Mountsandel or Somerset, get walking: Dame Mary

: Dame Mary Peters, Ambassador for Walking in Your Community leads Claire Overend; Development Officer at Outdoor Recreation NI, Freddie Harris; Volunteer Officer at Belfast Hills Partnership and Jenna Lomas; former Marketing Officer at Outdoor Recreation NI. The scheme has been designed to inspire people throughout Northern Ireland to get walking in their local community. Get involved now at www.WalkingInYourCommunity.com.
Picture by Brian Morrison. — : Dame Mary Peters, Ambassador for Walking in Your Community leads Claire Overend; Development Officer at Outdoor Recreation NI, Freddie Harris; Volunteer Officer at Belfast Hills Partnership and Jenna Lomas; former Marketing Officer at Outdoor Recreation NI. The scheme has been designed to inspire people throughout Northern Ireland to get walking in their local community. Get involved now at www.WalkingInYourCommunity.com. Picture by Brian Morrison.

There are exceptional walking routes and trails on offer in the borough including Mountsandel Wood, Somerset Forest and Port Path.

Dame Mary Peters, who has been appointed as Ambassador for the scheme commented: “One of the greatest pleasures I have is walking, I feel alive when I do it so I was delighted when Walking in Your Community approached me about this scheme.”  Walking in Your Community provides valuable training and support for walk leader’s ultimately presenting novice walkers with the opportunity to partake in an enjoyable, sociable and outdoor activity.

The benefits of walking regularly are indisputable and permit participants to build friendships and create connections within their community.

It also boosts various health benefits with research from Age UK indicating that people who are physically active are at a lower risk of Heart Disease and walking 30 minutes each day can help keep your heart strong and reduce blood pressure.

Furthermore, walking regularly also encourages a sense of well being and unites walkers with their surrounding environment.

When speaking about the initiative, Dame Mary encouraged the people of Coleraine to get involved in the initiative.

She said: “Walking in Your Community facilitates and supports everyone from all walks of life to get walking and enjoy all the health and wellbeing benefits this brings.

“I was delighted to become the ambassador for Walking in Your Community”.

Valuable funding has been provided from Big Lottery Fund, Ulster Garden Villages, Department of Social Development and Sport NI to support the project. Even though this is a new scheme, it has already shown great signs of success with over 60 leaders trained to lead walks within their local communities.”

Outdoor Recreation NI aims to develop and sustain a vibrant outdoor recreation culture in which responsible and well-informed people enjoy high quality, sustainable and appropriate activities in an accessible, well managed yet challenging environment:

There are many great walking trails around the borough and along the coast and Dame Mary says now is the time time to get exercise and enjoy the fabulous scenery.

If you are interested in joining others to get walking, more information can be found at www.WalkingInYourCommunity.com or email [email protected]