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Refresh!FOOTPRINTS
Footprints is a countywide scheme that is part of the wider Walking the Way to Health Initiative (WHI). A “health walk” is defined as “a purposeful, brisk walk, undertaken on a regular basis”.
The primary aim of the project is to increase the health of residents and tourists through encouraging them to walk. This will be done by developing and marketing guided and independent walks in some of Herefordshire’s most picturesque, yet under-used, areas, thereby also increasing accessibility to the countryside.
The Walking for Health Co-ordinator will manage the project on a day-to-day basis. Ways of involving communities will be through the development of routes for local walks and will include the provision of training and volunteering opportunities for members of the community, who will go on to guide walks themselves.
The volunteer walk leaders will be provided training, such as:- Walk for Health Initiative Volunteer Walk Leader training (a full one-day course, which ensures the volunteers are insured to lead walks)
- Emergency First Aid training through Herefordshire Heart Start (providing CPR and basic first aid training)
- Map reading and compass skills (provided by local experts)
There will be five arranged walks per week in various parts of the county, taken from a choice of 14 different routes that will have been developed with the local communities. These routes will be located within the LEADER+ area, many of which will be riverside walks.
The walks will be actively promoted to local residents, community groups and tourists through “walk packs” and through the local media. The “walk packs” will be designed in liaison with community groups. Items of environmental interest and historical features may be included in the “walk packs”, on the routes and maps. The maps will also include information on car parks and bus routes, to aid accessibility.
As well as long term health benefits for individuals of all ages and abilities, there will also be way-marking signage, so that the routes will continue to be accessible, even after this two-year project ends. The signage will be made from natural materials, so as not to detract from its surrounding areas.
The Footprints routes will be integrated in the annual Herefordshire Walking Festivals, which already has a large residential and tourist following. This aids in involving people who would not otherwise be able to join in the Festival’s more vigorous walks due to health conditions or physical impairments.
Joy Williams
Footprints Project Manager
Tel: (01432) 261799
Email: joywiliiams@herefordshire.gov.uk
