City children take big strides to combat obesity
[5 March 2007]
Children in South London will be engaging with the great outdoors without leaving the city this month, as a walking project helps them take strides towards a healthier lifestyle.
As part of the Little Legs Big Strides project, children in Downham are going on nature activity walks and visiting local allotments. The project is helping to make walking part of the daily lives of young children and their parents in areas of high deprivation in South London.
Walks take place on Tuesday mornings at 9.30am, starting from the Sure Start Shop in Boundfield Road, Downham. The first is on Tuesday March 6th, to Chinnbrook Meadows, where children can take part in nature activities. On Tuesday, March 13th children will visit Downham nutrition project and allotments, and see the food grown there. Another nature walk around the local area takes place on Tuesday, March 20th.
The project is being run by Britain’s biggest walking charity, the Ramblers’ Association (RA), in partnership with Downham Sure Start group. It is one of a number of Little Legs Big Strides schemes in South London.
Nationally, 15 per cent of children are overweight or obese. The RA is working in partnership with Sure Start groups, children’s centres, community groups, schools and the local NHS to get children more active through walking. The RA provides led taster walks around the local area, child-friendly information booklets, maps and incentives such as pedometers, balloons and T-shirts.
Rebecca Barnham, who heads the Little Legs Big Strides project for the Ramblers’ Association, said: “Walking is one of the best forms of exercise, it’s free and a great family activity. But people in inner-city areas often don’t walk because of lack of confidence or knowledge about places to go. We are overcoming those barriers, encouraging parents and children to walk around their local area and showing them that they don’t have to go out into the countryside to go for a walk.”