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Two older women with walking poles on a path in a park.

Being involved in sport and physical activity can have a powerful, positive impact on people’s physical and mental health. It can also bring people together, helping them to make new friendships and create a sense of community.   

This case study focuses on the work of Meanderers, a Nottingham-based creative walking group. Set up in 2023, Meanderers seek to support participants' physical and mental wellbeing by combining walking with social and creative activities.

How it began

Founder Amelia Daiz set up Meanderers during her studies with the aim to provide activities for people who were new to Nottingham or who’d decided to stay in the city after university, but were finding it hard to make friends and didn’t want to participate in traditional, formal sports activities.

Connecting people

Meanderers use walking as a way of connecting people and improving their physical and mental wellbeing. They offer two types of walks:

  • Monthly drifts. Free to attend, these walks start at an agreed place but have no specific route planned. They’re led by the participants and have no time limit. Participants can meet and walk wherever their interest takes them.
  • Seasonal walkshops. These feature three themed activities including a creative walk, an art workshop, and a social meal. Walkshops are paid for but concessions are offered. Previous themes have included: a poetry walk, lunch, and an arts and crafts workshop; and a walk where attendees learn about foraging, a book binding workshop, and lunch.

Amelia has completed an introductory walk leader course and is the process of becoming an accredited walk leader. Meanderers sometimes invite partner organisations with specific expertise to lead the seasonal walkshops.

Why combine walking with social and creative activities?

Meanderers report that combining walking with social and creative activities:

  • Improves attendees' physical and mental wellbeing, which is central to their purpose.
  • Engages participants by encouraging them to socialise, be curious and explore their local area.
A woman wearing a backpack smiles as she looks at the camera while walking down a street.

Building a community

Building a strong community has been vital to the growth of Meanderers.

Participants come from range of different backgrounds, and each walk aims to offer a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere for new and returning participants.

Meanderers report that many come along to the sessions initially for the social opportunities but return because of the positive experience and sense of belonging they feel after attending.

While Meanderers feels like a club, there’s no commitment to join; they consider this to be part of their appeal to their audience.

Challenges

As with setting up any new group or initiative, founder Amelia has encountered some challenges, including:

Retaining numbers for the free monthly drifts, as attendance is often weather-dependent.
Managing the time needed to run the group alongside other commitments. To address this, Amelia allows dedicated time each week to work on key tasks.
At first, promoting the group took up lots of time but as it’s grown, this has become easier and is now largely through word-of-mouth.
Finding and applying for funding. With no training in writing applications, Amelia looks for willing helpers to support her with funding bids.

Supporters

There’s been lots of support for Meanders from other organisations. For example, their Active Partnership, Active Notts, has produced a video about them; this has helped to raise awareness and promote their work.

Meanderers plan to use it to help encourage future collaborations and maybe even funding support!

What's next?

The aim is to expand Meanderers, so their activities benefit more people locally and take the programme ‘on tour’ in different cities and places.

Meanderers' top tips for starting a new group

Get help from similar groups! Research and learn from organisations like yours and reach out to them for advice.
Balance your ideas! Write down your longer-term goals but work on smaller more achievable goals to get you started.
Just start! Use your friends and family to pilot your new ideas.
Take your project or activities seriously from the outset! Dedicate time each week to complete the tasks required to get your activities up and running.

Find out more

Check out Meanderers' website and social media for more information: