Breadcrumbs
Walking the Way to Health Initiative launches its first on-line photography competition
Budding photographers will be able to submit their photographic entries, of any subject, related to past or present WHI projects.
There are no categories and entrants displaying the highest degree of skill, imagination and creative flair will win prizes of:
1st prize: (worth over £100)
WHI shoulder bag - filled with jacket, two T-shirts, polo-shirt, summer cap, hat and gloves set, flask, two pens and key ring.
2nd prize (value £53)
WHI shoulder bag - filled with hat and gloves set, flask and T-shirt.
3rd prize (value £31.50)
WHI shoulder bag and flask.
The judging panel will include Grant Pritchard, a professional photographer with experience of photographing WHI walking groups. The winning photographs and highlights from the other best entries will be displayed on the WHI website: www.whi.org.uk.
Full details of how to enter the competition are available at www.whi.org.uk/photocomp or e-mail: whiinfo@countryside.gov.uk
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For further information please contact the Countryside Agency press office on:
Beth Rose: 01242 533 306 or 07900 608 052
Notes to Editors:
About WHI
WHI is the 'Walking the way to Health Initiative' and it aims to get more people walking in their own communities, especially those who take little exercise or live in areas of poor health.
WHI is an initiative of the British Heart Foundation and the Countryside Agency. It benefits from extra funding from the Big Lottery Fund. WHI has helped to create over 350 local health walk schemes and has trained over 20,000 volunteer walk leaders. Since 2000, it is estimated that we've encouraged over a million people to walk more.
The majority of WHI health walk schemes have a unique web page on the WHI walk finder displaying details of their walks and how to get involved. More information on WHI can be found at www.whi.org.uk
The Countryside Agency
The Agency is changing as the result of Defra's Rural Strategy 2004 and the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill, which gained Royal assent in March 2006.
The New Act sets out the creation of:
- Natural England - a single new body that will integrate the Landscape, Access and Recreation division of the Countryside Agency with English Nature and most of Defra's Rural Development Service (RDS). Natural England will work for people, places and nature, with responsibility for enhancing biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas; promoting access, recreation and public well-being, and contributing to the way natural resources are managed - so that they can be enjoyed now and by future generations.
- Commission for Rural Communities – a single body that will act as a rural advocate, expert adviser and independent watchdog, with a particular focus on disadvantage. Currently operating as a division of the Countryside Agency, the Commission will become an independent body
These changes will come into effect in October 2006, at which point the Countryside Agency will cease to exist.
We may be changing, but our skills, knowledge and enthusiasm will continue to benefit people in rural England. To find out more about our work, and for information about the countryside, visit our website: www.countryside.gov.uk
