Westbank Community Health and Care celebrates 21 years of Health Walks
A team of staff and volunteers from local charity Westbank Community Health and Care is celebrating having walked more than 600 miles over the course of the past month!
They took on a fundraising challenge this month to collectively walk 360 miles – a distance equivalent to the circumference of Devon.
Westbank is currently celebrating the 21st anniversary of its extensive Health Walks programme.
Project Lead Debbie Hutchinson came up with the idea of linking all the different routes by organising her ‘Walk for Westbank’ challenge. She’s been joined on the various stages of her fundraiser by many of the charity’s Volunteer Health Walk leaders.
Debbie’s longest walk was her first one, starting with a six in the morning departure from Bampton. She and her companions walked to Thorveton – clocking up 18.5 miles each.
The penultimate leg of the group challenge, walking from Westbank’s Healthy Living Centre in Exminster to Exeter city centre, was a very sociable one.
Debbie left Exminster with three Volunteer Walk Leaders, met another two in Wonford and gathered up another eight people in Heavitree Park in Exeter before continuing to St. Sidwell’s Community Centre – where all the walkers enjoyed a well-deserved cream tea!
St. Sidwell’s was the location from which Westbank’s first Health Walk began 21 years ago and has hosted a weekly city centre Health Walk ever since.
Westbank Community Health and Care’s Healthy Living Centre, Exminster. Image: Sharon Goble.
‘We set out to walk the circumference of Devon’
‘Every walk so far has been so different,’ explains Debbie as she took a well earned break with her four-legged walking companion, Aroha.
‘We did two of our Mid Devon walks, a beautiful one around Eggesford on the Earl of Portsmouth’s land and another around Bow village.’
‘Midweek, we walked from Starcross to Exminster to highlight the activities Westbank provides in Starcross on Wednesdays.’
‘We also met up with the Broadcylst group, so it’s been an amazing week, and the support from our Volunteer Walk Leaders has been absolutely fantastic. We set out to walk the circumference of Devon, which we’ve already smashed.’
‘For me personally, this challenge has been about saying thank you to our Volunteer Walk Leaders too, because without them volunteering their time, whatever the weather, Westbank wouldn’t be able to put on the 21 organised weekly walks in the county that anybody can come along to. And we wouldn’t be celebrating our 21st birthday this month!’
‘Our longest-serving volunteer, Barbara Blyth, did the first Health Walk 21 years ago from St. Sidwell’s and her group still comes here every week for a hot drink after stretching their legs. That’s something to celebrate.’
Despite foot injuries, Debbie is determined to complete her ‘personal challenge’ of covering the route of every Westbank Health Walk in Devon during September.
Her fundraising will continue until the end of the month. The charity is still encouraging people to undertake their own sponsored walks during September.
