The St George Strollers run regular walks in St George and the surrounding areas.
Walks away from St George are planned so that they can be easily reached by bus or train with a published meeting point and suggested transport option.
We are a friendly group and new walkers are always welcome. The group was set up by Friends of Troopers Hill in May 2011.
On some walks you may need money for bus or train fares (see walk leaflet). Often there is an opportunity to visit a café at the end of the walk.
Our Team
Our volunteer walk leaders and "back markers" have all been trained as part of the national Wellbeing Walks scheme.
June, Susan, Liz, Peter, Ray and Andy research walks and lead them. Julie, Richard, Lynn, Charlie, Alan, Pat and Margaret C help check the walks in advance and on the day, walk at the back of our group of walkers to help make all our walks safe and enjoyable.
Behind the scenes we have Margaret and Liz volunteering as administrators and looking after our funds. Anne helps as needed in a multitude of ways, whether it's making sure there is a welcome for walkers when we return from a walk to a venue for a meeting or acting as a sighted guide for a visually impaired walker. We also have volunteers creating our leaflets and posters and putting up posters in 21 locations around St George.
If you would like to become a walk leader just talk to any of our team.
Ramblers Wellbeing Walks Bristol
St George Strollers are part of Ramblers Wellbeing Walks Bristol
- members of the national Wellbeing Walks scheme
(formerly Walking for Health)
Who can come on a walk?
Walks are open to all and everyone is welcome. Walking can help you get more physically active in a safe, enjoyable way whatever your abilities. It’s also a great way of getting to know your local neighbourhood and making new friends - which is the main reason that many of our walkers join us.
Please contact if you are new to walking with us or have additional needs. Please arrive ten minutes early if you are joining us for the first time for a one-off registration.
How far do we walk?
We organise two types of walk, 30-minute walks of about a mile, known at the 'St George Park Stroll' and 90-minute walks of up to 3 miles.
The St George Park Stroll runs on the 3rd Tuesday of every month, starting at 10.30am, beginning and ending at the Beehive Centre on Stretford Rd, BS5 7AW. The route is a circuit of the nearby St George Park. Hot drinks are available at the Beehive Centre at the end of the walk. The Beehive Centre offers a range of activities including a community lunch on Tuesday. You can find more details on their website.
Our 90 minutes walks vary in length but would be unlikely to be over 3 miles. Our walk leaflets give information on the length of the walk, whether there is likely be mud or rough surfaces to walk on and an idea of the steepness of any slopes. Stiles are very occasionally included in our walks. Look out for the stile symbol in our leaflets.
Walks are taken at an easy pace, with plenty of time to admire some of the sights along the way. The walk leaders have always walked the route in advance and usually have some interesting information to pass on as we walk round. Sometimes local experts join us to pass on more information.
Some walks have refreshment stops part way round and many of our walks finish near a café so that there is the option to have a coffee (or lunch) before returning home (see walk leaflet for details).
When the St George Strollers first started we would always include a shorter option part way round a walk but no-one ever wanted to take up the option. We would be very happy to start doing this again if people asked us to do so.
How often do we walk?
We provide one or two 90-minute walks per month on varying days of the week from Monday to Friday so that people with regular commitments on a particular day can find a walk in our programme. Walks are mostly in the mornings with occasional evenings in the summer.
How we are funded
Our running costs are small, mainly travel costs (usually bus fares) for walk leaders checking and leading walks but also includes publicity, hiring a venue for two walkers' meetings a year, printing materials for use on walks, topping up first aid supplies and any other expenses directly related to a walk.
To cover our running costs we were asking for a voluntary donation of £1 per adult per walk after they have walked with us for the first time. Our funds are healthy enough for us not to need to do this at the moment although we may need to in the future and donations are always welcome.
In 2014/15 we worked with Sovereign Housing Association to increase access to local walking opportunities.
As a result Sovereign granted £1,100 for the Strollers to develop and lead a series of free, child-friendly walks made particularly accessible to Sovereign residents but open to all.
The funding also meant that Sovereign residents in the Pile Marsh area received copies of each quarterly programme of walks and their community noticeboard was kept up to date with news and maps and photos of the walks.
The St George Neighbourhood Partnership provided funds for special walks in 2014 to attract new walkers and provide additional interest for existing walkers. Funding for our first two years was from the Quartet Community Foundation and the St George West Community First Fund.
Walkers' meetings
To check if we are providing walks that walkers want, to share news and make decisions affecting the group, there is a slightly shorter walk at Christmas and at the end of May, ending at a venue where we can sit down and have an informal meeting with light refreshments. It was at one of our early meetings we agreed whether dogs could join our walks or not.
Dogs
As a group the walkers decided that only one dog, on a lead, could be on any walk and their place must be pre-booked. Please ring the contact number on our walk leaflet if you would like to book a place on a walk for your dog. Guide dogs are always welcome, but please contact us to check that the walk is suitable.
Photos
We take photos of all our walks, so walkers can share these with their families and friends and people interested in our walks can gain an idea of the type of walk we do. Photos of almost all our walks can be seen on www.flickr.com/wfhsusan. If you do not want to be in any photos just let a walk leader know.
How do I find out about future walks?
There is a link at the top of this page to our latest walks leaflet, which shows the current 3-month programme of walks. Posters are put up in 21 locations in St George
.
You can also add yourself to our mailing list by going to http://tinyurl.com/stgstrollersmail. If someone has not attended one of our walks for 6 months we remove them from our emailing list to avoid having an ever increasing email list but we will always be happy to add anyone again. Our walk leaders always carry paper copies of our 3 month programme of walks for anyone who does not have internet access or who is joining us for the first time.
We hope to see you on a St George Strollers Walk soon.