BALERNO FOOTSTEPS 4 FITNESS
10th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
7 October 2013
A Report to Paths for All
Project Ref 13/14 385
Chris Pilley
Community Education Office
Balerno Community High School
5 Bridge Road
Balerno
EH14 7AQ
Tel 0131 477 7733
Email [email protected]
31 October 2013
CONTENTS
BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION
1) PLAN AND OBJECTIVES
2) WHAT WE DID
Planning
Facts and Figures
3) MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Everyone had a good time
Meeting old friends
Recognise the Group’s Achievements and individual
Contributions
Introduce Strength and Balance Taster
General Comments
Links made
Raise the profile of BF4F
4) LESSONS LEARNED
5) CONCLUSION
Appendix 1 Programme
Appendix 2 Budget
BACKGROUND AND
INTRODUCTION
Balerno Footsteps 4 Fitness is a community
wide walking programme for people of all
ages, established in 2003 by Balerno High
School Community Education Department.
It was set up after research into health
needs in the Currie and Balerno area had
highlighted isolation amongst many older
people in the area. While originally a three
months pilot project of doorstep walks aimed at less active members of this age group, in
2004 the initiative received three year funding from Paths to Health to develop Health
Walks and now offers a varied programme of walks over more than 30 routes. These
range from short and slow ‘Tortoise’ walks on alternate Fridays, to longer walks on
Mondays and alternate Thursdays. BF4F has also run a number of special projects aimed
at different groups, including Family Walks, Walks for people with young children in
buggies, and an innovative intergenerational walking project aimed at frailer elderly
people.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the very first pilot walk in October 2003, BF4F applied
successfully for a grant from Paths for All under its Small Grant Programme to hold a
special celebration. The event, which was held on the morning of Monday October 7th,
was the first such event held by the group and the grant allowed us to rent a suitable hall
and to provide a sandwich lunch and to offer BF4F kit bags as awards. The following is a
report of what we did and how we did it, and an initial assessment of the spin offs from
the event.
The day consisted of two special anniversary walks followed by a meeting at St Joseph's
Hall, Balerno, with presentations and awards, followed by an informal sandwich lunch. In
addition to the regular weekly Monday walk, we held a special Tortoise Walk (in
addition to the Tortoise walk normally held on alternate Fridays), both starting at 10am
from Balerno High School. The programme for the day is attached (see Appendix).
1 PLAN & OBJECTIVES
The event was intended to be an opportunity
for walkers and volunteers to meet old
friends
for walkers and volunteers to look back
at what the group had achieved over the
past 10 years
to say thank you to those who had made a
particularly notable contribution
to raise the profile of BF4F further
to develop links with related agencies and
to encourage more people in the Balerno area to
take up walking in future, as part of an overall
strategy of increasing physical activity by people
of all ages.
All those who had walked or volunteered with BF4F over the past 10 years were invited
to attend the event, as well as a range of stakeholders and other supporters with whom
BF4F has worked. These included local councilors, Churches, Community Council,
sheltered housing managers, the local medical practice, health visitors, pharmacy, local
community newspaper and other local publicity outlets. Media coverage before and after
the event, using both Paths for All and BF4F's networks, was also to be sought. 2 WHAT WE DID
a. Planning
Planning for the event started in April 2013. One of the first steps was to get advice from
those who had had experience of running similar events elsewhere. Paths for All
Development Officers and members of South West Edinburgh and Lothians Walking
Network in particular were asked for their advice on best practice. We also received
useful information about similar initiates in Annan and in Stirling. The eventual shape of
the event owes much to the advice received. One message that emerged was the need to
keep the whole event as stimulating and fun as possible and that everyone should have a
good time!
Following advice from these and other sources, the following suggestions were adopted
Start with two walks to get people moving and energized at the beginning
Everyone to receive welcome packs
containing relevant material from a
range of sources, including Paths
for All
Presentation and audience
participation through awards to
Walk Leaders and selected walkers
PFA input as major contributors to
success
Strength and Balance taster as
energiser to precede
A sandwich lunch
Invite a range of stakeholders and other supporters with
whom BF4F has worked, as well as past and present
walkers and walk leaders
Involve Balerno HS 6th Year Volunteers where possible
More detailed planning took place with the help of a 9 person
planning group of Walk Leaders and walkers from different BF4F
walks.
This group met on 3 occasions from June - Sept and were an
invaluable source of advice beforehand, for example to offer kit bags with the BF4F logo,
as awards rather than T shirts as prizes. Group members were also an invaluable source
of help on the day.
Because the actual anniversary fell on the 15th October, which was during the school
October break, it was decided to hold the event on the Monday of the previous week
(Monday 7 October). The Mill Café, the Community Café which uses the Hall on other
mornings, does is not operate on Mondays so the hall was available, and holding it on a
Monday also meant that the event could start off with the existing Monday walk as usual.
