Ellyse Hopkins is the Research and insight co ordinator for Cardiff Met Sport. She contacted WALX as she wanted to train a group of ladies who were attending some walking sessions to be able to plan and lead their own safe walks as a group. They did not want to use poles but in order to be sustainable they needed to upskill some of the ladies to be able to motivate the others and take responsibility as leaders. The funding was provided by Move More Eat Well Strategy by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Cardiff Third Sector Council. The project is is partnership with the South Riverside Community Development Centre.

She told us

“The aim of the project was to support the uptake of walking for physical and mental well-being among women from ethnic minorities in Cardiff, a group known to participate in lower levels of physical activity. We also wanted to develop this into a community-owned group, delivered by and for the women in the area and based on their specific needs. We also wanted to provide an opportunity for the women to develop leadership skills and confidence in delivering the walks, and WALX were the perfect organisation to help us achieve this.”

The WALX team are able to develop bespoke training and tailor the delivery model according to the availability of those involved. In this instance, sessions were delivered on line to enable the ladies to attend from home. Whilst the WALX team provided the learning materials around risk assessment, warm up etc, it was Ellyse who oversaw the practical assessment, reporting back to WALX to ensure all parties were happy with their progress.

The Ladies, Saleema, Maya and Aysha  grew in confidence as the course and practice progressed  – Ellyse reported

“They’ve been doing very well before, during and after walks. On the 3 test walks I’ve attended, they’ve checked people’s health and welfare before and during the walks, led the warm ups and cool downs effectively, using the stretches you taught them, they’ve surveyed the routes and terrain while walking and highlighted risks to the group and just generally taken responsibility for ensuring walks go smoothly”

Now the walking group is thriving under their leadership with support from Ellyse and her partners. Sustainability can also be maintained as all WALX modules can be repeated so should they require training for further ladies as the group grows, it will be affordable and simple to do so. future.

You can find out more about Move more Cardiff HERE