A great turn out today of 6 Goodgymers meant that we made great progress on the school garden. Luan and Kirsty started by collecting plants from another area of the school to add to the previous planting which is settling in and looking amazing. Anne and Katie painted the bug hotel with lovely red paint inspired by the Good Gym branding. Stephanie got stuck in to making some concrete mushrooms - we are very excited to see how those turn out. Julie finally got to use some of the massive compost heap to fill a wormery so that the children will be able to see how worms aerate the soil by creating tunnels and pull down leaf litter from the surface to help decompose it and create more lovely soil. A great team effort today - Vikki is planning a grand opening after half term so watch out for the date for this.

St Johns The Baptist Church

This morning i headed off to St Johns The Baptist Church to assist with clearing all the gullies and gutters that were clogged up with leaves 🍁🍂☘️

I met up with Neil and Terrance who were telling me how the always appreciate Goodgyms help.

They have their summer fair coming up and have also asked if Woking GG can help with the set up ☀️

Once i had cleared the leafs i assisted with moving bags of barks around the church grounds.

After an hours work i was done, and looking to go back next week 😀

Anne, Andy and Nadia met at Woking Leisure Centre at 18:45 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ and jogged the 1.2km to St Mark’s Church, Westfield ⛪, with Wayne and Kirsty joining us there at 19:00 👋. How great to see everyone again with their busy and interesting lives! We emptied the room 📦, shoved all the cupboards and chests forward to sweep behind 🧹, and unearthed some treasure toys that had been suspiciously launched onto the top shelves 🧸. Anne mopped the floor 💦 while the rest of us naughty students trod it dirty again 👣, only for her to sparkle it back up like a pro ✨. By the end we’d left the community fridge as bright and clear as the evening itself 🌙, then ran the 1.8km back to the Leisure Centre 🏁. 3km total, one gleaming room, and we burned enough calories to justify raiding a fridge ourselves 🧀.

On a beautiful spring morning, we saw the biggest turnout of children yet, made even more special with a number of children joining for the first time.

Olalekan, Adam and Karen were there from GoodGym, with Karen also bringing her friend Steve, who was visiting from Shropshire.

Another fantastic volunteering session—and a perfect way for children, parents and volunteers alike to start their Sunday.

A small but mighty team of three GoodGymers headed back to Knaphill Lower School’s nature garden today, and with the finish line in sight, it was all hands on deck to bring the space closer to completion.

We kicked things off together, planting the last batch of flowers to add even more colour and life to the garden. With the beds blooming nicely, we then split off to tackle a few key jobs: Katie got creative, giving the bug hotel a fresh coat of paint – making it not only a cosy spot for insects, but a real feature in the garden. •Kirsty took on the perimeter, cutting back some wayward branches and helping to tidy up the edges of the space. •StephanieStephanie (that’s me!) took on the task of digging a deep hole for a post. It took some perseverance (and a bit of sweat!), but we got there in the end 💪 With the sun shining down on us, it was one of those sessions that reminds you why these tasks are so rewarding – great company, meaningful work, and a lovely setting. To top it all off, Vikki and Mark were really pleased with the what we achieved and how the garden is coming along. As a thank you for all the help over the past few months, they kindly gifted us a mug and a crochet coaster – such a lovely thing! The transformation of the garden has been incredible, especially over the past few weeks and it’s now looking absolutely fantastic. Just a few final touches to go… 🌿✨ Can’t wait to see it fully finished!

As Adam arrived at Woking junior parkrun he could already see everything was well organised and setup. As Adam got closer to the bandstand, he could see Olalekan already there, already with his highvis on.

It wasn't long before Adam was registered and was given the marshal position at point 3 next to the tennis courts.

Olalekan was keen to do the scanning of all the excited youngsters having successfully completed Sunday mornings JPR 😃

The briefing started where run director Luke, gave the introductions for Woking Junior Parkrun number 346.

There where many children lined up for the start and when the whistle sounded, you could feel the ground shake as they stormed off the line. A good start was made as they all joined the path quickly.

The first runners passed Adam, all focused and clearly looking for a quick time. Then the other runners came by a bit more gently and with big smiles on their faces.

It wasn't long before the leaders came flying past again, seeing how much grit they had to finish off the last third of the course.

When the tail walker past Adam, he headed back to the bandstand. Once he got there, he saw Olalekan and the other volunteers being over crowded by park runners looking to get their time scanned.
Adam quickly jumped in and helped out before the crowd eased and we could start sorting the tokens.

And it turned out an incredible a total of 217 children finished and the first finisher to complete the run, in a fantastic time of 7:15.
Well done to the GoodGymers that helped it with another smooth Junior Parkrun 😁.