The Banchory Walking to Health Group, led by trained volunteers, currently offers 1 weekly health walk on a Thursday morning meeting at the East Church at 9.55am.
The Banchory Walking to Health Group is a well-established group founded in 2008. The group is still running successfully and a couple of the original walkers who started the group still remain.
We use a number of different walking routes, with some based around the town itself and others a little farther afield, which are accessed by car sharing. The health walks usually last up to an hour (a distance of around 2 miles), however with the help of our walk leaders, we are able to accommodate shorter and slower walks for those who require them. Walks finish back at the East Church, where we enjoy some social time over a cup of tea.
We are also a Macmillan Friendly accredited project so are able to, with the assistance of a trained volunteer, welcome those affected by cancer to join our walks. Some of our walk leaders have done Disability Inclusion training and we are taking part in Grampian Disability Sport's Get Out Get Active (GOGA) project.
We have 3 walk leaders trained in Strength and Balance (a set of simple exercises designed to help reduce the risk of falls) and hope to be able to offer these exercises to our walkers in future. We are also working with partners in the community to strengthen links between our project and the local care home.