People often express an interest in finding work they consider meaningful or which makes a difference. Yet sometimes it’s easy to overlook how you might achieve this beyond your day job. If paid work doesn’t give you the sense of meaning you crave, why not look instead at what you can do in your spare time? Here is how one woman’s simple idea has snowballed into something much more than she ever anticipated.

Almost a year ago, Tina was fairly new to the area and decided she liked the idea of going for a regular walk. Preferring to walk with others, she created a Facebook group, inviting any women who wanted to join her to meet at 7.00pm in a local car park for an hour’s weekly walk followed by an optional meet up in a pub afterwards. There was no cost and Tina would create a different walking route each week.

On week one around 60 women duly appeared at the appointed time- and Kenilworth Waking Women was established. Each week Tina would post a group photo on Facebook- and each week, more women would join in. Some attend each week, others drop in and out.

There is no agenda- it’s simply a way to connect with other women, chat and make new friends.

This one simple idea has snowballed; there are now 1.9 thousand members of the Facebook group which has attracted not only local women but others who have travelled from local towns and villages as there isn’t a similar group near them.

The Kenilworth group is very friendly; new women are welcomed and absorbed into the group. Each week the Facebook photos include more women; on average 40-50 women attend each week. The sight of 40+ women striding purposefully around the town is a formidable sight. Traffic stops to let us past – we wave to running groups and dog walkers.

Tina and other group members held a summer picnic, several theatre trips and recently hosted a Christmas party in a local tea rooms – more opportunities for women to meet and connect.

I joined earlier this year having moved into freelance work, finally finding time to engage more in my local community and have enjoyed how easy it’s been to make new friends. As there are so many of us I suggested that it might be easier to remember who everyone was by adding the name of a famous person to our first names. For example, I’m Anne of Green Gables, others include Helen of Troy, Tina Turner, Michelle Obama, Suki take the kettle off and Debbie McGee.

I asked Tina what had motivated her to start the group and she simply said “I just wanted some company for a walk and thought it would be nice to meet a few people. I had no idea it would take off the way it has. I’m just delighted so many people have joined and created such a lovely community! I can’t believe what a success it’s become!”

Tina has not only created this initiative which has had such an impact on so many of us within the local community- but she’s also very creative. All of us who attended the Christmas party were gifted a recycled tote bag with a Kenilworth Walking Women image. So we now have our own brand! Tina has also created the group’s website www.kenilworthwalkingwomen.co.uk for women who are not on Facebook, to check next week’s route and find out about the group events.

The message

Never underestimate the power of a simple idea. Think about your own interests and motivations. Is there something you’d enjoy creating that would benefit others at the same time? Perhaps Tina’s example has inspired you to create a similar local walking group. The payback is immense. Tina says: “This time last year I was looking for a walking group that walked in the evenings, as I work during the day. Not finding what I was looking for I considered starting my own, but almost didn’t – thinking that if there was a need, there would already have been one set up. However, how wrong I was, and how glad I am that I took the plunge and put out the first feelers!! Running the group is very little effort, but the impact has been incredible – so many members of our walking group have told me that for them, the group has been life changing! This makes me incredibly glad I followed through with my idea, and I’m so grateful to all the wonderful ladies who join me every week to walk, chat and laugh, together.”