On a lovely Sunday morning, as I turned up to Woking Park, run director and several marshals were already there with a friendly smile. There was a steady in steam of young runners making their way to the bandstand. Anne and Olalekan were there and the welcome briefing was just about to start. Anne was given position 11 to marshal, making sure the enthusiastic parents were aware to keep the pathway clear for the little runners and Olalekan was going to witness the joyful finishers as his position is a scanner, helping the youngsters to register their times. The run director, asked me to fill position 12 on the course, this is where the young runners peel off after completing their two laps, but not before! The run director welcoming the runners and gave the instructions for Junior Parkrun number 337. The warm up crew stepped up and once everyone was warned up, the count down to the start line began. A nice clean start to the run sent the children heading down the path, past all the muddy patches! Everyone joined the path without too much mud and then they can enjoy the solid surface of the path. It wasn't long before the first runner flashed past the finish line in a great time of 7:48. A great time with difficult conditions. And in total, 147 happily cross the finish line to complete a successful JPR. Awesome work from Woking GoodGymers 😁

What a wonderful task organised by Julie, who kindly provided all the paint, paintbrushes, pots, tablecloths and even drinks and snacks.

It proved to be a popular task as there was a good turn out from the Woking GoodGym gang to paint bird boxes for Knaphill Lower School. We were given a wooden bird box to unleash our creative painting talents. Becky and Anne shared a box, and went with a very practical camouflage design, as did Julie and Kirsty who went with a beautiful shade of blue plus a cheerful yellow sun.

Nadia did GoodGym proud by not only painting a colourful box but also bringing along a friend for January in the form of her mum who is a good painter as demonstrated by her berry design. Adam ran to the task now he is getting back into running in time to paint a colourful red and blue box.

Ola showed his creative talent by using masking tape for his design. Vicky from the PTA popped along to see our hard work and explained 20 bird boxes will be placed along a trail for the lower school children to try to spot them all.

Vicky's son picked Stephanie's as the the best painted bird box, which was well deserved, as she was able to combine a practical but stylish design of green leaves.

Luan, Olalekan, Kirsty and Julie were back for another session reviving the outdoor space for the school pupils. Vikki had 2 jobs for us this week - creating a habitat hedge and constructing a gate. Ola took on the gate and persevered all session, showing great determination,overcoming incorrect instructions and a lack of pre-drilled holes to create a great looking finished product!

Luan teamed up wiith one of the school parents and did a great job of removing the ivy, while Kirsty demonstrated her fantastic new tools that Father Christmas had provided. She must have been on the 'very nice' list. The loppers were particularly great for chopping the branches for the habitat hedge and the hori hori (a cross between a trowel and a knife) was great for making holes for the support posts. A great job by the team as always.

Looking forward to meeting at the Phoenix Cultural Centre on Wednesday evening to paint the nesting boxes.

Rebecca, Anne andAlys took part in the awesome annual Doughnut Dash organised by Phoenix Running Club.

It involves 5.3k out and back laps along the river Thames and at the end of each lap you get a doughnut! The event is informal and friendly and participants can start when they want between 7am and 8.30am and finish when they want before 3pm.

Becky started just after 7am with the first lap in the dark but the opportunity to see a lovely sunrise.

After a brief break to take her nephews to the playground to let her sister run, she clocked up 4 laps (21k). Anne did a superb job and clocked up 15k over 3 laps. and Alys smashed through 2 laps.

We all enjoyed our doughnuts and giant doughnut shaped medals, which to be honest were the two main reasons we were there running up and down the Thames in freezing cold January weather.

Yesterday afternoon, Saturday 20th December, Kirsty, Anne, Olalekan, Melanie and Rosa (who joined us for her first ever community mission - Welcome to Goodgym) met at Woking Leisure Centre for a festive community mission supporting Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

Our task was to promote Shooting Star’s Christmas tree collection service, which takes the hassle out of recycling by collecting trees from homes on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th January. A minimum donation is welcomed helping raise vital funds for the charity.

The team headed out from the Leisure Center, through Woking Park, around the White Rose Lane area, delivering leaflets to houses and blocks of flats. Covering a few kilometres along the way, the route gave us a little workout with slopes, steps and staircases. The weather stayed calm, crisp, and chilly, ideal once we got moving. Festive vibes were boosted by Anne and Kirsty’s Christmas tutus, which definitely helped spread some extra cheer.

It was lovely to be out in the fresh winter air, combining exercise with something that really matters. Shooting Star Children’s Hospice supports families with a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, as well as bereaved families, across Surrey, South West London and North West London. Every leaflet delivered helps spread awareness and support for this vital service.

By the end of the session, we’d made a strong dent in the leafletting task and everyone kindly took extra leaflets home to continue spreading the word locally.

A tree-mendous effort from the team.