A trip to London

I have been invited to join the Scheme Coordinators Advisory Panel (SCAP) of the national Walking for Health scheme run by the Ramblers and Macmillan and our first meeting was last Thursday. There are 12 of us from all over the country and meetings will be held quarterly at the National Centre in London as it is the easiest place for us all to get to.

The Ramblers took over the Walking for Health scheme from Natural England almost a year ago and, to date, I have been quite critical of the time taken for them to actually deliver anything which is of use to local schemes. In the last week or so I have been very heartened by the output from the national centre both around their new branding and the new Advisory Panel. On Thursday we were discussing how to reinstate and strengthen the accreditation for local schemes and the initial discussion paper has been really well thought through and created loads of lively discussion. Sadly, we didn't have time to finish, but were all encouraged to send our thoughts by email, which I have done.

Our new Coleford walk. 10.30 every Wednesday opposite the Main Place

I am confident that the Forest of Dean Walk 4 Health scheme will continue to be accredited. We have many varied walks and dedicated volunteer walk leaders who make it the success it is. And, of course, we have an ever increasing number of walkers so we must be doing something right!