A health promotional film produced by The Leisure Pleasure and Learning Group to show older people the benefits of walking and keeping fit. Filmmaker Jack Mills and his team joins members of Head for the Hills walking group on a visit to Jesmond Dene park in Newcastle as well as members of the Eastender Health and Activity Group from Walker in Newcastle on a nature ramble along the beach at Seaton Sluice. Title: Stepping Out to Health A group of older people, members of the walking group...

A health promotional film produced by The Leisure Pleasure and Learning Group to show older people the benefits of walking and keeping fit. Filmmaker Jack Mills and his team joins members of Head for the Hills walking group on a visit to Jesmond Dene park in Newcastle as well as members of the Eastender Health and Activity Group from Walker in Newcastle on a nature ramble along the beach at Seaton Sluice. Title: Stepping Out to Health A group of older people, members of the walking group Head for the Hills, go for a walk-through Jesmond Dene park in Newcastle. A leaflet relating to the group and their upcoming activities for older people and an older woman inside Walker Library picking up a copy. She and a second older woman speaks with a member of the library staff at an information desk about local bus routes, they are offered several timetables and maps. A leaflet providing details of services for older people changes back to Jesmond Dene where the Head for the Hills group continue their walk stopping beside a wear to watch the ducks on the water. They pass a group of school children on a nature walk and a man pushing a woman in a wheelchair before walking around Paddy Freeman’s Park. At the halfway point of the walk the group rest on the footbridge beside Jesmond Dene Mill over the Ouse Burn. Fred Cowling speaks with Maggie Crane from Head for the Hills about the origins of the organisation and how it is funded, as they chat views of the nearby waterfall and mill. The walk continues again with the group walking through Pet’s Corner looking at various caged birds and animals. In the parks café tea and cake are purchased and taken outside where the group sit on benches chatting with Maggie. As they talk about a recent visit to Lindisfarne a view of the statue of St Aidan on Holy Island with Lindisfarne Castle in the distance. Back in Jesmond Dene Maggie asks the group if there is anything that could be improved, no one can think of anything. Another group explains why they like being part of the group, they want the company. The group leave the dene on a Benwell Community Minibus waving at the camera as they pass. An older man walks past the bandstand inside Exhibition Park changes to show diagrams of heart and lungs, in voiceover a man describes the health benefits of walking. Maggie Crane and three older women walk through Jesmond Dene as part of the walk featured previously. The man providing the voiceover sits on a sofa and describes some of the additional benefits of walking; ‘it’s a great social occupation and a great help to those who are miserable, depressed and lonely’. A Walker Health Authority minibus pulls into a car park along Collywood Bay Road, Seaton Sluice and a group of older women from the Eastender Health and Activity Group are helped out. They are taken on a nature walk by Dr Romer who is a practicing herbalist. The group pass through a gate and follow a road down to the beach with one woman using one of her crutches to point out a herb growing along the edge of the road. She picks some of the plant and proceeds to eat it. On the beach they walk across rocks exploring rockpools. They return to the slipway and make their way up the steep incline back to the car park chatting as they go. They look back down onto the beach where a parcel or stew of oystercatchers are resting in the seaweed. Back on the road Dr Romer gives one more herb tasting from a plant found growing against a stone wall. In her living room she offers cakes to the group sitting on her sofa around her along with cups of tea and coffee. The women chat happily about their walk and why such visits are important to them. They talk about a previous walking exhibition into Northumberland. Sitting quietly is Fred Cowling again. In her consulting room Dr Romer applies an herbal medicine to an injury on one of the women’s feet and ankle. The group leaves Dr Romer’s house and get back into the waiting minibus parked in the road. Again, as they leave the women wave at the camera. Inside Walker Library member of the Eastender Health and Activity Group gather over cakes and tea for a presentation by a Mr Kelly who begins to give a talk about old time music halls. Credit: Video by The Leisure Pleasure and Learning Group Maggie Crane, Wehop Search Benwell Hazel Swan, Walker Health Group Linda Norris, Community and Leisure Civic Centre Production team Fred Cowling, Bill Ferguson, Geoff Mellor, Jack Mills The Head for the Hills group sitting on the bench outside the café in Jesmond Dene Park smiling and saying ‘Cheese!’ to the camera. Over the closing credit Linda Norris, Community and Leisure at Newcastle Civic Centre asks for viewers to call her on the number below to know more about walking in Newcastle. End title: The End. 1997. Tel 0191 211 6245