Walk to Water (West Midlands)

The Walk to Water project offers free green exercise activities in a recognised area of deprivation in Leek, Staffordshire known as 'Haregate'.

The project is targeted at:

• Individuals
• Teenagers
• Older people
• People with mental health issues
• Families living on the Hargate estate

These groups are quite different and have been hard to reach in the past. The project decided to offer a range of activities which could be tailored to suit different groups.

Activities on offer

• Health walks around the estate
• Conservation work
• Outdoor adventues (e.g. night-time hikes)
• Early morning walks which focus on natural habitats

These are just some of the activities. The whole project has been well thought-out and has taken advantage of local partnerships with schools, mental health charities, local government and more.

Below are some of the project highlights:

Project launch

The Walk to Water project was launched in September 2008 with a fantastic day of Green exercise activities, a jazz band and a BBQ.

Walk to Water Health walk

The Walk to Water Health Walk has been a great success, running weekly from Haregate community centre. It has really opened the eyes of the participants to the area they live in.

Improvements have been made to the Walk to Water route to make it more user-friendly. For example, old stiles have been replaces with kissing gates, and 10 benches have been added to the route.

Conservation group

The Walk to Water Group meet once or twice a month to take part in tasks to benefit the local area and along the Walk to Water route. Working with Severn Trent Water the volunteers get involved in path improvements, bulb planting, otter holt construction and woodland management.

Green Adventure Days

Over the school holidays Walk to Water offers a series of Green Exercise activities for children aged 8 to 13.

This includes activities such as orienteering, den building, archery and canoeing. The activities are open to any children in the local area and there have been up to 30 children attending.

Grants

Walk to Water also provide a 'Get up and Go' grant for local groups and individuals from the Haregate and Ball Haye Green area of the Staffordshire Moorlands. Grants of between £50 and £200 are available to help encourage people to deliver their own exercise activities in the local community.

Case story: Rethink

One of the successful applicants for the grant was Rethink, a local mental health charity that holds a weekly health walk for service users. They were able to purchase 5 waterproof jackets to ensure walkers wouldn't be put off by the wind and rain.

• Read the case story: Improving Rethink walks  (opens pdf).

Rethink have also trained 11 of their service users to be Volunteer Walk Leaders. This has led to them feeling much more involved and appreciated.

Viv, one of the service users who took part in the training, said:

The training was brilliant and it gave me more confidence. I also didn’t realise that the more you walk when you haven’t done much, the more strength you get and the fitter you get.

Viv has gone on to take a much more active role in the Rethink centre (Pennybank House), improving the garden and planting vegetables. These vegetables are used in healthy meals on Rethink's healthy living day every Thursday.

• Read the case story: Rethink walk leaders and gardening  (opens pdf)