As a community Every Body Outdoors bring strength of voice to fight for clothing, gear and representation for plus size bodies in the outdoor movement. Support from the Alpkit Foundation helped increase volunteer walk leaders to help inspire more to get involved.
Whether you're a walker, cyclists, climber, paddle boarder, swimmer, runner, all the above or more, then you are probably going to easily rattle off the positive feelings and amazing experiences that you have when getting out. But speaking with Every Body Outdoors, for some it can be a huge struggle even though there are loads of super keen larger and plus size people looking to grab these same experiences. There are a number of reasons, but the two major contributors being highlighted are; a lack of appropriate, quality kit to keep them safe as they look to get into and stay involved in outdoor activities and a feeling that they don't belong through under representation.
Here at Alpkit we've had the pleasure of taking part in a number of open conversations and through the Alpkit Foundation are proud to add direct support by funding a wave of regional volunteer leader training and recruitment.
By increasingly being able to to bring people together it opens up opportunities to learn, support and inspire each other. We caught up with co-founder Steph Wetherell to find out the importance of having this network of volunteers and how it helps them make a real difference.
Hey Steph. This was your second round of walk leader training, so what was your primary aim was for expanding the pool of volunteers and how, as a community does having these hubs around the UK help achieve more impact?
"Yeah our first round was really successful, but we soon found that we had large geographic areas where there was no walk leader and an every increasing demand from our community to run walks in these areas. So we decided to do a second round of recruitment, targeting a specific list of locations and thanks to funders that included the Alpkit Foundation, we were able to train a further 14 regional volunteers across England, Scotland and Wales.
A lot of plus size people feel nervous or worried about joining a walking group - many have had negative experiences of being left behind or feeling judged by other participants - and so running walking groups just for the plus size community removes this barrier. Having a total of 26 regional walking groups now means that we're able to run walks for plus size people in a huge number of different locations and regions, so hopefully this means that people don't have to travel too far to attend. We are cetainly seeing that these walking groups are giving people the confidence to get outdoors, and we're further supporting people to gain skills and confidence in the outdoors through the hill skills and navigation courses we run."
It really is amazing to see so many people keen to become volunteer leaders, why do you think this is and how has offering these training places helped those interested in getting involved?
"Several of our walk leaders have had supportive friends or family who have helped them develop their love of the outdoors and in turn they want to help create a safe and supportive space for the wider community. Whilst others have previously attended our courses, gained skills and confidence and are now excited to share their new found love of the outdoors with others. What's also great is that we simply have people who are just really excited about the plus size safe space that Every Body Outdoors creates and want to be part of growing that.
It really is important to make sure our volunteer walk leaders have the skills to safely run local walks - both in terms of the route planning, navigation and safety skills, but also in how to manage a group, keep everyone together and help address some of the anxieties that people in our community often face when getting outdoors. Being able to provide this initial comprehensive training to these volunteers is a critical part of this programme, and we work hard to provide ongoing support and supplementary training to all our volunteer walk leaders"
That sounds awesome. So what has this extra capacity allowed you to do in terms of offering outdoor experiences and get togethers for more people?
"Growing from 12 to 26 walk leaders has allowed us to run so many more activities - there are now walks running every weekend and in so many new locations. This has really helped strengthened and grow the wider EBO community, and many people are now expressing interest in our courses and other activities. It's also allowed us to make important face to face contact, moving beyond the digital connections that has initially brought much of our community together. For many people, it's the first time they've spent time in a plus size only space, and the community and friendships this has created is amazing! It's also giving so many people confidence in getting outdoors more and exploring the myriad of wonderful benefits that it holds!"
The enthusiasm and positivity is evident, so what are the visions for the coming year and how do you feel it's going to be?
"Alongside continuing to run our regional walking groups and hill skills courses, we're hoping to expand into some other activities in 2025. In the summer of 2024 we ran the first plus size climbing event in the UK and we're hoping to run a programme of climbing events this year, alongside mountain biking and canoeing. All of these activities involve kit barriers - from climbing harnesses to personal flotation devices - and so this stops many people being able to easily access these activities. We're really excited to look at how we can remove these barriers and work with a network of supportive providers to open up new activities to our community."
Thanks to Steph for taking the time to highlight the impact that Every Body Outdoors are making. It's real joy to hear how the whole community is building and giving the inspiration and confidence that the outdoors is there for all.
Get Involved
Inspired? Follow Every Body Outdoors and see how you can get involved: