alys Alys them on social media to spread the word about Shooting Star's cause.

James led the way as our fearless run leader tonight, and as a fun twist, Nadia still has some burpees to do in the new year as her penalty for not wearing her red tutu, Anne narrowly missed her penalty by nipping home and picking up hers to wear.

We missed our lovely regulars Katie and Becky this evening, who both are recovering from illness, and we look forward to supporting them back to full fitness in the new year.

On Saturday and Sunday, GG Woking is supporting the Woking District Rotary Club, James has arranged a group social 10k run at Polesdon Lacey on Sunday for members who are not volunteering at Woking Junior's Parkrun.

On Christmas Day, several members are meeting at Homewood Parkrun to build up a calorie deficit ahead of their Christmas lunches. Merry Christmas everyone!