MORE THAN 100 Silhillians put their best foot forward to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.
Solihull’s Men Walking and Talking (MWAT) group welcomed the former Mayor of Solihull, Councillor Shahin Ashraf, and women on their 44th walk at Brueton Park.
The 5km-route was supported by Howdens Insurance, Birmingham City FC, Solihull Moors FC, BBC Radio WM, BRMB, The VW Coffee Shack, Perception Copywriting, Logik Logistics International, The Royal British Legion, Veolia and Solihull Council.
The gates at Brueton Park were also covered in blue hearts with messages of support and words of wisdom which have been written by those who attend the group regularly.
Danny Smith, walk leader for the Solihull group, said: “The official figure was 106 people which I am still coming to terms with as it was an amazing effort from all.
“We had a good number of females attend, who mixed and mingled with gents they have never met before, and finished the walk with smiles and new friends.
“To see everyone at the end chatting to new people, having selfies, exchanging numbers. It was beautiful to see, and not one person looked sad, down, grumpy or put-out. They felt a community.”
The aim of the group s to encourage men to get out and talk about their problems and life challenges, instead of bottling it up until major problems occur.
Danny started the Solihull group last year after he saw there weren’t enough options for support.
Danny’s first walk was shrouded with bad weather and saw five men at Brueton Park gates ready to walk and talk.
But there was hope for the group as every week they kept adding new people to the group until in December, there were 30 people in attendance.
Danny said: “I put the photo in the MWAT leaders chat, which was quickly followed by one of the directors saying – “We’ve never had 30 people in one walk before”
“Solihull held the national record for attendance, the socials were going crazy over it which is when things really took off.
“In January, we broke our own record three times taking us to 36 attendees, then 40 and eventually 41.
“At this point, I realised that we can’t operate once a week any more, we’ve got so much to offer and the reach is huge.
“By February I appointed a deputy walk leader to help support a second group should I not be able to make it, the Thursday night group was born and now across both days we can see anywhere between 40 and 60 gents making us the only UK walk within the MWAT network that operates twice weekly.”
“Our group is more than just a sounding board, we are brothers who are here to back and support each other.
“To think that none of us knew the others existed a year ago, and now we have a laugh, we vent, we console and we enjoy each others company is the brilliance and simplicity of what we do.
“A lot of the guys comment that once you get past a certain age, you don’t make new friends, you just know the ones you know. MWAT has given us the chance to reconnect with new people local to us, and that is why they keep coming back every week.”
