Lets Walk

According to research carried out by the Sports Council for Wales in 2004/2005, walking continues to be the most popular activity among adults in Wales with 38% of men and 42% of women regularly taking part.

As such, the Sports Council - in partnership the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) and with financial backing from the Welsh Assembly Government - has developed a new Wales-wide initiative tasked with encouraging more people to take part in recreational walking, helping them to reach that 10,000 steps landmark.

Building on the success of the Countryside Council for Wales' ‘Walking the Way to Health’ programme, the Let’s Walk Cymru initiative aims to extend the traditional health walks programmes by providing opportunities from doorsteps to mountains and is challenging groups to explore new and innovative ways of promoting walking to improve health and wellbeing.

The funding can be used to purchase anything from First Aid equipment, training and venue hire, to the signposting and way marking of routes.

With grants up to the tune of £10,000 over a twelve month period available for projects that fit the bill - or even £30,000 for multi-faceted or joint local authority programmes - Let’s Walk Cymru will show you that improving your health can quite literally be a walk in the park.

Chair of the Sports Council for Wales, Philip Carling explains:

"By harnessing and combining our efforts to transform the population into a fitter and healthier one, the Sports Council for Wales together with the CCW and the Welsh Assembly Government are looking to demonstrate that green exercise is being recognised as one of the most effective and cost effective ways of increasing the nation's physical and mental health.

"We are looking to inject the cash into projects in areas where there is low participation in physical activity and into projects that demonstrate the potential to become self-sustainable well into the future."

With the decision making process on project applications for the first round of funding already underway, a second round of funding will be available to additional projects in the autumn of 2007. In the meantime, look out for a Let’s Walk Cymru project developing in your area in the near future.