Wigan community pub, the Tippings Arms, has teamed up with members of its local community to get involved in an ambitious walking challenge throughout January.

Hawthorn, the community pub company which owns The Tippings, and more than 700 pubs across England, Scotland and Wales, has launched the “Walking and Talking to 10 Million Steps” challenge, for staff and Pub

Partners, to take some time out of their day from the 11th January to 31st January to complete as many steps as they can in order to reach a company total of 10 million steps. Motivated by the third national lockdown and the increased levels of loneliness across the UK, the scheme aims to encourage the Hawthorn community to dedicate some time in their busy day to exercise, a key component to improving mental health, as well as spend the time making a call to a loved one in order to maintain contact during the pandemic.

Pub operator, Denise Aspinall of the Tippings Arms, on Poolstock Lane, answered the call along with her staff and decided to take part. In order to drum up further support, Denise shared a post about the challenge on the pub’s popular Facebook page, resulting in a number of local residents joining the initiative as well. With a total of 10 volunteers and counting, Denise will collate the weekly steps and share the stats with the Hawthorn team to be added to the overall steps for the business.

With a strong connection to the local area, Denise has continued to support the community while in lockdown and is in the process of creating a food bank stationed at the pub, which will then be used to create food hampers for the vulnerable local residents who are not able to visit shops safely.

Denise said: “It can be tough to keep active while in lockdown, so when Hawthorn got in touch regarding the 10 million step challenge, I thought this is the perfect opportunity to safely keep fit and also dedicate some time each day to speak to a loved one over the phone and help alleviate that feeling of loneliness during this difficult time. The Tippings Arms is at the heart of this community and I am overjoyed to have the support of a number of local residents who will also be taking part.”