living street putting people first

A section of a new network of paths in Denny leads to Denny High School so it was essential to involve secondary school pupils in promotion of the paths if the level of use was going to be increased. Students worked on the promotion while gaining valuable experience for their Duke of Edinburgh award.

Denny suffers from pockets of deprivation, some parts are included in the top 5% and 10% most deprived areas of Scotland. Nearly a third of households rent from the council (33.6%) compared with the national average of 21%. The Community Green initiative needed help promoting a new path network which had been resurfaced, with lighting, litter bins and murals added.

A group of school pupils working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award decided they wanted to help plan a treasure hunt for an event to officially launch the path leading to the High School and produce materials which could be used to promote walking amongst their peers. By talking about places they visit regularly using a map of Denny they began a research project into benefits of walking, looking into distance, time and calories saved as a result of walking to key destinations from the High School, such as shopping areas, library and doctors surgery. This formed a fact-sheet to be distributed around the school. They also drew up a leaflet with pleasant route to walks in the area.

In small groups, students walked the paths, noting places of interest and taking photographs that could be used for clues in the treasure hunt. In the run up to the Path Party students worked with Living Streets to plan their route and create materials for their treasure hunt.

Sharing successes:

• On the day of the Path Party everyone was “blown away” with the turn out – well over 100 people attended the event
• Six teams took part in the treasure hunt, including parents with young children
• The group were able to use the project to gain part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award
• The same format was used to plan a Halloween-themed treasure hunt
• The group hope to continue promoting walking in the school and take other groups in the community on walks along the path
• To complement the launch of the path network, a photography competition has been taking place. Twelve winning photographs will be chosen to make up a calendar for 2011.

Speaking from experience

• Photographs were helpful to remind the group what they had seen on their walk and create clues for the treasure hunt
• Access to internet was crucial to help them produce fact-sheets and also helped improve their research skills
• It was important to give the pupils as much ownership over the process as possible and enable them to take part in ways which suit them, from coming up with the clues for the treasure hunt to preparing the route with clues on the day of the Path Party
• By using the project as part of their Duke of Edinburgh award the pupils felt the project helped them achieve something which they can use in the future.