Get Walking Keep Walking partnered up with Cheetham Community School for 6 weeks. Each week we walked a different route through Cheetham Hill and each walk had a different theme, these included safety, nature, fun and adventure. The children had a task to do every week and wore their step counters to see how many steps they could do. One of the most popular tasks was taking photographs with our Get Walking cameras. The children were asked to take photos of a number of differnt things that they saw and did on the walk and the emphasis was on sharing the cameras and their walking experiences with their friends. Get Walking would like to thank the children from Year 2 at Cheetham Community School and especially Miss Taylor and Miss Ayub for their support.

The event took place at the school between 4th-7th May as pupils and teachers challenge to walk the recommended 10,000 steps per day.
150 step counters were given out on a first come first serve basis and these were all gone within 10 minutes.
All pupils returning their record booklet were put in to a prize draw and 20 were picked out and given Meadowhall gift vouchers.

Andrew Tice from the PE team said “the challenge event was a huge success and highlighted the importance of walking and how pupils and staff can walk more during their day. It was great to see so many children showing off how many steps they had done and taking health, well-being and exercise seriously but most importantly having fun at the same time.

The statistics from the school:

- average number of steps in one day was 12,399, which is well over the recommended 10,000.

- This means that on average if we put together the steps of each pupil in the school, in one day the school would walk the length of the Great Wall of China (6,300km).

- And in one week, this would equate to more than the distance all the way around the earth (40,000km).

- Well done to everyone who took part in what is a fantastic achievement.

After receiving my initial training I became first a route-developer and then an ambassador, accompanying groups on their walks. I now undertake both roles. The groups are very varied in nature including young mums with toddlers, the elderly Chinese community and people with social problems. The common thing with them all is their enthusiasm and it is encouraging to hear their individual testimonies about the benefits the GWKW programme has brought them.

Both route-developing and walking with the groups has had an unexpected benefit for me personally: although I was born and grew up only three miles from the centre of Manchester, through GWKW I have visited places I had not been to before and I have discovered places I did not even know existed. Perhaps my favourite walks have been those in the city centre because, despite a love of countryside and mountains, both me and my wife Prue like visiting and exploring cities, although these have been cities such as London, York, Rome, etc, and ignoring what great interest, history and architecture is on our doorstep.

I have also benefitted from my involvement with GWKW from courses such as walk leadership and first aid and from making new and interesting friends. There is a great social aspect to GWKW as well, with the occasional night out and I have had the honour of organising and leading on two social walks for the volunteers, one over Shutlingsloe and one around Edale.
I am pleased and proud to be a GWKW volunteer, benefitting both the community and myself and I can honestly say that I have done that and got the T-shirt!

Chalte Chalte is literally translated as walking walking, and is also the name of a famous Hindi film. This helped inspire a number of women to come and join the walking group. We were also joined by staff and people who use the BlueSCI Social and Cultural Inclusion service.

We went on 4 led walks that took us to Salford Quays, Seymour, Hullard and Longford Parks and the former GMB College which is soon to be the largest Muslim heritage centre in the country.

After the 4 week programme of led walks, the group decided that they wanted to continue and enjoy the benefits from regular walking. Every Wednesday since October the Chalte Chalte group have continued to go out walking with the help of Elaine, a Get Walking volunteer. At the end of February, Trafford’s STRIDE walking scheme will train some of the ladies to become volunteer walk leaders so that they can run the walking group themselves.

One of the ladies from the walking group enthusiastically told me, “This group is great, I have met new people and enjoyed getting out of the house. I have even started to notice that I don’t need my inhaler so much”.

Jen worked closely with Alya Rafiq and Yasmine Dar from the South Asian Mental Health Team to make sure that the group was widely promoted within the local community and that the ladies were supported and encouraged to take part.

Alya told us, “I’ve really enjoyed working with Get Walking, they provided all the publicity material and designed and led all the routes. Every week we had fresh fruit and bottles of water and Jen and the volunteers made every session fun and informative”.

We have launched our Children Materials, worked in partnership with Sheffield MIND and led the ‘Walk a Mile for Mental’ around the city centre and provided some training walks for participants of the ‘Weston Park 5k Walk as One event’.

There are too many great programmes and events that have gone on in the last 12 months to list here but we’d like to say thanks to everyone involved in the working with the project and we look forward to working with you again in 2010.

Alison, a Parent from Whalley Range, commented

“ We are used to getting together with the kids indoors at toddler groups and other places so the Get Walking group was unique in that it got us outside as a group enjoying walking, fresh air, change of scene which was very energising and the children loved it especially feeding ducks and collecting leaves. The walks and activities were organised very well. In the Autumn we enjoyed the conkers and trees changing colour and we even enjoyed the rain showers sheltering under the big trees in the park. It’s really encouraged me to walk more, and pushing a buggy is a great way of keeping fit!”

Darren Shearer, Outreach worker at Whalley Range Sure Start says:

“I think the great thing about the group is that it got parents and children out walking together.  Walking is so easy to do and best of all it is free! It really helped me as a worker, because it gave me the chance to talk to the parents away from the centre and really get to know them a bit more and get a good grasp of what they wanted from a walking group!“

‘I suffer from Asthma and since I started these walks and sticking to my daily goals, I’ve noticed my health has improved. I’ve lost weight which is good as I’m quite a big chap!’

The warm, friendly nature of the group is another bonus. ‘It’s really good fun, we all get on and encourage each other,’ adds Dave.

Useful links

• South Bermondsey Partnership

Initially, the members lacked confidence to take part in a walking group, but with Monica’s encouragement, they joined in and enjoyed it immensely. Walking as a group, the members got to know one another and enjoyed the chatting and companionship. At the end of the walking programme, all participants could complete the walks comfortably and noticed improvements to their physical and mental well-being. Monica has also lost weight as a result!

Click here for information on Get Walking programmes in Sheffield