Four teams of walkers set off on Wednesday 16 May on an epic three-week journey across the UK, as The Big Walk returns for its second year. This year, representing Scotland is a 52-year-old father of three, Angus McLeod from Dundee. Joining him on various other sections of the 400-mile route is Adam Mould, founder of the Glasgow Panthers Wheelchair Rugby League team, along with several of his team-mates.
Angus and the Big Community Walk arrived in Portobello on Saturday morning, where members of the local community joined the Scotland team on a 4-mile route along the beach and promenade, joining in with litter-picking and other community-focused activities along the way.
Watch a short film about this year’s walk and walkers here https://youtu.be/wWAPHW5TnuY
Watch a video from the Glasgow Panthers here: https://vimeo.com/271316392/e632f6467d
The Big Community Walk aims to give everyone the opportunity to join in and do something wonderful to celebrate some of the ordinary individuals doing extraordinary things at the heart of their communities.
Every day of the walk, the Scotland team are visiting incredible projects. On the Saturday before the main event, they began their day with a visit to the Edinburgh Remakery, which teaches people useful employability and repair skills while tackling throwaway culture repairing furniture, phones and computers. At the moment they are running a ‘Laptops For Refugees’ campaign – aiming to give 100 laptops to 100 refugees and asylum seekers across the UK in 2018.
The walkers were then welcomed into Portobello at 11am and carried out a litter pick as they walked down the prom, aiming to help clear the beach and prom of plastic that gets discarded. People of all ages joined in, filling bags of rubbish.
The event also worked in collaboration with the Beach Wheelchair team at Portobello to make sure that the day was accessible to everyone. The specially designed wheelchairs are available to book for people visiting the beach.
There was some community singing at the bandstand where crowds joined in with Eric Morecambe’s ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ (in honour of the walk’s departure point), and ‘The Road Tae Dundee’. Of course it wouldn’t have been complete without ‘Sunshine on Leith’ and ‘500 Miles’.
Angus was presented with a message in a bottle from the community in Portobello, and had a chance to recount his recent days walking. The day ended with a community quiz, live music, beach yoga, a community hub and a plastic-free picnic..
The Big Walk is an Eden Project idea made possible by the National Lottery with the purpose of shining a light on ordinary people going the extra mile to bring people in their community together while working up an appetite for The Big Lunch.
Angus McLeod, captain of Team Scotland, said: “When I read about The Big Walk I completed the application form in record time during my lunch hour; and just a few months later, here I am, taking on one of the biggest challenges of my life. I’ve seen so many amazing places on my walk already and it’s such a privilege to be welcomed into the heart of these communities and be given an opportunity to shine a light on the work they do.”
Sandra Brown, Eden Communities Scotland Country Manager, said: “The aim of the Big Community Walk in Portobello was to give participants the opportunity to experience the joy of spending a few hours doing the kinds of things which connected communities do together and celebrating how important this is. Hopefully, it will inspire them to bring this joy back in the places they live by organising their own Big Lunch.”
Anyone can take part! Order a free pack and join millions of others across the UK for The Big Lunch on 3 June www.thebiglunch.com and don’t forget to follow #TheBigWalk to see lots of inspiring communities in action.
Register for the Portobello event at https://thebigwalkportobello.eventbrite.co.uk
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