Erddig Nordic Walkers

Area: Erddig

Sector: Outdoor

Project Value: £4,262 for Storage

Erddig Nordic Walking Group has 240 members, with 130 of them meeting regularly to go for walks in north Wales. The group meets three times a week and offers trips at three levels – advanced, intermediate and gentle.

They have 21 leaders trained in first aid, and six Nordic walking instructors, which means they can offer a training session to people who have never tried it before. The majority of the members are over 60 years old. The reasons for joining vary from wanting to keep fit, to keeping the mind healthy and reducing loneliness.

The secretary of the Erddig Nordic Walking Group, Gareth Lloyd, said,

“Unlike some other walking groups, we do not charge a membership fee. We also offer new members the use of our walking sticks for free, which is part of our ethos of offering activities at an affordable price. Our only income is a voluntary £1 for a walk, which raises around £4,000 a year for us. But holding three trips a week and social events costs a lot of money, so we have to constantly look for grants for any additional costs or events.

“This grant from the Prosperous Communities Wrexham Key Fund administered by Cadwyn Clwyd and AVOW has allowed us to buy a ‘container’ to hold our equipment safely. Before that, we had to pay £20 a month for space to keep the equipment.

“Now, we don’t need to worry about storage space when we buy new equipment and the money that would have gone to pay for storage can be used to develop our programme of events.

“The grant has enabled us to plan for the future without having to worry about equipment storage costs.”