If you’re around Drogheda tomorrow (Saturday, January 20th) you may want to put on your walking shoes and join The Irish Red Cross for their first Healthy Steps walk of 2018.

The walk is one out of a planned twelve due to occur in Drogheda over the coming months.

Following on from a successful pilot programme in 2016, the Healthy Steps initiative, run by the Irish Red Cross Health and Social Care Working Group, is now a national programme.

The overall aim of the programme is to establish 10 walking groups around the country and this national initiative has been led by a volunteer with the Drogheda Red Cross branch, and Drogheda native, Paraic McGahey.

Get Ireland Walking have come on board as official partners for this initiative and Louth Sports Partnership have come on board for the Healthy Steps walks in Drogheda.

A spokesperson for the Irish Red Cross said:

“The aim of Irish Red Cross Healthy Steps is to create a low to zero cost initiative which can be rolled out nationwide to address health issues and social problems in Ireland.

“In particular, this programme aims to address the prevalence of obesity, mental health issues and social exclusion. The programme also aims to create more direct engagement between Irish Red Cross branches and local communities while it also aims to develop community resilience.”

The Irish Red Cross Healthy Steps walks will be running for 12 weeks.

Each week participants will meet at Drogheda Community Centre at 11am. The walks will be 4-5km in length but the route will vary slightly each week.

For more information on the Healthy Steps programme, you can contact healthandsocialcare@redcross.ie.