Walking themselves into a social network
Westmeath Walking Group
Since it was set up last December, the Westmeath Walking Group has grown from four to almost 500 members. Members walk three times a week and meet up socially.
“Numerous friends have been made and the group is a lifeline for a lot of members,” the founder Madeleine Flanagan from Rickardstown, Collinstown, told the Westmeath Examiner.
“There is a lot of loneliness out there, more than I realised. We are a social network and I am thrilled at how well it has gone,” she said.
The group meet for “a casual walk” three times a week and stay for coffee and a snack afterwards. They meet at 11am at the gates of Tullynally Castle, Castlepollard, on Wednesdays, 11am at Fore Abbey on Saturdays, and 11am on Sundays at Belvedere House and Gardens coffee shop, Mullingar. They also meet for lunch, dinner, nights out, concerts, shows and pub quizzes, and to celebrate birthdays and other such events.
Madeleine moved to Westmeath nine years ago. Last Christmas, as she sat at home, she realised that she had no friends, no social life and no one to go with for a walk or a coffee. She went in search of a walking group and could find none, so she decided to create her own.
Her, her sister Karen, her neighbour Maria O’Farrell, and Westmeath Examiner contributor David Kelly were the original members.
Madeleine contacted the Women’s Shed at Belvedere House and Gardens and asked if she could post on their Facebook page that she was setting up a walking group and looking for members. They agreed, and 150 signed up as a result.
David Kelly joined the group’s second walk and took photographs and submitted an article to the Westmeath Examiner. “I was there on my phone and it went on fire from that article in the Westmeath Examiner. I had another 150 joining,” Madeleine said.
Meet and greet events were organised and about 200 turned up for the first of them, confirming Madeleine’s belief that “I can’t be the only person finding it hard to make new friends at 52”.
The group were set up on December 19 last and by mid-February, they had 400 members. Recently, Madeleine posted on the Mullingar noticeboard on Facebook and another 60 joined. Not all who have signed up go on the walks because, as Madeleine pointed out, people “have the best of intentions”. However, there is a cohort of regular walkers and Madeleine said that all are welcome.
From the outset, Madeleine was determined that it would not be a sports group and would be for everyone. “If you have kids, dogs, are disabled, whether you are a couch potato or really fit, I want everyone to join,” she said. There is no charge and anyone is encouraged to join.