Date: 15/01/2009
High Peak Borough Council's Walks for Health scheme has won national praise from Walking the way to Health Initiative (WHI), a joint initiative between Natural England and the British Heart Foundation.
Walks for Health became an accredited scheme, having successfully demonstrated that they meet the required criteria. These include offering led walks for beginners, meeting the WHI safety and insurance standards for all walks, and collecting basic monitoring information.
As an accredited scheme, Walks for Health will benefit from being seen as part of a nationally evaluated scheme, as well as being formally recognised by health professionals, prospective partners and funders.
William Bird, Strategic Health Adviser for Natural England, said: "The new accreditation scheme has been essential in ensuring high standards across the WHI network and providing frontline health professionals with added confidence, when referring their patients on."
Andrew Bingham, Executive Councillor for Social and Community Development, said: "The Council aims to support people in remaining healthy, so I am particularly pleased about the WHI accreditation. Having done charity walks myself, for the last two years, I can vouch for the benefits, especially when you look at the area we live in and views that you get whilst out walking. If you are interested in taking part in our Walks for Health, then you will be more than welcome. Check out the current timetable."
For more information about Walks for Health, please ring the Council's call centre on 0845 129 77 77.
For the current timetable, please download www.highpeak.gov.uk/culture/walks/Walks_for_Health.pdf.
The Walking the way to Health Initiative aims to get more people walking in their own communities, especially those who take little exercise or live in areas of poor health. It is a Natural England initiative. WHI has helped to create more than 525 local health walk schemes and has trained over 37,000 volunteer walk leaders.
An Oxfordshire GP, Dr William Bird, started the concept of Health Walks for his patients at Sonning Common Health Centre in April 1995.
Since 2000, it is estimated that the initiative has encouraged more than a million people to walk more.
Natural England is here to conserve and enhance the natural environment, for its intrinsic value, the well-being and enjoyment of people and the economic prosperity that it brings. Visit the website at www.naturalengland.org.uk
