SOME 45 members from the Abergavenny Walking for Health group kept Monmouth MP David Davies on his toes last week.

The MP was invited to spend an afternoon with the walkers last Wednesday for their weekly stroll around the town.

Walk leaders Pat Davies, Jill Ellis, Betty Jones, Sue Tennet, Ruth Channon, June Hones, Jane Stevenson Barnes, Liz Barnes, Jenny Davies and Peter Blakemore guided the group for an hour-long route before stopping for tea, coffee and cakes.

Liz Hopkins and Liz Barnes were trained as volunteer walk leader in April 2004 at a training day organised by Glamorgan WI and held in Port Talbot. Liz Hopkins works for the Forestry Commission and they were running a project over three years and setting up four walks in Monmouthshire. Both were then trained by Fitness Wales as cascade trainers in November 2004. They trained their first walk leaders in January 2005 and met at the Tourist Information Centre.

"This was not really suitable, then the Family Church in Castle Street allowed us to meet there and also the walks went from strength to strength," said Liz Hopkins.

When the WW2H project came to an end in December 2006 a constituted committee was formed and the walks continued, the name was changed to Abergavenny Walking for Health and was on its own from January 2007.

There are around 16 trained walk leaders but only 12 are active and new recruits are always welcome.

There are 12 walks in Abergavenny and around six out of town walks when the group organise a mini bus or coach to travel.

The walks are free, any money received are from grants or donations which is used for transport, training and photocopying, the committee and leaders are committed to unpaid volunteers.

Shana Thomas from the Sports Council for Wales oversees all the walking groups in Wales under the Let's Walk Cymru project and Fitness Wales is still involved with Walk Leader Tutors as there are updates every six months.

Walkers are asked to fill in a health questionnaire and registration form when they first join a walk and a weekly register of walkers is kept.

Mr Davies said, "It was a lovely, terrific day. The weather stayed great for us and I really enjoyed getting out of the office for a few hours and meeting the walkers. There was a lady in her 90s and I enjoyed talking to the older people about how things have changed over the years. It was great exercise and we live in some fo the best countryside in the UK and it's absolutely free - I would highly recommend it."

The group meet every Wednesday at 10.30am outside the Family Church.