Walk to Work Week worked

Published: 19th May 2011
Walking to Work - a great way to build walking into your day

In a great West Midlands initiative, 19 staff from a health walk scheme took to their feet in Walk to Work week.

At Nuneaton and Bedworth Leisure Trust – which runs Nuneaton and Bedworth Walking for Health – everyone who got involved was given   a free pedometer to record their steps.

There were also added incentives:

  • If they recorded their daily steps on the Living Streets log, they were allowed to keep the pedometer  at the end of the week;
  • A prize was up for grabs for the person who walked the most steps; and
  • Participants were also offered ‘treats’ every morning, which included healthy fruit and cereal bars, although by Friday they had earned a more unhealthy cookie!

The competitive nature of most staff got the better of them and people were soon looking for every excuse for going for walks at lunchtime and after work to log up extra steps.
Louise Gardner, Community Walking Co-ordinator, Nuneaton and Bedworth Leisure Trust

In total, 19 staff members walked 474 miles and between them burned off 82 muffins worth of calories! It was a close battle for the top and at the end of the week the winner had clocked up an impressive 35 miles.

Many members of staff said they walked a lot more because they could see how far they were walking daily and really enjoyed getting out of the cars and onto their own two feet.
Louise Gardner, Community Walking Co-ordinator, Nuneaton and Bedworth Leisure Trust

I think this shows that health walks are not the only way to get out there and enjoy walking.  There are all sorts of other opportunities and Walk to Work week certainly helped to spread the message.
Alison Williams, Walking for Health Lead Adviser