Talking The Talk About Walking The Walk, For Armed Forces Day

If you have ever fancied doing something for a good cause, now is your chance.

If you have ever fancied taking a walk for a good cause and being given a medal for your achievement, now is doubly your chance.

Ella Hewitt from the RAF Museum spoke to BFBS broadcaster Hal Stewart about how the museum has joined forces with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, the National Army Museum and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. She said:

"We’re encouraging people to get out and about and explore their military heritage on their doorstep and get fit and explore everything around them that tells the Armed Forces story."

Walks can be taken on wherever and for as long as you want, though Ella has suggested distances of 5, 10 or 25K, and for walkers to try exploring military-themed sites near to them.

The scheme is called ‘In the Footsteps Of Our Forces’, and details can be found on websites for the RAF Museum as well as on the websites for the National Army Museum, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the National Museum of the Royal Navy. The scheme started on June 21 and runs until July 4. 

The cost is £18 per person (although there is a discount for anyone in the broader armed forces community, including reservists, veterans and cadets), and as Ella explains in her talk with Hal:

“It’s going to support our museums, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in sharing our amazing Armed Forces stories.

"Armed Forces Week is all about that, so we’re getting involved.”

To get involved yourself, go to the links above, purchase your entry (and a t-shirt if you like, it says), then download a distance log or get your own route tracking app ready, plan a route and go. 

The sites provide suggested places for walks near the museums and associated sites that will enable you to take in military-themed sites, and when you are done you can submit your distance tracking, for which screenshots and images of distance tracking devices or apps will be accepted. 

This last part is important because, as Ella has explained to Hal:

“The best thing about it is you get an amazing medal at the end.”

The medal has silhouettes representing each of our armed forces represented on it in red, white and blue and is roughly 12 centimetres across. Something to show off proudly.

You have until Friday, July 23 to submit your distance logs, but submissions this late might delay you in getting your amazing medal.

For more Armed Forces Day content, click here. 

And for more local military history, check out our Doorstep History series, here, here, here and here.

Cover image: RAF Museum