Healthy Walks

Darnall well being in partnership with the High Hazel Rangers and successfully secured £28,000 over a three-year period from the Countryside Agency and British Heart Foundation. This money will be used to pay a Healthy Walks co-ordinator, infrastructure of footpaths, transport, equipment etc.

The healthy walks started in February 2001 and we have now 25 health walkers that regularly meet on a Monday at High Hazels Park. 8 of these walkers have trained up to become walk volunteer leaders themselves which is a free 1-day course offered by the Rangers.

We provide free transport to the park as it is all on a hill.

Once a month we go further afield and have a trip to various places, which have included Clumber Park, Five Weirs Walk, Chatsworth, Foxhouse, Rother Valley, Whitely Woods, Wentworth and Grenoside Woods. We encourage the walkers to lead and plan the routes themselves.

We are at present looking at ideas to involve Black and Ethnic minority groups to participate. We have undertaken some consultation and from this will be looking at offering walks outside the immediate Darnall area.

In January we appointed Shaded Salem as the new Healthy Walks Co-ordinator. He has since started a Somali Ladies Walk on a Wednesday and a 20 minute Walk for anybody on a Tuesday who cannot manage the 45-minute walk on the Monday.

Other walks that are planned are mother and toddlers walks and walks for people with disabilities. We already have one gentleman who is blind and joins us very week without fail.

Also on the 5th September 2001 we ran an 8-week pilot scheme called walk and talk in partnership with the CIRC (City-wide initiatives for reducing CHD) team. This involved patients being referred by their local practice nurse to join in a 45-min local walk with input from the dietician, physiotherapist, nurse and Psychologist, with regular check up on BMI, Heart Rate, Diet, and Psychological well being.

We had a 100% attendance record for this scheme and hope that it will be rolled out city-wide.