Invitations were sent out approximately 3 weeks before the event, asking those
intending to come to let us know, to help with catering.
b. Facts and figures
The two walks were two of the longest established walks - the Red Road ramble (36
walkers) and Sawpit Wood Walk (14 walkers). Both started a little after 10am from the
Riverside Café at Balerno High School and finished at the St Joseph Centre. The shorter
walk arrived at approx. 10.45 and the longer one shortly after 11.
On arrival at the Hall, the walkers were joined by a number of people who had not been
on the walks and everyone was welcomed to the hall with live piano music, played by a
Balerno HS volunteer, (one of 8 who helped on the day) and given nametags and a
welcome pack by members of the planning group and volunteers. The welcome pack
included material collected from Paths for
All, Balerno High School, Balerno
Footsteps 4 Fitness, Balerno Village Trust,
Ramblers Scotland (including local
Ramblers Group), Edinburgh and Lothians
Greenspace Trust, Water of Leith
Conservation Trust, Scottish Wildlife Trust
as well as fruit from Scotmid Cooperative
(bought with vouchers they gave us).
Tea and coffee was provided and a looped
slideshow of photographs taken over the
past 10 years was also on show.
The formal part of the programme was
chaired by George Taylor, BF4F Walk
Leader, who was until two years ago also
responsible for drawing up the rota of
walks and allocating walk leaders to them.
I gave a short PowerPoint presentation,
providing an illustrated outline of BF4F’s
various achievements over 10 years. Tortoise walker Vera Coghill then read her poem,
The Tortoise Walkers, which she wrote after her first ever walk with the group almost
exactly a year earlier.
A short awards ceremony followed. This was deliberately kept low key, and focused on
recognizing the commitment of both Walkers and Walk leaders, going back in some
cases to the very first walk 10 years ago, who were given a specially produced BF4F
kitbag containing a small mat to sit on and (for walk leaders) a walk leader armband.
The national context and future developments were discussed by Julie Burza from Paths
for All, finishing up with a "Strength and Balance" demonstration led by Julie and
members of the planning group. The formal part of the proceedings over, participants had
time to get together and chat over an informal sandwich lunch.
Besides playing the piano, Balerno High School students also helped by taking
photographs (some of which appear in this report) and with assisting with catering.
3 MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Less than a month after the event, it is difficult to be specific about all the ways in which
the event has made a difference. However the following evidence has been gathered both
from observations and from feedback received, as well as two short focus groups held
since with members of different walking groups.
Everyone had a good time
It is clear that participants enjoyed both the walks and the
celebration and were energized by them.
More than 60 people (including 50 people on the walks),
attended the event. Most of these were existing walkers
and walk leaders, though a few people who were no
longer able to walk with us also attended.
Meeting old friends
A number of people commented that they
enjoyed seeing people they hadn’t seen for
some time, as well as meeting people who
usually went on a different walk. Starting
the walks at the same time and sharing part
of the route meant this was a feature from
the start. One participant commented, “I
met walkers I hadn’t seen for ages!”
Another met the health visitor (now retired) who had helped set up the buggy walks, who
she had known when her own children were little. Bringing people together in this way
helped to cement bonds and develop the sense of a community of walkers around BF4F
and also contribute to a wider sense of community spirit.
Recognise the Group’s Achievements and individual Contributions
The PowerPoint presentation and Awards were intended to offer people a chance to
reflect the Group’s achievements and we were able to recognize in particular the
contribution of two of the original walk leaders and two of the eleven people who went
on the very first walk 10 years ago. We were fortunate too that Will Sharp, Paths for All
funded Project Coordinator from 2004-2007, was also able to join us.
Introduce Strength and Balance Taster
The Strength and Balance taster session proved an effective and fun talking point and
energiser before lunch. Six members of the planning group first demonstrated the
exercises and then everyone joined in. Participants received information about the
exercises in the welcome pack to encourage them to try them out at home. We received a
number of comments from people saying how much they enjoyed the session and how
they were continuing with the exercises on a regular basis.
General Comments
General comments on the event were most positive, reflecting a feeling that it had
motivated people to be involved in the
group and helped strengthen a sense of
community within it.
In the days since it took place, participants
have repeatedly talked about the event. One
mentioned its kitbag, “its great, I’ve
already taken it to Lanzarote”
Other comments included
“The food was great!”
“Very professionally organized!”
“You made a good job of it!”
“I enjoyed the exercise session!
“Thank you for arranging such a lovely day and
for all your work with Footsteps 4 Fitness”
“I feel I must write to say how much I enjoyed
the celebratory get together at St. Joseph's
Centre yesterday. It was well attended and
enjoyed by all.”
“There was a lot of work involved in making this a success and I thank you and all
concerned in organising this.”
Several people mentioned they enjoyed talking with other walkers over lunch. The event
also clearly helped to strengthen links within BF4F and within the wider community.
“I met walkers hadn’t seen for ages!”
