07/10/2026
🎉WALKNTALK WOMEN IS 2 TODAY!🎉
Two years ago today, on Monday 7th October 2024, we went on our very first WalkNTalk walk.
I don’t think I could ever have imagined then what that first walk would grow into.
Today, our community has grown to more than 2,200 women — and we’re still growing.
For the past year, we’ve been running 7 walks every week, with up to 25 women joining us at our busiest walks.
And we really have walked in just about everything!
We’ve walked in the rain, snow and ice, through muddy paths and cold mornings, and in temperatures of 30°C+ during the summer.
We’ve walked on good days and bad days.
We’ve walked while chatting, laughing, putting the world to rights, getting to know new people and sometimes simply enjoying having someone beside us.
And that is what WalkNTalk has always really been about.
Yes, walking helps improve general fitness and gets us moving, but it is also about supporting mental wellbeing, reducing isolation and helping women in Colchester feel part of something.
Over the past two years we have also shown what can happen when a community of women comes together.
Last Christmas, our members donated enough toiletries, beauty products and other gifts to create 46 boxes for women staying in refuge through Next Chapter.
And in May this year, we walked together and raised more than £1,000 for WalkNTalk Women CIC, helping us continue the work we do within the community.
Along the way, WalkNTalk has grown into much more than walks.
We now have social activities, CoffeeNChat, CreateNChat, BooksNBanter, bowling, workshops and events — all giving women different ways to meet others and feel connected.
But numbers only tell part of the story.
WalkNTalk is the woman who nervously turns up for the first time without knowing anybody.
It’s someone saying, “Come and walk with us.”
It’s the conversations that happen while walking side by side.
It’s friendships forming between women who might never otherwise have met.
It’s laughter, support, serious conversations, ridiculous conversations, difficult days, brilliant days and knowing there is somewhere you can turn up and be welcomed.
That is what I’m most proud of.
There have been plenty of challenges over these two years and I’ve learnt a huge amount along the way, but the reason WalkNTalk began has never changed:
Women shouldn’t have to feel alone.
So thank you to every woman who has walked with us, joined an activity, come for coffee, donated, volunteered, supported us, shared our posts or simply remained part of our community.
And a very special thank you to our volunteers who help make all of this possible week after week.
💜 Happy 2nd Birthday, WalkNTalk Women.
From one walk in October 2024 to a community of more than 2,200 women.
Here’s to Year Three. 🥂
Much love Rebecca ###
