Burnt Tree Children’s Centre first in West Midlands to be awarded the ‘Fitter for Walking Standard’
Burnt Tree Children’s Centre, which provides advice and support to families alongside quality childcare and training opportunities to parents and carers is to be awarded with the ‘Fitter for Walking Standard’ following a successful project which aimed to encourage a healthy lifestyle through regular walking.
Wednesday 03 February, 09.35 am
Tipton Swimming Centre, Queens Road,
Tipton, DY4 8ND
National charity Living Streets launched the Fitter for Walking project in Sandwell in 2008 to help residents create streets they can be proud of. With funding from the Big Lottery Fund and in partnership with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and Primary Care Trust, project coordinator Hema Kasi-Patel has been working closely with Burnt Tree Children’s Centre and will be presenting them with the Fitter for Walking Standard on Wednesday 03 February. The Fitter for Walking Standard will be awarded for the work that the children’s centre has done in engaging with the local community and increasing local walking levels through their organised weekly walks in the local area.
The walks, which were launched last May, have been a huge success, with local participants stating that taking part has made them feel less isolated, more confident about walking locally with their children and has introduced them to services such as the library and sports centre which they may not have visited previously. With regular attendance and commitment by the centre, Sandwell Primary Care Trust has incorporated these walks into their borough wide Sandwell Strides Walking for Health programme and helps to promote the walks by advertising them.
The Fitter for Walking project is part of a group of projects that will be helping 2 million people nationwide become more physically active, by regularly walking or cycling as part of their daily lives. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and Sandwell Primary Care Trust are official partners in the Fitter for Walking project – a fantastic move that shows they are eager to work together with Living Streets and residents to improve their streets and encourage people to get walking locally. This partnership approach is vital in making sure that the project can make a real difference over the four year duration. Groups signed up to the Fitter for Walking project all have a chance of receiving the Fitter for Walking Standard and Burnt Tree Children’s Centre has made excellent progress in increasing the amount of walking within the group.
Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive of Living Streets, said:
“Burnt Tree Children’s Centre is being awarded the Fitter for Walking Standard for the progress they have made as a group towards maintaining a sustainable healthy lifestyle through regular walking. We really hope that this is the start of a regular walking habit for all involved, and that it encourages more people to get out and enjoy their neighbourhood on foot.
“When more people in an area are walking regularly, it doesn’t just help them get healthy; it means roads are less congested, we are all breathing in less pollution, and neighbours see each other on the streets and feel more of a community.”
Any community groups interested in taking part in the Fitter for Walking project should contact Hema Kasi Patel on 07595 781875 or by emailing hema.kasi-patel@livingstreets.org.uk
Published by: Travel Actively on Monday April 12 2010
