As before Lockdown, booking is essential, and our health walks will continue to have extra hygiene and social distancing measures in place to protect walkers and walk leaders. Our organised walks come under; Formally organised outdoor sports – for adults and under 18s - which can also restart and will not be subject to the gatherings limits but should be compliant with guidance issued by national governing bodies. Our guidance has been issued to walk leaders and will be available to participants, allowing walks of up to 30 people, however some of our walks maybe capped at a level that allows our walk leaders to lead walks safely and enjoyably.

Not all our walks in Mendip, West Somerset and Sedgemoor and South Somerset will return on 29^th March, they will return gradually at various steps on the Government's Roadmap out of Lockdown.

For further information on the phased return health walks in Mendip, West Somerset Sedgemoor and South Somerset please contact our scheme Co-ordinators, who will be happy to provide further information.

For Mendip, contact Jo Smith on 07855 283855 or jsmith@sasp.co.uk

For West Somerset, contact Tiffany Wood on 07722 567244 or twood@sasp.co.uk

For Sedgemoor, contact Rebecca Squire on 07787 566690 or rsquire@sasp.co.uk

For South Somerset, contact Julia Booth on 01935462462 or Julia.Booth@SouthSomerset.Gov.Uk

Further information can be found on the Somerset Health Walks Facebook page www.facebook.com/SomersetHealthWalks

It's a gentle walk done on a regular basis for well-being. It can help you to feel good, to have more energy, to sleep better and to manage your weight. There are so many benefits from health walking - we're sure you'll see a difference in yourself even after your first walk!

Would you like to find out more about walking or where you can take part in Somerset?

Click on the links below to see what's going on in your area.

Somerset Health Walks wouldn't exist without our fantastic volunteer walk leaders, who lead health walks taking place around the country. As a volunteer walk leader, you would be helping people in your community to get active and healthy, providing vital support that they otherwise might not get.

As a walk leader, your responsibilities will include:

• Walking health walk routes beforehand (advance preparation) to make sure you know them.
• Making sure paperwork like registration forms and registers are completed (and in some cases added to the database).
• Leading and managing walks, usually jointly with other walk leaders.
• Trouble shooting and dealing with problems on walks, with the support of your scheme coordinator.
• Attending occasional walk leaders' meetings and refresher training.
• You could also be asked to help your scheme coordinator develop and risk assess new walking routes.

Our walk leaders love their roles and tell us fantastic stories about how much they enjoy helping others to get active and get walking. But in case that doesn't convince you, here are some of the other great benefits:

• Full training with a nationally recognised and well respected scheme.
• Ongoing support and guidance from your scheme coordinator and Walking for Health.
• Access to Walking for Health resources and equipment to help you fulfil your role.
• Opportunity to meet new people including like-minded volunteers.
• Opportunity to discover more of your local area and spend time in the outdoors.
• Opportunity to be more physically active yourself.

Most walks are short (around an hour or less) so including travelling, preparation and paperwork leading a single walk close to home typically takes around 2.5-3 hours, plus recces and occasional meetings and refresher training. Typical schemes expect their leaders to attend at least one walk a month, depending on the programme and the numbers of leaders they have.