Sometimes, the weather has other plans.

The team hadn't quite bargained for the evening's biblical downpour, and with the forecast threatening more rain well beyond 8pm, it was decided that tonight's Together Trust leaflet drop would be postponed to another day. Even GoodGym can't deliver leaflets that have turned into papier-mâché! 📬➡️🫠

But what a turnout! Despite being thoroughly soaked, everyone arrived with determination, big smiles, and surprisingly high spirits. 💪😊 A quick catch-up and team updates were definitely drier than the streets.

Lucy was proudly showing off her brand-new GoodGym red t-shirt❤️, which received an immediate and rather comprehensive waterproofness test. Meanwhile, Gabriele joined for their very first session—welcome! It seems the weather likes to baptise new members with a proper GoodGym initiation. Thankfully, they also came dressed in red and took it all in good humour. There was also a pleasant surprise as Mandy joined the session, much to Hazel's delight.

The good news is that everyone's keen to return on another evening to get those Together Trust leaflets delivered ahead of Saturday's event. Rain: 1. GoodGym: To be continued...

During the chat, Mandy also mentioned that her allotment area could do with a helping hand, so watch this space for a future community mission involving less rain (hopefully) and more gardening.🌱🥕

It was another reminder that GoodGymers don't let the seasons dampen their enthusiasm—only occasionally their socks. 🧦😂

It was almost a case of "No volunteers, no parkrun!" as Woodbank parkrun issued a last-minute SOS after finding themselves short of volunteers for their 790th event. Thankfully, the cavalry arrived just in time, with 20 volunteers, including Hazel, signing up to welcome and support 161 runners and walkers who probably had no idea just how close they came to an unexpected lie-in!.

The moral of the story? Volunteers really are the heartbeat of parkrun. If you've ever cheered from the sidelines, enjoyed a Saturday morning jog, or simply fancy swapping running shoes for a hi-vis vest once in a while, Woodbank would love to have you. A little volunteering goes a long way in making sure the finish funnel stays open and the Saturday morning smiles keep coming. 😊

Despite the afternoon feeling like the surface of the sun, Hazel successfully completed a highly strategic flyer operation today, delivering more than 100 Together Trust flyers door-to-door in just one hour. She started an hour and a half early to join another GG session!

The winning formula: ✅ Target a densely packed neighbourhood for maximum efficiency ✅ Stick exclusively to the shady side of the street to avoid spontaneous combustion ✅ Keep moving and let the letterboxes do the talking

Mission accomplished! Over 100 homes reached, plenty of steps logged, and only a moderate amount of melting involved.

The remaining half of the flyers have been granted a temporary reprieve and will face deployment next week.

A productive afternoon, an effective strategy, and another successful chapter in Hazel's Solo Adventure Series.

This week’s gardening adventure featured an impressive range of activities: watering plants 💦🌱, sweeping pathways 🧹, replanting greenery 🌿, and the ever-important task of identifying exactly what was growing in the food park 🔍🍓.

A special shout-out to Hazel, who proved herself invaluable by correctly identifying the strawberry plant 🍓👏 (saving us all from a potentially embarrassing case of mistaken identity 😅) while also lending a hand with just about every task going.

After the hard work was done, the team gathered for some well-earned refreshments ☕🍪. Pauline treated us to a fascinating overview of the building’s history 🏛️, the story of the local area 🗺️, and the exciting long-term vision for the site 🚀. It was one of those talks that starts with “just a bit of history” and ends with everyone realising they’ve learned far more than expected 🤓✨.

As always, it was an informative, friendly, and thoroughly enjoyable session with What If 😊🌻. The Tuesday gardening sessions will continue throughout the summer ☀️, and the plants have made their position very clear: they need you there! 🌱🙌

Welcome to Lucy for your first GoodGym session! 👏

With the Together Trust festival just around the corner, we were entrusted with another big box of advertising leaflets to distribute around some more of the Cheadle streets. Lucy will also be singing as part of a choir at the festival too!

Sian, previous Stockport Area Activator, joined for a sharp run to the high street, before delivering to houses nearby. Great to see some friendly faces!

Our first area, just beyond the main road contained a range of beautiful gardens, with olive trees, lavender, pristine hedges and benches, plus lots of cats! While delivering, we did try and find the secret garden and may have a quick look at Rightmove for nearby house prices...

Next up was Oak Road, with bigger driveways and a few more dogs lurking behind the letterboxes. We certainly covered a few tree species 🌳 in Ash, Acorn, and Chestnut Avenue being covered.

We made a big dent in the box load of leaflets, with another batch set for next week. Likely covering an area nearer Stockport so check the sessions listing for that.

Woodbank Parkrun event #788 was joined by 258 park runners and walkers and 20 volunteers (Hazel being one of them as car park marshal for the 1st time!). The task was responsible for the traffic flow prioritizing the safety of the runners aside from the side job of cheering up/motivating them.👏 It was a success despite the windy and almost rainy situation. Yey! 🙌