“I met the health visitor who I hadn’t seen for ages”
Amongst related agencies present, the local Ramblers leader wrote
“It was good to meet your members and to have the chance to chat with them” and that he
was “most impressed to hear about all that you had achieved over the 10 years and the
wide variety of walks you had provided for a wide variety of customers …I will
recommend your group to any of our members who may feel they would like a change
from what we have on offer”.
Links made
As referred to above, a number of links have been made with other agencies as a result of
planning and implementation of the event. Of the eight external organisations contacted
for material for the welcome pack, positive links have already been established with the
local Ramblers group which will lead to more movement between them as appropriate,
with each group promoting the complementary opportunities offered by the other to their
respective members. Links with the local
Currie and Balerno News and with local
churches have also been strengthened.
Stakeholders who were invited, for
example Balerno Pharmacy and Pentlands
Medical Centre have been reminded that
BF4F celebrates 10 years this year and
those who attended have a clearer insight to
what we do. We will be building on these
links in the future.
Raise the profile of BF4F
We also hope that the publicity associated with the event would
raise the profile of BF4F and draw more people into walking with
BF4F. With just two weeks of walks since the event, (there were no
walks during the school October Break (W/C 14 October), it is
difficult to evaluate this more precisely. Pre-event information was
deliberately restricted to emailed and mailed invitations and wider
publicity limited to a brief, and very general, note in Currie and
Balerno News indicating that the event would be taking place.
Wider publicity after the event will not be publicly available until after the beginning of
November. However the next regular mailing to all current walkers and walk leaders that
will be sent out towards the end of November, will contain a brief report, together with
photographs and we hope that existing members will be encouraged to “bring a friend”,
who is new to the group, with them.
4 LESSONS LEARNED
The general consensus was that the event was a great success and that the Detailed
preparation that had taken place meant that all mostly went to plan. One issue had been
numbers and it was difficult to anticipate the numbers who would attend. We had
budgeted catering for a total of 70 people attending, and taken the additional precaution
of asking those planning to come to let us know in advance if possible. In the event this
estimate proved reasonably accurate, with 50 attending the walks, and a further 10 or so
the celebration out of a total of 180 invited, and when speakers and staff are added.
Having a team of people to lend a hand also facilitated the smooth running of the event
and meant that any issues could be dealt with quickly.
With one caveat, the venue was also ideal. St Joseph Hall has undergone recent
refurbishment and is light and airy. Amongst its many uses, it is already used as café. The
informal atmosphere and the kitchen, with all facilities, on hand also helped. (We were
greatly helped by the fact that one member of the planning group took or the role of
organizing catering on the day). The Hall also provided a projector, screen and roving
microphone. The only downside was that the venue does not have blinds, so the screen,
though perfectly visible, was not as bright as it
might have been for the presentation, and for the
slideshow of photos that ran before and after the
more formal session. This had been anticipated,
however, and was felt to be a small price to pay!
5 CONCLUSION
We are very grateful to everyone who contributed to
the success of the day. Those who helped with
planning, those who contributed to the welcome packs, and particularly Paths for All for
providing funding and Julie Burza for her help, support and contribution on the day.
Above all, it is the walkers and walk leaders of Balerno Footsteps 4 Fitness over the past
10 years who have provided the backbone for its success and helped show the multi
faceted contribution that such a group can make to the lives of its members and to the life
of the wider community.
Appendix 1
10th Anniversary Celebration
7 Oct 2013
Programme
(All times approximate!)
10.00 BF4F 10th Anniversary walks (optional)
10.00 -11.00 Red Road Ramble (Regular Monday Walk) Leaders Aida Sanderson
Harriet Martin. BHS Students Assistant WL and Photographer
10.00 -10.45 Sawpit Wood Walk (Special ‘Tortoise” Walk) Leaders Tom Masson
Margaret Hunter. BHS Students Assistant WL and Photographer
Both start Balerno HS Riverside Café, finish St Josephs Centre
10.45-11.15 Refreshments at St Josephs Centre. Walkers join other guests at St
Josephs and are given welcome pack and nametags. BHS Students and planning
group hand out welcome pack and write out nametags. Piano played BHS Student
11.15 -11.17 Housekeeping Chris Pilley, BF4F Project Coordinator
Introduces George Taylor as Master of Ceremonies for day
11.17-11.20 Welcome George Taylor
11.20-11.35 BF4F Highlights 2003-2013
PowerPoint Presentation Chris Pilley
Poem The Tortoise Walkers written and read by Vera Coghill
11.35-11.45 Presentations to Walkers and Walk Leaders Chris Pilley
11.45 – 12.00 Paths for All Julie Burza, Paths for All
12.00 – 12.10 Strength and Balance Demonstration Led by Julie Burza small
team of volunteers (everyone to join in!)
12.10 - 13.00 Sandwich Lunch
Music provided by BHS Students