Jenny's Wednesday Walks

When Jenny decided to start a weekly Walk for Health in Yorkley early last year everyone had loads of advice : "that won’t work, it’s been tried and no one turned up, why don’t you go to this or that pub, it’s too hilly, muddy, overgrown etc.". Now she has at least 15 walkers each week, sometimes as many as 30, and her walk is a great success story. This is how she did it.

Jenny had been a walker on our scheme and decided to train as a walk leader so she could set up a walk in her own village. She wanted her walk to involve the community, using local facilities and encouraging local people to walk and talk regularly. She started to walk various routes around Yorkley and along forest tracks. It is a very hilly area but eventually she came up with a basic walk which set out from the centre of the village with some pavements, some forest tracks and a post at the furthest point out to encourage walkers to get there. Timing was an issue as Jenny knew she likes to walk fast but by asking friends to try it out she finally came up with a timed walk - 25 minutes out, touch the post, and 25 minutes back. She also built in some extensions to the walk for the more able walkers.

 Yorkley Walkers on their first walk! Jenny is second from the right on the front row.

Jenny wanted to support the local community centre so went along to a committee meeting to ask if she could run the walk from their hall, use their facilities and, more importantly, their kitchen. As Yorkley Institute is a registered charity and relies on lettings for income she negotiated a weekly rent of £8. She buys the refreshments each week and the walkers make a donation of £1 which covers the cost and also goes towards the hall rent. She always explains this set up to new walkers and, so far, everyone seems happy! A couple of volunteers count the walkers out and brew up and serve coffee as they return. Recently the cash box was full so, with everyone's agreement, they were able to make a £20 donation to Yorkley Institute.

Having sorted out a starting point for the walk, the next step was to carry out a risk assessment so Jenny asked our Walk Leader trainer, Graham, to walk the route with her to check both suitability and risks. Having received the go ahead it was then a case of agreeing the start date!! Instead of rushing in to it Jenny selected a date six weeks ahead to give her the chance to advertise the new walk locally. We have standard posters and leaflets but Jenny also printed small reminders which she handed out like confetti to established walkers and whoever she knew in the village. She contacted the Health Centre, spoke to the Practice Manager who agreed to publicise the walk, and put posters in local shops, pubs, school, dentists and churches.

The rest is history. The Yorkley Walk started on May 9th 2012 and the great thing is that there are lots of new walkers from the local area and they continue to bring friends and neighbours along. Word of mouth has played a great part in the success of the walk and Jenny works hard to mix with all the walkers and make them feel really welcome.

Getting ready for a sunny December walk

Jenny says "It’s really rewarding to see so many people enjoying themselves, getting fitter and socialising and you get a sense of achievement that this walk has happened because you have organised it."

Why don’t you start a walk in your community? There is plenty of help and support out there so just go for it like Jenny did!!! Details of all our walks and how to become a Walk Leader can be found here Walks 4 Health

Walk Leaders

We are lucky to have our own accredited walk leader trainer here in the Forest of Dean, so we can run courses whenever we have enough volunteers wanting to be trained. Some people ask why we need to train people how to lead walks so here's an outline of how and why.

We believe that it is important that walkers feel safe and motivated when they come on our walks.The local Walk 4 Health scheme is part of a national organisation Walking for Health . There are some 600 local schemes in England, running 3,400 weekly walks, with 70,000 regular walkers and 10,000 active volunteers – 90% of them walk leaders.

Walking for Health write the training materials and 'train the trainers' to deliver it. The training covers a variety of topics, including the health benefits of walking, how to help people achieve their goals, how to mange a group with different abilities, how to risk assess a walk, what to do if there is an accident, and much more.  Once walk leaders have been trained they are covered by the personal liability insurance provided by Walking for Health.

Walk leaders Richard and Barbara preparing for our Lydney walk

Locally we ask all our volunteer walk leaders to participate in a walk before coming to the training and then to lead at least one walk after their training before we give them their certificate. Some leaders will want to set up their own, new walks in which case we offer help and support to do this. Other trainees volunteer in order to help on existing walks and to provide cover for when Walk Leaders are on holiday. We offer basic first aid training to all our leaders, though it is not a requirement of the job.

Our next training course is in Coleford on Monday, 4th February. We are keen to recruit walk leaders to set up new walks in the following areas : Sedbury/Tutshill, St Briavels, Lydbrook, Longhope, Huntley, Newent, Minsterworth, Westbury and Newnham. Please get in touch if you are interested. Details in our leaflets on the website Walk 4 Health details

Winter Walks

As Walking for Health Walk Leaders we have to turn up for scheduled walks whatever the weather. Christmas Eve saw us walking in the rain, and on New Years Eve sixteen turned up to walk despite the torrential downpour. I would have been quite happy just to sit and have a cup of coffee, but with so many enthusiastic walkers this wasn't an option. We got drenched, literally soaked through, but felt very pleased with ourselves when, arriving back at the cafe there were four other regular (and some would say lightweight) walkers waiting to greet us. It just goes to show how people value these walks and the opportunity for a chat, and we are pleased to oblige. Wednesday was cold - bitterly cold in Yorkley. However, twenty two walkers came prepared, walked at their own pace and met up again in the village hall (Yorkley Institute) for coffee at the end of the walk.

Ready for the off!

Why do they do it? Here's what they say:

‘My walks are an enjoyable part of my weight loss programme, and I am walking further each week’.

‘I’ve never been much of a walker, but I can go at my own pace and everyone’s so friendly, I’m really enjoying it’.

‘My health walk gives me people to walk with, as I didn't feel comfortable walking alone’.

‘I look forward to meeting up with everyone and to feeling so good after the walk’.

Dressed for the occasion

Here's a link to our details: Health Walks in the Forest of Dean . Give us a call if you're interested in coming along. We'd love to see you.

The best dressed of the day

Snowy pictures next time!

New Year Resolutions

Our local Walk 4 Health scheme got underway this year on New Years Day in Staunton and since then Walk Leaders have led walks every day except Sunday. Everyone needs a day off from time to time. The walk I lead with husband, Graham and several other trained Walk Leaders who help out when required goes from Dean Forest Cycles in Parkend  every Monday at 10.30 whatever the weather.

Today turned out to be dry for once so a combination of that and a variety of New Year Resolutions must be the reason for our highest ever turnout in 3.5 years. Thirty walkers (plus a couple more who joined us for coffee) chose which of the two routes to do - the longer, circular one or the shorter, linear one. We all arrived back at the same time which meant that poor Alex at Dean Forest Cycles had a long queue to cope with. He managed admirably.

The mixture of chat that goes on during and after these walks is amazing. Nothing is off limits and the help, advice and support that is offered, and friendships that are made, is heart warming. I love being a walk leader and my New Year Resolution is to promote the scheme as much as I can which is why I've started writing this!