The delivery of Beat the Street is being supported by the National Charity Partnership — a collaboration between Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Tesco.
Thousands of Sandwell residents have signed up to an exciting new walking, cycling and running event called Beat the Street which starts this month.
The event takes place from 24th February to 13th April and encourages anyone who lives or works in Sandwell to ditch the car and walk where possible. It’s free to take part.
Beat the Street Sandwell is being funded by the National Charity Partnership and forms part of its aim to support and transform the lives of 40,000 families in the UK. Sandwell is one of six areas where the National Charity Partnership is funding the programme as part of their commitment to helping support 40,000 families in areas most at need across the UK to get active and reduce their risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart and circulatory disease. Supporting these areas is part of the Partnership’s ‘Let’s Do This’ campaign which aims to inspire millions of people to take small and achievable steps to a healthier life.
The competition received its official launch at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Wednesbury this week.
Vanessa Phillips, Deputy Head Teacher at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School said: “Everyone at the school is excited about taking part in Beat the Street. It sounds like a brilliant way of encouraging people to walk where possible and links in well with our aims of getting the children to stay healthy.”
Jenna Hall, Programme Director for the National Charity Partnership, said: “We’re delighted to see so many people getting out and about with the help of the Beat the Street project. There’s still time to sign up and get walking. Just half an hour a day of physical activity helps people to improve their health, quality of life and well-being.”
Dr William Bird, founder of Intelligent Health, the company that runs the project on behalf of the National Charity Partnership, added: “Beat the Street is designed to inspire people to be physically active, with the intention that they will continue these lifestyle choices beyond the eight weeks of the competition. Pick up a card from one of the distribution points listed on the Beat the Street Sandwell website and see how far you can walk!”
The partnership between Diabetes UK, BHF and Tesco was launched in 2015. Its aim is to help save lives, by helping millions of people to eat better and get active, reducing their risk of serious ill-health in the future. This will help reduce people’s risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, both of which are largely preventable through healthy lifestyle choices. Through the money raised by Tesco colleagues, the partnership will deliver a variety or preventative and informative initiatives such as Beat the Street.
For more information about Beat the Street, visit www.sandwell.beatthestreet.me. Alternatively visit @btssandwell on Twitter and Beat the Street Sandwell on Facebook.
To find out more about the National Charity Partnership visit www.tescocharitypartnership.org.uk
