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A new charity walk is due to take place tomorrow evening (19.00, Tuesday 19th November), aiming to open the door for more conversations between men, while raising some much needed cash for the Guernsey Men's Shed.
The Men’s Shed is in need of a new roof, and those behind tomorrow's event are hoping to raise some crucial funds for this project.
Starting at Bulwer Avenue and going towards La Vallette bathing pools, the Penguin Walk is being organised by the group Men’s Odyssey, which seeks to create a “space for men to get together in nature, regulate our nervous system and destress through grounding and re-wilding”.
The Guernseyman behind the group, Tom Leale says they utilise Guernsey’s natural environments to help boost their mental health.
“We go through places like the reservoir, Blue Bell woods, just to get in nature," he said.
"Being amongst the trees, and hearing the birds and the water, all regulates the nervous system to calm us ahead of the new week and get rid of all the stress from the week.”
Pictured: Tom Leale, the man behind Guernsey's Men's Odyssey, at the start point for Tuesday's walk, Bulwer Avenue.
Besides reconnecting with nature, Mr Leale says the secondary objective is to allow a space for men to open up, to feel free to share anything troubling them. He says that men are playing catch up when it comes to this kind of de-stressing.
“Women are a lot better than the men at doing these things. They have their walks where it's just women and, yeah, I just think it's time for men to do something for them. I think women have opened up to this sort of lifestyle a lot quicker, and men are sort of following behind, like suicide rates.”
A report from the UK Government last month shows that rates for men (15.7) are still much higher than for women (3.8), you can find the full report on gov.uk.
“I think in the UK, the stats speak for themselves. That men need this type of work, they need to get out in nature, and if we do this, then it's more of a prevention method to keep the mind strong. Because we're doing it in a group of men, we're in nature, we're de-stressing, and conversations can just open up naturally amongst men, rather than sitting in a circle. It's just no pressure environment, so it's quite nice.”
Although it’s a “Men’s only” walk, fathers with daughter’s won’t be excluded, children are welcome to come along as well, and Mr Leale thinks it could set a good example and provide something new for Guernsey.
“All men are welcome. Children are also welcome, and I've opened it up to fathers to be able to bring daughters, because I had a couple of people that are single dads, and they have their daughter on that night, so I don't want them to be left out for that reason, and it'd be nice for the kids to get involved.
“I haven't really seen anything else like this. From what I've seen, I might be wrong, but there's no sort of event where men would get in a big group like this and stick together. And I think it's going to be really powerful if we can get enough guys to come down.”
Pictured: The poster for the groups Penguin Walk, hoping to encourage as many as possible to turn out for the charity walk.
Mr Leale is also working with Wild Wolf Wellbeing on this event.
“A special thanks to Tim at Wild Wolf who put my vision of a men’s walk for international men’s day into reality, by creating an amazing event website and full social media package for the event," he said.
"We are grateful to our friends at Wild Wolf Wellbeing for empowering our idea with their resources, creativity, and support.”
If you want to find out more about the Penguin Walk, you can find out more about the work they do on their website HERE.
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