"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about."
Margaret J Wheatley
This was no more evident than in the recently completed Rastrick Around The World Community Challenge. The challenge provided an opportunity for organisations to really prioritize physical activity, in line with Active Calderdale's approach.
The design of the challenge allowed the residents of Rastrick to be active in any way they chose, whether that was walking, swimming, dancing, wheeling or scooting, all activities counted towards the weekly total.
The idea was to travel the same amount of steps it takes to go from Rastrick all the way around the world. Individuals and groups, would be active throughout the week, record those activity levels, and then submit the total to a local organisation such as the library or the Space @ Field Lane at the end of each week.
A community united
It took the community nine weeks to complete the Around the World Challenge, in which time they had completed over 35 million steps and travelled the equivalent of 17,903 miles around the globe. One of the most pleasing aspects of this was how individuals, friends, family and local organisations came together to work towards a common goal, in turn creating more interest from others in the community as the challenge progressed.
Prior to the challenge, Active Calderdale had a relationship with around ten different organisations in Rastrick, however, during the challenge, there were around 22 different organisations playing their part.
This community cohesion has since led to the designing, with the support of Active Calderdale, of a Pole-to-pole winter challenge with local organisations taking the lead. Information for the Pole-to-pole challenge can be found HERE.
How to play your part
With this community approach in mind, Active Calderdale created the Play Your Part booklet to encourage and support organisations across Calderdale to embed moving more as part of what they do.
This resource, which includes a self-assessment tool, acts as an off-the-shelf toolkit available to any organisation wanting to promote physical activity to those they are connected to.
Built on feedback from local communities, the booklet was produced so even more organisations and services across Calderdale could play their part in promoting physical activity, particularly those who required less support.
The booklet includes examples of how other local organisations have played their part and various ways organisations can promote physical activity. The Play Your Part booklet can now be downloaded HERE and if you would like to discuss more on how you can play your part, please contact us at activecalderdale@calderdale.gov.uk.