THE Forest of Dean parkrun marked the 75th birthday of the NHS with 79 people running, jogging or walking the course at Five Acres.

There were 27 first timers, five personal bests and representatives of 14 different clubs taking part.

Before the start, Cllr Carole Allaway-Martin, Gloucestershire country councillor for Coleford and Chair of the One Gloucestershire Health and Well-being Partnership, gave a brief speech marking the anniversary and pointing out the connections between the NHS and parkrun – in particular, the physical and mental health benefits of regular running. 

There was also a special participation award to Forest of Dean regular Colin Laver who was running the course for the 200th time.

Colin has been running here for ten years and is also a regular volunteer. The really inspiring aspect of his story is that, three years ago, he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.

 He had eight weeks of chemotherapy and then surgery in 2021 to remove part of his oesophagus and his entire stomach. 

Despite all that, he got back to parkrun as soon as he was able.

There were visitors from across England and Wales and one from Christchurch, New Zealand who had excellent running conditions.

The event was made possible by 24 volunteers:

Deborah Morgenstern, Mark Blake, David Bourne, Julian M Boon, Nikki Williams, Marcus Bennetto, Michelle Peacey, David Jenkins, Penny Laver, Kathy Griffin, Paul Stephens, Stephanie Hemmings, Jean Griffin, Joel Hemmings, Simon Kewin, Fiona Dean, Jack Brooks, Julie Carthy, Michael Flannery, George Dean, Kate Youd, John Leigh, Mark Evans and Jack Brooks.