Walk Aberdeen, an Aberdeen based walking programme facilitated by registered charity Sport Aberdeen, is set to receive new funding to introduce dementia friendly walks.

The funding for this has been received from Paths For All, a national organisation that champions walking for everyone, everyday, everywhere. As part of this new initiative, Paths for All have been funded by The Life Changes Trust to help develop the wider walking network in Scotland to become more accessible to people living with dementia. The funding received by Walk Aberdeen will help to ensure that everyone affected by dementia has the opportunity to enjoy walking, whilst benefitting from the social, mental and physical improvements.

Paths For All are supporting six projects to develop this work, with Walk Aberdeen among the candidates chosen for development. The additional funding aims to improve support for those living with dementia and their carers to access walking opportunities, highlight the benefits of walking and increase awareness and understanding of dementia amongst the local community.

Ian Findlay, Paths for All Chief Officer said: “We are delighted to be working with Walk Aberdeen again to take forward this important new initiative. Through already established networks and expertise, Paths for All aim to improve support for those with dementia and their carers to access walking opportunities, highlight the benefits walking can bring, as well as provide respite. We also aim to increase awareness and understanding of dementia within local communities.

The Walk Aberdeen scheme has gone from strength to strength with additional routes added to the

Programme, including walks of varying lengths for people with differing needs, and even buggy walks. Walk Aberdeen is a Sport Aberdeen facilitated programme.

Walk leader Brian Harrison was particularly pleased with the investment and is looking forward to implementing new approaches to make walks even more inclusive:

“It is great to be recognised by Paths for All as an innovative project looking to widen our offer to our communities especially as regular walking has been shown to reduce the instances of developing Dementia by up to 30%”