The Empowering Walk Club was set up to encourage inactive women and girls to actively engage with physical exercise. It involves walking treks around Rossendale, Hyndburn and other areas of East Lancashire. From the outset it has been set up and run with our volunteers in a leadership role.
Walks are held a few times a week throughout the year, and vary from short, easy walks for novices, to harder walks for those who have more physical strength and stamina.
I am Ruth… I volunteered to be a leader because I wanted to share my love of the outdoors, especially the local area, with others…We had a few ladies who were walkers, but didn’t like walking alone, some ladies who hadn’t walked in years and lost their confidence due to one thing or another and some ladies who had never really walked.
I put on a mixture of walks: short, flattish local walks, medium sized walks with some hills involved and then some challenging walks. The great thing is there is no competition to be the quickest or most agile over stiles etc, everyone just helps each other.
I have just started short flat afternoon walks as I felt there was a gap in our walks…This has introduced a new group of ladies to walking, they are definitely inactive and find a 2 mile flat walk a real challenge, so I am glad to include them.
We are aiming to be more inclusive of different groups in the community. I led a walk in the summer to include refugees, this was very successful and when the better weather returns I will run some more.
Onwards and upwards.
My name is Victoria Chegwin. I’ve always had a passion for hiking spanning back 25 plus years. I’ve walked many a mountain in the Lakes, Wales and Yorkshire. Since acquiring a Border Collie in the first Covid lockdown, my passion for hiking grew substantially and allowed me to venture further afield on my own, without the need for a human companion.
I offered to volunteer because I walk on a daily basis anyway with my dog, so it wasn’t too difficult to give up my time to encourage others to join me on my walks. This has now grown 10 fold in that I now plan a variety of walks to accommodate the ladies in the group, i.e. short/long walks, flat/mountain walks. As I am employed full time, I can only offer walks on a weekend and on evenings when the nights are lighter.
Volunteering has allowed me to meet some fantastic ladies, some of whom I see outside of the walk club. It enables ladies from all of walks of life, get together to do something that we all enjoy. The group has been run in such a way that it is wholly inclusive. We are all there for each other giving physical, mental and moral support and no lady is left behind.
Over the last year and approx. 4 months, I have helped many ladies individually overcome/face their fears and concerns. Fear of heights, concerns that they aren’t up to the particular challenge, i.e. walking a certain distance, driving to a new place, mixing with a large group, fear of dogs etc.
