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