East Grinstead Sports Council

11/06/2026

Thanks a million!
This weekend parkun will host its 1 millionth ever event… since 2004 138 million have crossed the finish line, with the help of the volunteers on over 16 million occasions.

Parkrun is a charity that believes in the power of community, empowering people through shared movement, every weekend.

This Saturday we are delighted to welcome and thank for their continued support some of the trustees of the East Grinstead Memorial Estate (EGMEL).

They are going to give a short speech before we start and will be coming back for a tea & coffee at the football club to get your thoughts on parkrun and East Court.

To find out more about the history of EGMEL & East Court please have a look at their website: www.egmel.co.uk

Don’t forget to come to our volunteers get together on the 20th June from 6.30pm at the Football club, please bring something to share!

Wakehurst parkrun is cancelled this Saturday (13th June).. so you are more than welcome to enjoy the beauty of East Court instead!

See you on Saturday

02/06/2026

Looking for your next race?

Our friends at Lingfield Running Club are hosting the Lingfield 10s on the 28th June, with a choice of a scenic 10K or 10-mile multi-terrain route through the beautiful Surrey countryside.

Expect stunning views, a friendly atmosphere, fantastic support from local volunteers, and of course cake waiting for you at the finish!

A great local event that's always popular on the race calendar. Why not give it a go?

https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/TheLingfield10s2026

01/06/2026

A great weekend at our principal local multi sport venue.

30/05/2026

A far cry from the winter conditions on our parkrun course??

Under the tree by the finish tokens was again the place to be.. to escape another super hot parkrun today, with added incentive of a chocolate, kindly supplied by Harry who was doing his last volunteering for his DofE today!

Scanning the tokens was Sam (helped by Sophie) who is probably our youngest scanner but did a great… Neil Mac Taidhg kindly also offered to help after he came in 4th.

We had 155 finishers with 17 PB’s and lots of 1st timers and people doing their 2-6 parkrun in rapid succession.

Luke (I’m only going to have a gentle run today) Davis, as ever the temptation was too much with Ashley Middleton attempting to come in 1st 2 weeks in a row ran passed him. This pushed him along to overtake him on the final lap to be greeted by his children wearing hi viz down to their feet on the final sprint to the finish line!
Dan Celani came in 3rd and James Caffrey in 5th once again confirming he doesn’t like running in the heat!
Kate Moser took nearly 2 minutes off her last run with us to get. PB and be our first female.

We welcomed groups from Horsham Joggers & Rayleigh Rat Runners and celebrated Katherine Ross who did her 50th parkrun… on top of her 224 volunteers she has also done with us!

We also had lots of cakes back at the football club to celebrate Birthdays as well!

This week we were slight tight on volunteers due to the school holidays, so thank you to the people who offered to help this morning. Thank you to all our volunteers who stood out in the sunshine and cheered everyone on!

Under 10’s - we love to see so many runners of all ages, but they do need to be with parent & guardian at all times. We also know that some are really quick and may be faster than their parents, if so please can you talk to the Run Director at the beginning of the run to see if we can help you out.

Finally Saturday 20th June is our volunteers get together at the Football Club from 6.30pm. This is for anyone who has volunteered to come along with families to celebrate your amazing contribution to our parkrun!
The bar will be open but can you bring a dish to share, and we will be allocating people into teams for a fun quiz!

See you next week.. when hopefully the temperature will be back to seasonal average!

21/05/2026

Our Chief Executive Simon Hayes welcomes the Government’s announcement to invest over £1 billion in school sport and PE over the next three years.

The investment includes £200 million to improve school sporting facilities, as well as £580m for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network to tackle inactivity in every primary and secondary school.

Read more: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/chief-executive-welcomes-government-school-sport-investment

21/05/2026

💙💚 EGR MENTAL HEALTH RUN 💙💚

Thursday 21st May 19:25 Front of EG Station

This is open to everyone, not just club members!

I expect that most of us see the benefit to our mental health in running as much as our physical health - it helps us cope with the stress of life, gives us more patience when kids get on your nerves or just helps you unwind!

It also gives us a chance to have a really important social connection when we run with others.

To celebrate the importance of this please come and join us for social chatty style run.

There is no stigma here - let someone know if you have had a bad day or tell someone about your good day! Talk about the weather if you wish but come and make a connection and I can guarantee you will go home feeling better for it.

There will be 2 runs
Meet at the front of the station for 7:25 for the briefing and we will leave at 7:30

Group 1 - same pace as a usual Sparkle run - 3-4 miles
Or
Group 2 - longer distance run but still an hour. About 5 ish miles.

Please sign up on the form and let your run leader know of any injuries.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSel-7KvwCUm8Sdh5A3p0DrTOhx17rxKw5CBdHKhWeCVzlTbwg/viewform

see you there!!

20/05/2026

For just one girl to say she loved sport and probably go on to participate regularly, then events like this lie at the heart of sport’s crucial role in increasing activity levels in our young people.

⚽ Girls’ football is growing - and last Friday in Mid Sussex it was on full display!

13 schools came along this morning to East Grinstead Sports Club bringing over 120 girls to play football. The event was organised by Mid Sussex Active and supported by Chelsea, Crawley Town Foundation and East Grinstead Meads. An amazing morning of football. The following quote from a teacher says it all:

Am loving the opportunities for girls that are arising in football and these events make all the difference - girls are now seeing that football is for them!

I overheard one girl from my school respond to a parent who asked if she liked it - "I didn't like it! I loved it!" (She has never played football before btw)

Visit https://find.englandfootball.com to find a local football team near you.

19/05/2026

Our local sports community offer plenty of safe and accessible options for women to get active. Please reach out if you need help.

Walking is the only activity women do more than men, but...

🕛 29% say a lack of time prevents them from walking more
🌳 14% don’t walk as much due to a lack of safe spaces
❌ 14% are put off walking more due to lack of public toilets

We often hear that women are just less ‘sporty’ than men, but that’s not true.

There are a hundred and one extra things women have to contend with before they take their place on the start line, or in this case, before they step out the door.

Women spend on average 54 more minutes per day on unpaid work than men, including housework, caring for others and volunteering.

Couple this with a lifetime of being stereotyped away from sport, and it’s no wonder that women are less active than men at every stage of their lives.

This is having a detrimental impact on their health, with women spending 25% more of their lives in poor health than men.

Something needs to change.

Our charity exists to break down the barriers holding women back in sport, and in life.

Are you with us? Sign up to our newsletter today to join the movement: https://womeninsport.org/explore-the-issues/sign-up-to-our-newsletter/

📊Sources: Living Streets, YouGov, Sport England

19/05/2026

Interesting insight from the latest Active Lives Survey.

Sport England releases its Active Lives Adult Survey Report for 2024/25, showing that more than 30 million adults are now meeting the recommended levels of physical activity – but not everyone is benefiting.

19/11/2025

Sport and physical activity genuinely deliver real benefit to our communities.