5th Birthday Celebrations

Walking for Health in the Forest of Dean has just celebrated its 5th Birthday. Over 60 people met for a walk from Yorkley Institute, led by Walk Leader Jenny Weatherill, and returned for a barbecue and refreshments afterwards. 

Jenny briefing the walkers

Walking for Health is an England-wide network to help people get walking and get healthy. It has been running for over 12 years. Here in the Forest of Dean the local scheme was set up six years ago by Tess Tremlett of the Forest of Dean District Council and five years ago the local scheme was awarded the national accreditation. Tess said " Its wonderful to see how the scheme has gone from strength to strength with more trained walk leaders, more regular walks and new walkers joining all the time."
Tess cutting the cake with walk leaders watching!

Last year the scheme was handed over to a group of volunteer co-ordinators who have trained and mentored walk leaders, promoted the scheme at various events, applied for small amounts of grant funding, collected data on the scheme, encouraged all sorts of walkers and maintained links with the national Walking for Health organisation. 

Regular walker Ann Gillespie said " I have been walking with Walking for Health for over five years. These walks have helped me lose weight and control my diabetes, and, best of all, I have made lots of new friends as well. I trained to be a walk leader a couple of years ago and now help out on one of the walks when I'm needed. It a great scheme." Ann is on the far right of the cake picture.

Walk Leader Chris with grandson Isaac

Walking for Health walks are organised volunteer led walks which aim to improve your health. They are suitable for everyone and free take part in. Anyone interested in joining a Health Walk, or volunteering to undergo free training as a walk leader and starting a new walk, can contact Kim Spencer on 562240 or go to www.walkingforhealth.org.uk to find your nearest walk. 

Its not just about the walking.....

When, with two others, I took on the role of volunteer scheme coordinator for our local group, little did I realise how much there would be to do that wasn't just about walking. This may well be due to my inability to say 'no' but I thought I'd share some of what I have been up to in the last week as it's (mostly) great fun and very rewarding.

We were invited to a Community Fete at Lydney Community Centre on 1st June to talk to people about what we do. It was a lovely day, and we were lucky enough to have a Walking for Health flag banner to show who we were.

There was plenty of interest. We talked to lots of people, handed out leaflets and made some useful contacts. One person, Richard, turned out to be the local village agent for St Briavels, an area where we need a new walk. So, tomorrow, at Richard's suggestion, we are going to a drop-in cafe at St Briavels Village Hall to talk to villagers about the possibility of finding a walk leader and setting up a walk. I have just heard that Richard's wife would like to train as a leader so we have got off to a good start. Time well spent at the fete!

Later in the week we were invited to a 'Connecting People and Services' event in Cinderford. This was billed as a drop-in for health professionals to come and find out what local organisations have to offer. Sadly, there weren't as many professionals as we would have liked, but the networking opportunities were amazing! We have already had a couple of phone calls from organisations wanting to signpost people to our walks. The main need seems to be for carers and people with dementia (either together or separately). Lets hope we can help.

On Friday, having been asked by our Regional Coordinator for Walking for Health, Laura Brooks, I went with her to Telford to talk to the Walkabout Wrekin Walk Leaders here's a link. For the last 13 years their scheme has been run by the local authority who, from 30th June, will no longer be able to do so. To keep the scheme going the volunteer walk leaders need to work out how to run the scheme themselves. I hope I was able to put their minds at rest - we are living proof that volunteers can co-ordinate a Walking for Health scheme! Good luck Walkabout Wrekin.

Today, we led our Parkend walk which is really what Walking for Health is all about. Nice day, 25 walkers and a good natter over coffee afterwards. I love my 'job'.

Some of the Parkend walkers in 2012 - still walking!

First Birthday Party

In a previous blog I described how Jenny went about setting up her Health Walk in Yorkley in May 2012. Last week was the first birthday of that walk an a good excuse for a celebration.

Jenny welcoming her walkers 

Every Wednesday between 15 - 20 people meet at the Yorkley Institute, locally known as 'The Green Hut' at 10.30 for their walk through Yorkley Woods. After the walk everyone has coffee or tea and biscuits in the Institute served by Jenny's husband Robin and local friends Don and Alec. 

Jenny says “Its so rewarding to see people coming to walk week after week and enjoying a coffee and a chat afterwards in the village hall. Not only are our walkers improving their fitness and well being,  but we are supporting the local community as well.” Walkers celebrated the first birthday of the walk by having birthday cake with their coffee rather than the usual biscuit!

Details of all the local walks in the Walking for Health scheme, which are all free, can be found  here . You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter @FoDWalk4Health. The national Walking for Health website is here.

Walk Leader Training

All our Walks 4 Health are led by trained volunteers. The training has been created by the national organisation, Walking for Health  and is delivered by local trainers. 

The training covers What is a Health Walk?, the Walk Leader's role, how to plan and organise a Health Walk, the benefits and barriers to walking, as well as information about physical activity and health. It also includes details on risk assessments, registers, outdoor health questionnaires, and insurance. The training is free and runs from 9.30 - 3.00. 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.

Our next training day is Friday, 3rd May in Coleford. Details of all our walks and an application form for walk leader training can be found on our website , but if you have any questions please email our trainer or phone on 01594 562240

Taking the register before the Lydney walk

More Walks

Over the last month or so, despite the dreadful weather we have been having, our Walk 4 Health scheme goes from strength to strength. In the last month 323 people have walked on one or more of our 13 walks, clocking up over 300 hours between them. Details of all our walks are in our leaflet and more news is on our  Facebook Page. And can follow us on Twitter @FoDWalk4Health.

We have a new walk in Coleford every Wednesday at 10.30am. Walkers meet at the start of the Cycle Trail to Milkwall across the road from the Main Place and have a coffee in town at the end of the walk. Contact Chris Howell on  01594 836813 for more information.

Our new Coleford walk

Our Saturday walk from Mallards Pike now takes place at 10.00am every Saturday and offers a couple of walks for different abilities. Ring Margaret for more details 01594 839404.

Just back from a walk at Mallards Pike 

From Wednesday, 3rd April we shall start a new walk for the Summer (!) at Cannop Ponds. Meet by the Barbecue area at 6.45pm for a 7.00pm start. This is a one hour, flat walk suitable for all abilities.

Do come along and join us on one of our walks. You'll be made very welcome.

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!

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