Meadowmill parkrun will celebrate its fourth birthday on Saturday by hosting a run and collecting donations for East Lothian Foodbank.

The run was started in 2019 and takes place every Saturday at Meadowmill, near Prestonpans at 9.30am.

Parkrun is a free event and invites people of all ages to take part in running, jogging or walking around a park.

There are parkrun events all over Scotland, including one in Lochend Woods in Dunbar.

Andy Murray, event director at Meadowmill parkrun, said: “It doesn't really feel like 4 years, especially since there were no parkruns for 18 months during the Covid lockdown.

“Meadowmill parkrun has evolved into its own community. The familiar faces that turn up each week are now friends.

“The parkrun has tended to attract 50-80 participants each week with runners/joggers/walkers and helpers.

“In recent weeks, we've noticed the numbers steadily increased. We had over 90 last week so we might see treble figures for the birthday bash.”

At this week’s run, organisers and participants will be collecting donations for East Lothian Foodbank which Mr Murray said was a worthy cause.

He said: “We chose East Lothian Foodbank because we’ve seen foodbank run initiatives across the UK with people collecting for them on Facebook and thought this would be a good thing to be a part of whilst supporting a local charity.

“We wanted to support the foodbank. Particularly in these difficult times this feels like a very worthwhile project to support.”

Last month East Lothian Foodbank published its annual report which showed a 51 per cent increase in demand for support by the public.

This was a figure the foodbank described as worrying.

Mr Murray said: “If you are coming to Meadowmill this Saturday, and wish to make a donation to the foodbank, items most commonly in demand include: tinned meat, tinned vegetables, baked beans, tinned fruit, rice and pasta sauces.

“But any donations are welcome and look forward to seeing people there.”

Meadowmill’s fourth anniversary parkrun will take place on Saturday at 9.30am and is free to attend by anyone interested.