Woking Junior Park Run

This morning Wayne Anne, James Nadia & Olalekan got up early to carry out various volunteering roles at the junior parkrun, proving that heroes don't always wear capes—sometimes they just wear bright neon vests and look slightly sleepy! 🦸‍♂️🏃‍♂️

The early morning mist couldn't dampen the high spirits (or the excessive high-fiving) at today's junior parkrun! Five heroic volunteers dragged themselves out of bed to swap sleeping in for spreading joy, and the results were legendary.

Wayne​ was feeling less pain in his knee after surgery, sporting a little spring in his step that made him look like a rogue Tigger on the course. He was out there as a marshal, cheering and encouraging the young runners with the intensity of a football manager whose job depends on this match! 📣🦵

Anne​ was in full, operatic voice 🗣️, offering words of encouragement that could be heard three subdivisions away, and James 🐕 took on the role of tail walker, which is a polite way of saying he spent his morning successfully herding a flock of energetic children to the finish line without losing anyone 🏁.

Olalekan ⏱️ played the most stressful role of all: official timekeeper. With fingers poised like a Western gunslinger, Ola clocked those impressive speeds without missing a single beat 🤠🔫.

Nadia 👧🎒 brought her niece along for her debut parkrun—earning her VIP cheers from the GoodGym marshals—and then stayed behind to achieve legendary cleanup status. She hunted down every last cone, masterfully folded the high-vis bibs, and safely rounded up all the walkie-talkies. 📻 Cones, capes, and cleanup—she did it all!

It was a brilliant morning of community spirit, and plenty of high-fives, and perfectly clocked personal bests! 🎉🙌

With another sunny Sunday upon us, it was time for Junior parkrun at Woking park!

Wayne, Anne and myself were representing GoodGym Woking today - with Wayne and Anne marshalling whilst I scanned barcodes.

The conkers were in full force today - dropping off trees left and right and having to be kicked away off the course! They brought lots of fun too; kids were collecting and playing games with big kids (a.k.a their parents!)

The crowd mounted up as the briefing took place, with 197 finishers crossing the finish line today.

There was also an incredible amount of volunteers today - 31 hi-vis heroes were on hand to help!

You can find us there every Sunday and volunteers are always welcome, so we hope to see you sometime soon.

*🛠️ Woking Wolves Construction Log: Operation "Clubhouse Foundations *

The Squad: Wayne, Kirsty, Stephanie, Anne & Mark, and a collection of brave football coaches.

The Mission: Turn a massive pile of wood into a functional outdoor clubhouse without losing any fingers.

Fresh off painting a mural at the Hive, 🐝 the team arrived at the school football field feeling optimistic. That optimism was immediately tested by the discovery that the perimeter wooden slats—the absolute most critical parts for step one—were located precisely at the bottom of a massive, structural pile of equipment. Because of course they were.😤

A rigorous, unplanned weightlifting session ensued. Everything on top was meticulously relocated to a new pile, proving that the best way to build a clubhouse is to move the same objects back and forth at least three times.

With the parts finally removed from the pile, the pieces were laid out on the foundations. The actual construction officially began, soundtracked by the sweet, sweet buzzing of power tools in the morning sun.☀️

Wayne immediately claimed one of the drills and went to town creating holes and driving screws. To ensure maximum efficiency, Wayne successfully executed the "Double-Vision Technique"—keeping one eye on the screws and the other eye on the live football match happening nearby. Multi-tasking at its finest. 🤣

Recognising true dedication (and perhaps a bit of heavy lifting fatigue), Mark kindly provided Wayne with a luxury VIP lounge chair to rest his leg. Wayne (then transitioned smoothly into the role of Chief Construction Overseer, providing crucial moral support while sitting down.

The Verdict: The foundations are down, the screws are in, and nobody accidentally glued themselves to the wood. We have many weeks of building left to go, but the Woking Wolves officially have a base of operations.

"Will this mural ever actually bee finished?" we found ourselves wondering today, as we returned, paintbrushes in hand to The Hive at Knaphill Lower School for another installment of what is beecoming GoodGym Woking's Forth Bridge. The answer is, possibly. One day, but it is unlikely we will bee alive to see it!

In the glorious September sunshine the worker bees buzzed around with their brushes beeing busy painting around railings, crouching on concrete, edging the artwork and trying hard not to paint on the metal bits. You have to bee determined and persuasive to coax the cream paint into the very textured surface. Worker bee Wayne declared it "therapy" the other GoodGymers could not bee convinced into agreeing with him.

Wayne started outlining the artwork, before moving across to join the second mission at the same location arranged at the same time for Wolves Disability Football Club, Admirable effort following his knee surgery earlier this week, he should bee resting? Anne ran/walked 7.5km to join the task, and Stephanie surprised us all by appearing and immediately began working on outlining the mural.

And, or course, Rocket walked to the mission with Kirsty to continue his honorary membership role of providing not-so-strict canine oversight, preferring to get in the way, collect strokes and generally looking cute. A vital role.

Another lovely morning of sunshine and easy company where we contributed towards improving the school environment for local children. We will bee there next week and every week until Queen Bee Vikki is satisfied that the mural is finished. This particular colony isn't going into retirement anytime soon.

To bee continued! *photos by the real Queen Bee Anne and Wayne