It was a beautiful morning in Osterley Park - 39 youngsters ran around the 2k course with 17 volunteers, including Goodgymmers Maria and Jacquie. Run Director, Peter, never refuses a volunteer and Maria’s friend (who thought he was going to enjoy relaxing in the sun) found himself in a marshal role! Fortunately he is a registered parkrunner - maybe he will sign up to his local Goodgym next!

I was supposed to hand out finish tokens at Southall this morning but the marshall allocated to the roundabout position chickened out! It’s three times right and then left on the fourth time into the finish funnel. I think I got it right (or left) most of the time! Good to see Stephane Vessaud and some Goodgymers from Dulwich. They all finished correctly!

I was due to marshal at Pitshanger Park Junior parkrun but a sprained knee ligament made even walking tricky - luckily one of the other volunteers (my husband!) agreed to a swap and I was able to stand still and hand out finish tokens. Even with a dodgy knee I could manage that 😊

A whopping 83 young people turned out on a Sunday morning for a run in Pitshanger park today - good on them! And good on the 22 volunteers who made this possible. This included our own Fantastic Four from GoodGym Ealing - Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and Thing . Their super powers include marshaling (don't even think about taking a short cut!), barcode scanning and finish token support. This report writer is too wise to say which members of our team are which of the Fantastic Four - all the GoodGymers are the most amazing superheroes in our comic books! But we do undertake missions to the far away, unexplored parts of the galaxy! Does Pitshanger count?!

Jacquie, Chris, Aislinn and Steph Ducat signed up to volunteer until 3pm as requested by Angela, but as the BBQ was still in full swing and all were enjoying the sun, they all decided to carry on and finish by clearing, cleaning and packing up. All the customers were leaving and the crew worked relentless to ensure all was packed and left clean. They enjoyed some snow cones too. Super troopers!!!

Summer BBQ at Ealing Soup Kitchen and the Goodgym Crew were in place to prep plats and serve hungry customers in the garden. Jacquie and Ash Aislinn were serving drinks and food outside in the lovely sun, whilst Chris and Steph Ducat were in the kitchen/foyer plating food ready to go out. Loads of choice today for the BBQ : meat and veggie burgers on buns, chicken or veggie sausages and some porc ones in hotdog rolls, chicken wings and thighs not to forget lamb or chicken skewers. Grilled pepper and onions, halloumi, grilled tomatoes and corn on the cob on the side. Had some pita bread for the skewers. Sauces like ketchup, mayonnaise and BBQ sauce were also provided to the hungry customers. All the food went and the kitchen crew were thanked by the clients - success for the whole team. Deserts followed with mixed fruit and ice cream : most appreciated in the hot day.