Stepping out in Sheffield to explore you local parks

“Some of our walkers actually got frightened of going out. I think that’s one of the by-products of the lockdown.” added Pete.

Sheffield is usually host to the country’s largest volunteer-led walking scheme, Step Out Sheffield, which has seen over half a million miles walked by thousands of Sheffielders over the last twenty years, stepping out from 28 locations in city parks and woodlands every week - until March 2020.

“We knew that the vast majority of our volunteer walk leaders were either 70 or over or had pre-existing health conditions, so even before the government announcements we decided we’d have to stop the programme because we didn’t want to ask our leaders to go out and potentially put themselves at risk,” says Step Out Sheffield chair Sue Lee.

So the programme set up social media groups to help the often elderly and sometimes isolated walkers to keep in touch with each other, and many of the 140 volunteer walk leaders got into the habit of calling their regular walkers for a chat.

Many also made special trips to help with shopping for people who were shielding.

But as the crisis progressed and death rates receded, many volunteers like Pete found that walkers were increasingly making their own arrangements.

“I heard that two or three of our ladies were getting together, and so one week my wife and I went down and gradually a few of us got together to walk as a social group, still maintaining our social distances,” says Pete.

“It’s good for you, not just for your health but for your mental wellbeing as well because we’re getting outside and seeing people instead of staring at the same four walls every day.”

“It’s been important for me to continue to go out walking after the Step Out Sheffield walks had to stop, because I don’t get out a lot and when I go out with friends, we enjoy one another’s company,” says Charlotte Biggins.

As volunteers like Sue Lee return to walking in the Outdoor City, she and her often elderly and vulnerable colleagues find they have to think about social distancing all the time, by moving out of the way for younger people who may not recognise the 2 metre plus guidelines, and planning their walks for quieter places and less busy times.

Sue says she has taken care to consult the latest outdoor transmission advice. “Social distancing is still a vital way off controlling the spread of this disease,” she says.

"So I’d say to people, please keep your distance even when you’re outside.”

One aim of the Step Out Sheffield programme is to introduce people to their local parks and green spaces.

“We’re spoilt in Sheffield by the amount of green space we have,” says Sue. “One of the things people tell us is that by coming out on our walks they’ve discovered places they never knew were there before.”

And the familiarity of their local parks and woodlands meant that exercise in lockdown was relatively simple for the city’s regular health walkers once they felt safe to go out again.

“People were quite happy to take each other out into familiar territory because we’re walking where we live,” says Sue.

“People weren’t having to catch a bus and put on a mask, they could just bob round the corner and go into their local park.”

Sue praised the volunteer leaders, who are continuing to call their more vulnerable fellow walkers to check they’re ok.

“Humans need to be connected,” she says., “I think that’s why we volunteer, we want to give something back by making people happy.”

There’ll be a review in December on whether or not to start the scheme again in the New Year.

“Walking in green spaces is good for both body and mind and I always feel better for having been out for a walk however short it may be,” says Duncan Froggatt.

“We all look forward to the time when Step Out Sheffield can continue its excellent work across the city.”

Sheffield’s first Health Walk was established in 1999 as part of a nation-wide pilot study to evaluate the benefits of walking on patients with coronary heart disease.

See http://www.healthwalksinsheffield.btck.co.uk