First time at Hornfair, which is not in my local area but happen to be house-sitting nearby which gives me the opportunity to visit other parkruns.

It is so wonderful to see kids of all ages getting out and enjoying the fun of running, walking, and volunteering. The parkrun even had some foam hands for marshals to give some power-up hi-fives!

I don’t think it was a official fancy-dress parkrun but there were still lots of excellent outfits including a very fast and very enthusiastic skeleton, and a superhero who was Iron Man on top and Batman on bottom! Why choose one when you can be both! And why are grown up clothes so boring - i would like to be a dinosaur please!

After all of our young runners had completed two laps of the course, my marshalling duties were fulfilled but my heart remained happy long after I had left. ❤️

This apparently referred to a missing stall holder and not was in reference to any of the contestants at the Paws in The Park Family Dog Show!

I found out about this community mission just ten minutes before it was due to start, but I am highly motivated where dogs are involved! I quickly cycled over to Cator Park and met Mark from GG Crystal Palace (formerly known as GG Bromley)

Handily Mark is an expert at putting up gazebos, and is also tall - which are two qualities I do not posses! After a game of musical gazebos - involving legs going up, down, on the hill, shuffling sideways, up the hill, down the hill and eventually carrying a fully erected gazebo to a different location altogether, we had helped two grateful stall holders get set up for their day.

At this point Linda the task leader had arrived and Mark, having already been helping for a couple of hours, said his goodbyes before the dogs started arriving.

Anyone who knows me knows just how much I love dogs, having set up a side job as a pet sitter, so there was no way I was leaving when there were dogs to meet!

So after hovering about being useless for a while, I met Jill (or Gill?) from the Friends of Cator Park who quickly put me to work on the cake stall with the Very Important Job of making tea.

Well, it just so happens my second favourite thing after dogs… is tea! I’m northern, and I was delighted to see a tin of Yorkshire (the superior tea), so I got my apron on and got stuck in with making the first of about 700 brews….

The cakes sold like… well, hot cakes, causing Linda to exclaim “we are dangerously close to running out of cake!” - a line that no one wants to hear!

Fortunately, Jill/Gill was on hand to prepare gallons of coffee using just a camping stove and a cafetière, and I had my bike for an emergency milk run, so all was not lost.

We had a dog dressed as Trump (Make America Great Dane - Oli’s superior pun), some of the Best Sausage Catchers this side of the river, and just some of the Goodest Boys and Girls! We also had Ruby, who was not good because she leaped up and pinched a flapjack, causing her embarrassed owner to have to buy it 😂

I also talked to a few people about GoodGym, including a lady who said she joined GoodGym and felt a bit nervous so had never joined a session, but after meeting me & hearing my assurances of just how inclusive and friendly GoodGym is, she said she was going to come along now which is fantastic. ❤️

Friends, I have found my calling. And it is making tea at dog shows. I was so DELIGHTED by the whole thing. It was as good as the time I was volunteering at Surrey Docks Farm and they let me walk a ferret. This may have been one of my favourite GG tasks of all time! What a lovely day! 🐕