Walking for Health partners

Walking for Health, England’s network of health walk schemes, is a remarkable example of a partnership project. We work with Macmillan Cancer Support to run Walking for Health, however by far the greatest amount of work is carried out by many hundreds of other organisations who provide excellent walking opportunities on a daily basis.

Each of these organisations works in a different way and has a different set of support needs. As the national centre for Walking for Health, we work hard to provide the best possible service to all of them.

  • Local authorities are the biggest supporters of Walking for Health – over 300 county, district, borough and unitary councils lead or partner in health walks schemes
  • NHS bodies (Trusts, Clinical Commissioning Groups and others) are important supporters of Walking for Health – around 150 different bodies are involved
  • Local charities and voluntary groups are increasingly important providers of health walks – around 250 such groups are involved, including:
    • small volunteer-led groups set up for the purpose
    • organisations dealing with particular issues like mental and physical health and welfare
    • service providers to specific groups like the elderly or young families
    • green space managers and conservation organisations
    • development partnerships
    • community centres
    • faith groups
  • National charities concerned with health, welfare, physical activity, active travel and the environment have an important presence within Walking for Health – besides the Ramblers and Macmillan Cancer Support, these include:
    • Age UK
    • The Conservation Volunteers (formerly BTCV)
    • Groundwork
    • Mind
    • The National Trust
    • Sustrans
    • The Wildlife Trusts
    • YMCA

Other organisations involved with Walking for Health include educational institutions like colleges and universities, commercial companies and national government bodies that manage green spaces such as the Forestry Commission and Natural England – which hosted the national centre until April 2012.