Warrington resident grows huge community of walking mums overnight

Mum-of-two Rachael Bagshaw has inspiringly taken her love for walking and the outdoors and turned it into activity that regularly brings mums from all over Warrington and Cheshire together.

A driven businesswoman, Rachael, from Higher Walton, decided she wanted to dive into something new during her maternity leave with her second daughter Emily.

 And recently an idea sparked which has led to a community of more than 800 mums growing practically overnight.

The walking mums group has rapidly grown in members over the last six weeks (Image: Supplied) “I started the group, Walking Mums Cheshire, six weeks ago. I have always walked, I did not do any baby groups during my maternity leave with my eldest daughter Alice who is now five, so instead we just walked a lot,” the 42-year-old explained.

“Firstly, she was in a carrier and then eventually she started walking and then we would walk everywhere together. She now loves walking and climbed up Snowdon for charity recently as well as Catbells.”

After setting up a Facebook page to arrange walks with fellow mums in the local area, Rachael described how the page rapidly began to grow in members and a WhatsApp group was born.

“There is 850 members on the Facebook group and 400 people on the WhatsApp chat. In particular the WhatsApp chat has been amazing as it has turned into us all helping each other with anything.

“It is pinging all the time and it’s a total community. Someone put a message in at 1am the other morning and there were multiple replies straight away.”

Rachael described her love for walking and being out in nature (Image: Supplied) The first walk Rachael organised was a walk from Walton Gardens to Appleton Reservoir and back, stopping at Belfield’s Brew on the way for a hot beverage. In total 10 mums joined with her but since then the group of walkers has only kept expanding.

“We have done 15 walks so far and the most that have joined is 24 mums and then their kids as well. We always have at least 20 mums join now for each walk.”

Addressing why the walking group has been such an immediate hit with mums in the area, she added: “Some of the comments on feedback forms I have done recently have said things like ‘I have not really left the house or gone to baby groups because of my anxiety but I fancied a walk’.

“Sometimes you go to baby groups, and you don’t end up talking to any of the mums, especially if you are trying to console your own child.

“But during these walks, 95 per cent of the time the babies are settled, and it allows mums to be able to have a minute for themselves or have a chat with other mums.”

The walking group recently visited a pick your own pumpkin patch (Image: Supplied) Rachael also highlighted how being outdoors and in nature is such an important thing for both children and parents and on many of the walks she has noticed the mums will go off socialising in groups and discuss things, problem solve and learn from each other.

And Walking Mums Cheshire is not just restricted to mums in Warrington, as the group ventures out to areas across Cheshire to take on their three-to-four-mile walks.

So far, they have done walks in Knutsford, Chorlton, Pennington Flash, Frodsham and have even had a trip to Bents Garden Centre.

With one key factor being that a coffee break is penned into each adventure.

Speaking on how she wants to grow the initiative, the mum-of-two said: “What I really want to do is some long hikes like in the school holidays and weekends where we have time to do more hiking.”

Rachael and her eldest daughter Alice at the top of Catbells (Image: Supplied)She also referred to how building regular walks into her eldest daughter’s regime from a young age has helped her to grow her love for nature and being outdoors.

“Alice loves going up hills, especially the sense of achievement she gets from it. Whenever she does not want to do something now, I will say, ‘Alice you have climbed Catbells and Snowdon’, and it motivates her to do it.

“I love getting her out and she is the best version of herself when she is out in nature, and I want other parents to experience that with their children too.”

To get involved in the regular walks you can do so by joining Walking Mums Cheshire group on Facebook and Instagram and this will also guide you to the WhatsApp group where the plans and times are confirmed.

Rachael is also in the process of building a website for the group – walkingmums.com