A green gym

Dr William Bird knew that some people coming into his surgery would benefit from some form of exercise but were unwilling to go swimming or sign up for a course at a local gym or fitness centre.

Nor were they keen on going for walks either on their own initiative or those organised by health workers.

So he came up with another solution to getting people active, and green gyms were launched whereby patients volunteered to do some lightish jobs in their environment and countryside.

It was just over ten years ago that Dr Bird approached the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) who drew up a programme and put the idea into action.

Now there are between 90 and 100 green gyms across England plus another dozen in primary schools. Preliminary talks are going on to extend green gyms into a handful of prisons in the north.

Oxfordshire was naturally among the first to form green gyms as Dr Bird’s surgery was at Sonning Common.

The other green gyms are in Abingdon, Bicester, Wallingford and one covering Woodstock and Chipping Norton, which is called Woodchipp.

There are also prospects of a green gym being formed in Banbury, though not Oxford so far.

And there are already green gyms in Victoria in Australia and interest from other countries in the developed world.

Dr Bird said: “It is quite satisfying to see that we can give a lead to Australia, a country which is associated with a lot of sport and physical exercise.”

Since green gyms began he has been able to assess the benefits on people.

“People on a green gym realise they are benefitting themselves, their environment and their local community and that gives thems a sense of achievement.

“Often people going on a green gym were also new to the idea of voluntering — another benefit,” said Dr Bird, Health benefits were that the physical activity helped to improve levels of blood pressure, combat heart disease and the onset of diabetes.

“We also found that a green gym helped people who were isloated and living alone, who can have high stress levels.

“A green gym helped them with social contacts,” he said.

Following the continued success of green gyms, Dr Bird is now strategic health adviser to the government agency Natural England and continues as a part-time doctor in Reading.

Green gyms in Oxfordshire are among the busiest, with Sonning Common meeting twice a week and the others once a week.

Miss Nina Sperinck, community project officer for the region, based in Aylesbury, was project officer for the formation of Woodchipp.

“Green gyms do traditional conservation work like coppicing, planting trees, hedge laying and clearing scrub and removing unwanted plants like the Himalyan balsam. In some parts of the country they also do dry stone walling,” she said.

Woodchipp has recently negotiated to plant an orchard on a plot of land in Chipping Norton, while Abingdon often works on nature reserves and sites of special scientific interest in the area.

Wallingford green gym has worked with the Northmoor Trust, which has woodland projects in the vicinity.

In Bicester, the volunteers have undertaken tasks on the nature reserve at the Bure Park housing estate and tackled similar jobs on the Bicester Fields extension to Langford Village suburb of the town. Bicester has also done work at Kidlington.

Green gym volunteers have also worked with the Wychwood Project in west Oxfordshire and helped out clearing scrub in disused quarries with the Oxfordshire Geology Trust.

While they are run on a shoestring a charge is made to landowners for jobs done with their co-operation.

Miss Sperinck said that BTCV had recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, having been originally the Conservation Corps.

Funds come from various sources, including charitable trusts, local authorities and private trusts.

“We have also worked with corporate bodies by running team building days, for which we make a charge,” she added.

“Green gyms have been successful, particularly in this region, which covers Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey.

“People do benefit from taking part. They stay with us for varying lengths of time depending on their needs and circumstances,” she said.

l For more information, contact the BTCV office in Aylesbury on 01296 330033 or go to www2.btcv.org.uk/display/greengym