We’re encouraging businesses from across Lancashire to get behind a campaign to help make Lancashire more active.

People are being asked to walk, run, hop, skip, jump or swim a mile on May 18th 2018, also known as Your Mile Your Way Day.

We need at least 24,901 people to pledge their mile – that will equate to us going around the world together as a county!

Your Mile Your Way is being coordinated by Lancashire County Council as part of our Active Lives and Healthy Weight programme. Leisure providers who deliver our programme in each area will all be running activities you can get involved in on May 18.

One of the highlights of the day’s activity is a three-park challenge which will see teams transport an actual sofa for the length of a mile around Alkincoats Park (10am), Barrowford Park (3pm) and Victoria Park (6.30pm) in Pendle, to provide a new spin on the Couch to 5k programme. 

A new Your Mile Your Way website has been launched so you can see what’s happening in your part of Lancashire on the day or you can just do your own thing —as long as you remember to pledge your mile online here: www.yourmileyourway.co.uk

Your Mile Your Way is being supported by comedian Ted Robbins — star of Phoenix Nights — who shed more than four stone and became a gym regular after surviving an on-stage heart attack.

Ted said: “It took a cardiac arrest for me to look at my life differently. But during my recovery I started doing short daily walks which doctors recommended to get my strength back up.

“I started off doing a walk around the hospital ward, then a 15-minute walk, then half an hour, and now I have built up to a couple of miles. I would love to eventually do a fundraising walk or jog. The great thing is, I enjoy it and I look and feel younger than I have for ages.”

Figures show that 23 per cent of adults, equating to around 218,000, in Lancashire do less than 30 minutes of moderate activity a week, when the Chief Medical Officer recommends adults undertake 150 minutes of activity each week.

County Councillor Terry Aldridge, chairman of Lancashire County Council, said: “I've always been very active and go to the gym about three times a week – it makes a huge difference to me. Not only do you feel physically fitter, exercise also helps to focus your mind and it's a great way to socialise with others.

“I'm chairman of the local junior football league and I've been involved in local boxing groups in Skelmersdale. It's great seeing how getting involved in sport is encouraging young people to keep fit. The great thing about Your Mile Your Way is that it will encourage even more people to get active – I'm going to have a think about what I'm going to do for my mile.”

Some Background to Your Mile Your Way

·         The Active Lives Survey (2015/16) estimates that 63.5% of the adult population of Lancashire-12 are living with excess weight, significantly above the national estimate of 61.3%. This suggests there are over 600,000 adults in Lancashire-12 with a weight problem.

·         Figures from QOF 2016/17 showed that there were 147,947 persons (aged 18+) recorded as living with obesity, accounting for 10.6% of the registered population.

·         The districts of Burnley (67.7%) and South Ribble (68.3%) both have significantly higher estimated excess weight prevalence than the national average. As does the neighbouring authority of Blackpool (68.6%).

·         The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) 2016/17 found a total of 7,262 reception and Year-6 age children from across the Lancashire-12 were living with excess weight.

·         At a district level Burnley (25.6%), Hyndburn (27.2%), Lancaster (26.7%) and West Lancashire (26.8%) were all found to have a significantly higher prevalence of reception age children (4-5) with excess weight than England.

·         Trend line analysis indicates that excess weight prevalence increases as children move from reception age to year six.

·         Estimates of adult underweight, suggest that there are almost 9,000 underweight adults living in Lancashire-12 with Preston estimated to have significantly high levels of adult underweight prevalence.