THREE Harlow families have reached an amazing volunteering milestone at Harlow junior parkrun. The Gillespie, Penketh and Mann families have now volunteered an incredible 3000 times between them.

Ten members of the three families, John & Pam Gillespie, Jane, John, Matthew & Bella Mann and Catherine, Mike, Thomas & Harriet Penketh, can be found most Sundays in the Showground Field of Harlow Town Park helping out at the free, weekly, timed 2km run or walk for children aged between 4 and 14 giving their time to make sure the event can go ahead safely each week. They also help out at the 5km parkrun events on a Saturday, either at Harlow, or at other events around the country. 

The first to volunteer were sisters Jane Mann and Catherine Penketh who helped out at Gunpowder parkrun in July 2013. They got their dad, John Gillespie, involved in February 2014. The rest of their families soon joined in. Between them they have carried out most of the volunteer roles available at parkrun and junior parkrun ranging from timekeeper to tailwalker and from finish tokens to funnel manager. 

John has volunteered the most, 752 times in total, while Catherine has completed the most different roles, 27 altogether. The newest volunteer in the gang is Bella, who is only 8, but has already volunteered 9 times. 

Harlow junior parkrun and Harlow parkrun couldn’t take place each week if it wasn’t for volunteers and they are very grateful for families like the Gillespie’s,  Penketh’s and Mann’s.

All the volunteer roles are easy to learn and fun to do. At parkrun on a Saturday volunteers spare about 90 minutes of time, at junior parkrun on a Sunday only about an hour is needed. If you would like to help out you can find their Facebook pages or email them at [email protected] or [email protected].

The teams would love to hear from you!