Walking News
MWA Plant Bulbs for Next Spring
On Sunday morning 4 October 2009, Mytholmroyd Walkers' Action planted bulbs donated by Hebden Royd Town Council (HRTC). Town Councillor Jade Smith presented the bulbs to MWA members at the garden in front of Mytholmroyd Library. The bulbs, one sack of daffodils and another of dwarf narcissi, are part of HRTC's spring flowers initiative, coordinated by Jason Boom (HRTC's Environmental Community Warden).
Jill Liddington (MWA secretary), Councillor Jade Smith, Jean Williams (MWA treasurer) and Julian Harber (member). Photograph: Mick Piggott (member)
Jean Williams and Mick Piggott planted clumps of bulbs in the wood that is on MWA's Stubb Clough Walk@Work route. "The flowers along the stream will look pretty good when they come up next spring", said Jean.
Julian Harber and Jill Liddington planted bulbs along MWA's Scout Rock and Churn Milk Joan routes, publicised in the group's original Three Waymarked Walks leaflet. "It was hard work digging the holes up there" said Julian, "but it was well worth it".
Julian Harber kneeling to plant bulbs by Brearley Lane (Church Milk Joan route).
Walk@Work Lunchtime Walk
On Friday 12 June 2009, Hebden Royd's new Mayor, John Beacroft-Mitchell, presented bottles of fruit juice to walkers at the start of their walk@work lunchtime walk.
The walkers were sponsored by Mumtaz Ventures, and the event was organized by Mytholmroyd Walkers' Action. 16 walkers took part, including eight from the nearby law firm, Sweet and Maxwell.
Walkers gather outside Mumtaz Ventures, Orchard Business Park, Mytholmroyd. Front row: far left, Rose Wheeler (MWA chair); centre, John Beacroft-Mitchell (Mayor of Hebden Royd); right, Julie Lord (Sweet and Maxwell Facilities Manager); far right, Jean Williams (MWA treasurer). Back row: left and centre: Sweet and Maxwell employees; right, Mick Piggott and Julian Harber (MWA members).
Walkers check the map at the end of the 30 minute walk up into Cragg Vale, having returned by Top Land Country Business Park. Left to right: MWA member Julian Harber, Sweet and Maxwell employees and Julie Lord (Sweet and Maxwell Facilities Manager).
MWA Launches Walk@Work Initiative
On Thursday evening 7th May 2009, 30 people enjoyed Mumtaz curries at the launch of the Walk@Work initiative by Mytholmroyd Walkers' Action. 4,000 copies of MWA's new Walk@Work leaflets will now be distributed to everyone working locally and will be available in the local community centre, library and shops. MWA has also designed a brand new website www.mytholmroydwalkers.org which also went live on Thursday.
Speakers at the launch were Pam Warhurst, director of Natural England and chair of the Upper Calder Valley 'Walkers are Welcome' Advisory Board who said walking was key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle - but far from being worthy was actually great fun.
Chris Bingham, director of Aspire Technology selling software to IT companies and based at Dean Hey Country Business Park, said every single visitor to their Mytholmroyd offices marvelled at how beautiful was the situation, surrounded by glorious Cragg Vale countryside. 'I am delighted to share this Walk@Work initiative with all our 75 employees here'.
Photo left to right: Pam Warhurst, Mick Chatham, Jill Liddington, Rose Wheeler, Jean Williams (MWA treasurer) and Chris Bingham.
Jill Liddington, MWA secretary, explained that the Walk@Work initiative had started exactly a year ago. 'Initially we'd organized waymarked routes up to Churn Milk Joan and up Scout Rock. But now we wanted to focus on "access to walking" - for everyone working in Mytholmroyd. No one knew exactly how many people were employed locally, but our guesstimate is over 2,000. We decided on six short lunchtime routes, and over the winter worked closely with the Calderdale Rights of Way team on improvements to make these six walks accessible and safe. Mick Chatham and his Countryside volunteers have put up new stiles and done drainage work so that these six lovely routes can now be enjoyed by everyone'.
The launch was chaired by Rose Wheeler, MWA chair, and delicious curries were donated by Bill Kimberling, Commerical Director of Mumtaz Ventures, one of Mytholomroyd's newest and most innovative businesses.
Enjoying Mumtaz curries at the Walk@Work launch, left to right: Bill Kimberling, Mumtaz commercial director; Rose Wheeler, chair of MWA; Mick Chatham, Countryside Services, who is based in Mytholmroyd; Stuart Green, Mumtaz chef; and Chris Bingham, director of Aspire, Cragg Vale.