Retirement Walking, outdoor activity for retired people.

Description

We are the only walking group across the Galtee area that provides an opportunity for retired people and those who may prefer walking at a slower pace to explore the outdoors. Following on from our annual community walk ‘The Ramble’ to Darby’s Bed in Galbally Co. Limerick on Saturday 28th of August 2021 a number of people approached me with a view to setting up an active retirement walking group. Hillwalking Radio Group launched the first inaugural walk of the ‘Morning Ramblers’ on Saturday 9th of October 2021. The launch coincided with Positive Ageing Week. We started out with five people, now we have thirty retired and semi retired people in our group. This coming October we will be celebrating two years together.

Aim of Initiative

The aim is to give people who were very active hillwalkers in the Galtee area or retired people who may have been busy with work and families a second chance to come together again and really enjoy the great outdoor. We have various types of walks from forestry tracks to historical and nature walks. Checking in on our friends that live in the trees and hedgerows, learning about old monasteries, War of Independence ambush sites, biodiversity and much more.

Who is it aimed at

People in the community who now find themselves retired with nothing to do, those who may have been hillwalkers in their early days or who participated in other sports.

3 Steps critical to success

1. While we have co-ordinators we have no one person in charge, everyone is equal and take turns at organising regular outings every Saturday morning. This has been the secret to our success. We have gone from five members to thirty members in less than two years. Overall it has been an exhilarating adventure for us. We have enjoyed a total of 82 walks since our formation, this surely is testament that we must have hit the right formula.
2. Last Christmas in partnership with Hillwalking Radio Club we organised a Starlight Walk. The purpose of this walk was to get together over the Christmas, have a fundraising walk and give something back to the community. We raised €550 for the Circle of Friends Cancer Support Service in Tipperary.
3. We support Hillwalking Radio Club and their First Responders with organising their annual community fundraising walk by helping with the catering and and stewarding.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. We didn’t have any challenges starting our retirement walking group. As word spread more and more people wanted to join.
2. We have no membership fee and this can cause a slight problem when we need to purchase reflective bibs as the cost of printing ‘The Morning Ramblers’ name can be expensive.
3. We would like to go on about two annual outings. Since the pandemic the cost of hiring a bus is out of our reach.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. We have a number of retired teachers in our walking group and over the last twelve months we have introduced a few words of Gaeilge either to describe birds, other animals translate old Irish words into English and generally we try to speak some few words of Irish on most walks. The Morning Ramblers is a not-for-profit voluntary organisation and runs on the goodwill, hard work, dedication of our volunteers.
2. It’s been a fantastic journey for us over the years, building up the expertise and developing our leadership skills.
3. Our success is also mainly due to the fact that we meet every Saturday morning. Other clubs meet after work on a week evening up until the night shades come down. Then contact is lost over the winter and and people loose contact or take up another hobby.