Waking in Manchester

Overhead view of a group dance exercise class in a community centre

Across Greater Manchester, there is a clear recognition of the importance of walking to population scale change in physical activity and there is widespread understanding of the critical role of walking - for leisure, for travel and for everyday activity.

Walking more is literally the first step you can take if you want to move a little more and start on your journey to becoming more active.  From moving a bit more at home, walking to the shops or school, joining a walking group in your local park or hiking in the hills, there is something for everyone in Manchester. 

Head over to our MCRactive walking pages to find out more and to get in touch with the Manchester walking team.   They work with a range of community, health and transport partners across the city to support more walking – finding whatever’s right for you or your residents. They are keen to support you in your walking plans! It starts with that first step...

Let’s Walk! workshop

MCRactive runs the Manchester: Let’s Walk! workshop, where you’ll find out more about the many benefits of walking; but also the barriers and how we can work to overcome them. You’ll find out what informal walking is and how you can become a walking champion in your community or workplace or amongst your family and friends. You’ll find out about resources and ideas to support more walking in Manchester, including our Manchester green trails which span the whole city and our Love Exploring app in our parks. You’ll also get to meet a wide variety of people from Manchester’s communities and organisations who can share ideas around encouraging more walking.

“We work with local residents to create new activity, so the workshop supports the work we do. It was motivational to talk about the walking opportunities so we can then share them with local people.” (Manchester Health and Wellbeing Service feedback)

Community Investment Fund grants

GM Walking has given grants to nearly 90 local voluntary and community groups with the aim of getting Greater Manchester walking. They offered the grants to support a huge range of activities that encourage people who are usually less active to start or to increase the amount they regularly walk. Almost half of the successful applications were from organisations based in the most deprived 20% of the region.

They gave a total of £37,822 to 22 organisations across Manchester, including to:

  • First Lancasterian Scouts to work on building up the distance their scouts can walk
  • Praxis Care to run a weekly walking group for current and ex-tenants of supported accommodation
  • Beautiful Mind to run monthly history walks around Manchester and Salford
  • Richmond Fellowship Manchester Women’s Service to go on fortnightly walks, gradually increasing in distance
  • TLC St Luke’s to run walks incorporating arts-based methods to look, listen and create along the way
  • Lesbian Immigration Support Group to organise walks for service users throughout Greater Manchester
  • We Matter CIC to set up a women’s walking group in Longsight
  • The Booth Centre to run a project encouraging people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to get walking in Greater Manchester’s greenspaces
  • The Greater Manchester Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Centre to run six walks of increasing distance for their service users
  • Great Places Housing Group to run day trips to popular walking spots for vulnerable adults with a range of mental and physical health challenges
  • The River Manchester to run monthly park walks for socially isolated local people, including those who have suffered domestic abuse
  • Global Vision Initiative to encourage and support local people to engage in group walks and to promote healthy living
  • Real Food Wythenshawe to run a weekly Green Mile walk
  • Green Fingers Moston to run monthly themed nature hunts and walks in local parks for families with children
  • Dynamic Support of Greater Manchester Ltd to take socially isolated and vulnerable women from diverse ethnic backgrounds on days out walking scenic routes across the region
  • Back on Track to deliver projects encouraging disadvantaged groups in Manchester to walk more
  • Manchester Deaf Centre to set up a fortnightly specialised walking group for deaf, hard of hearing and deafened people
  • The Resonance Centre CIC to run a series of 12 user-led circular walks starting from Metrolink stations for people who are not in work and/or who are living with a mental health condition
  • Canal and River Trust to promote walking and active lifestyles to young people and veterans in Miles Platting and Newton Heath
  • Angels of Hope for Women to run a peer-supported walking groups, workshops and walk and talk sessions for women from diverse ethnic backgrounds
  • Burnage Activity and Information Hub to run a series of themed walks aimed at supporting people to come together, walk and talk and to learn more about their neighbourhood and the people in it
  • Future Directions CIC to start a walking group for people with learning disabilities and additional support needs
  • The Pakistani Resource Centre to run weekly walks and promote the benefits of walking and healthy lifestyles to centre users