LIKE many of you, I watched the Great North Run at the weekend. You can’t fail to be impressed by the sheer scale of the event and the professional way it is organised.

But – no disrespect to our friends in the north – I attended an event 24 hours before that, in terms of sheer enjoyment, left the Tyneside spectacular trailing in its wake. In fact I enjoyed it so much, I’m going again.

The Albert Park 5k run in Middlesbrough is a free weekly event for runners of all standards.

It takes place every Saturday at 9am in Albert Park, Middlesbrough.

It’s a timed run, not a race and it gives runners of all ages and abilities the chance to get active, either as a bit of fun or as part of a more serious training regime. I love Albert Park at any time of the year, but it’s probably at its best as autumn approaches, so the setting is another plus point.

I was impressed by the organisation of the event. The course is excellent, it is well stewarded and people turning up are even asked to use public transport to reduce their carbon footprint.

But what really makes it stand out is the atmosphere. It is run wholly by volunteers and is a proper community event. Afterwards, the 250-plus runners stayed for a cup of tea, a chat and made friends.

I reckon there wasn’t one resident leaving that event who didn’t feel better about themselves, their fellow runners or the world. I know that after mingling with the folk, I felt a real buzz, and a determination to give this event the support it merits.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about “the Big Society”, the concept that we all need to work mutually to create a more caring, inclusive way of life. It’s a topic that will no doubt be chewed over, analysed and investigated by politicians, policy gurus and professors who will command a lot of space in newspapers and time on the TV telling us what it’s all about.

They could save themselves a lot of time, and us a lot of earache, by getting to Albert Park on a Saturday where they would see the Big Society in action: people organising things for the common good, encouraging, supporting and socialising with one another.

Maybe in a few years time the Albert Park event will have grown into something different, just as our own townwide 10k has developed in the past six years. I’ll leave that in the capable hands of the organisers. Right now, I wouldn’t change a thing.

■ Because of the run’s popularity, people have to register by 6pm the night before.

All the details are on parkrun.org.uk/albert/ home.aspx BACK to the Great North Run. I watched with a little more interest than usual this year because of the involvement of the 72 Engineer Regiment (V), a Territorial Army outfit whose patch includes Middlesbrough.

For a team from the regiment, the run was the last leg in a gruelling challenge which saw them complete a marathon a day for 23 days. Team members ran 548 miles around the boundary of the regiment’s recruitment area to raise money for ABF, The Soldiers’ Charity, The British Limbless Ex-serviceman Association, Macmillan Cancer Support, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Great North Air Ambulance.

It was a pleasure to welcome them to Middlesbrough.

It was just another reminder of how, whether off-duty or on, the Armed Forces make a positive contribution to the Big Society I was talking about.