For her 90th birthday, Pauleine Reed sported a sign inviting 90 hugs from 90 men and she managed it remarkably quickly, mainly because of her many friends at Leamington parkrun, where she's found marshalling on first corner every Saturday morning.

Now into her tenth decade, this pocket dynamo shows no signs of slowing down and has just released her first book Poems to make you smile – a collection of a few of her recent poems. Many celebrate the joys of parkrun, with the others reflecting the variety of life, from apple trees to wartime romance.

Pauleine says, "I don't think of myself as a poet, but I enjoy jotting down fun little ditties and giving them away to brighten people's days.

"When I was widowed, my son took me to my first parkrun and I've been involved ever since. It's a great way to meet people and many of my poems celebrate special occasions there. People don't generally expect a 91-year-old to be marshalling and I love it when someone hails me in the street and says, 'Oh, you don't know me, but I know you from parkrun!'"

You can see the hand-written originals of many of the poems on the noticeboard at the club house at Leamington parkrun, with new ones read out before the run starts at the weekend.

Poems to make you smile was released on 12 June 2026 and is available to order online from springview.uk, through your normal book seller or directly from Pauleine at Leamington parkrun.