Walking in Bury

Overhead view of a group dance exercise class in a community centre

Across Greater Manchester, there is a clear recognition of the importance of walking to population scale change in physical activity and there is widespread understanding of the critical role of walking - for leisure, for travel and for everyday activity.

In support of the Bury Moving: Physical Activity Strategy (2020-25) our vision is to get 75% of the Bury population moving more by 2025. Recognising that WALKING is one of the easiest ways to achieve this, Bury has made walking (along with cycling) a key priority in its objectives to help people to move more often and make walking part of everyday life.

Working together as a collaboration between local residents, voluntary groups, schools & local businesses with a strong political steer from local Councillors, Bury has developed a new Walking & Cycling Community Forum, which aims to address the barriers faced by individuals and communities when attempting to include walking (and cycling) into daily routine and to find workable solutions, including securing the necessary funding required to make changes in order to enable more people to participate in walking and cycling activity and get #BuryMoving.

Click here to learn more about how the Bury Moving: Physical Activity Strategy (2020-25) supports walking in Bury.

For leisure and recreation, travelling to and from school, work or even the local shops, there are so many benefits to be had from including walking into our daily lives. Benefits like; improved fitness, physical health, and mental wellbeing, reducing isolation from getting outdoors and meeting other people out and about, saving on travel costs, not forgetting the environmental benefits from reducing the number of cars on our local roads helping to create safer streets and cleaner air for us to breathe.

So, whether it be for leisure or for pleasure, for health of for wealth, walking with others or finding your way alone, if you want to move more and make walking part of your everyday life check out the GM Walking website to see our led & self-led walk opportunities in Bury.

Or if you want influence change, share your ideas, and help shape a future for improved WALKING opportunities in Bury – join us at our next Bury Walking & Cycling Community Forum and get involved!

Working Together to make Bury Better!

Bury self-led walks

With funding support from the Groundwork Project; Ambition for Ageing, GreaterSport: Active Ageing and with help from ‘Bury Walk with Me’ trained Volunteer Walk Leaders, this self-led walks booklet maps out some of our most favoured and popular scheme led walks, (as well as some new ones) within each of the six townships of Bury.

Walking routes    Walking groups

Community Investment Fund grants

GM Walking has given grants to nearly 90 local voluntary and community groups with the aim of getting Greater Manchester walking. They offered the grants to support a huge range of activities that encourage people who are usually less active to start or to increase the amount they regularly walk. Almost half of the successful applications were from organisations based in the most deprived 20% of the region.

They gave a total of £22,068 to nine organisations across Bury, including to:

  • Bury Society for Blind and Partially Sighted People to encourage visually impaired people to get out for weekly walks by providing a ‘walker guide’ volunteer to walk with them
  • Keren Mamosh (Our Future) to run fortnightly walks in local areas of interest
  • The Fed to run a walking group to promote physical and mental wellbeing for isolated, vulnerable members of Greater Manchester’s Jewish community
  • Jigsaw Bury to deliver walking activities to young disabled people in Bury
  • Ramsbottom Countryside Access Volunteers to improve the Rake public footpath to enable it to be safely used by local residents and visitors
  • Brandlesholme Residents Association to make environmental improvements to paths around the area to encourage more walking
  • Bury Speakeasy to run a collective walking challenge for people affected by aphasia
  • Sow the City to provide a programme of guided nature walks in and around Prestwich Hospital for patients, visitors and staff
  • Young Leaders to encourage more walking among the Orthodox Jewish and Hassidic communities by building walking into their daily routines