Coast Path Connectors – Meet The Team – The South West Coast Path

This February, we are welcoming a new addition to the SWCPA team Tracy Pleece. Tracy will be leading our Coast Path Connectors walking programme and community engagement work for the Torbay area. She joins our team of 5 part-time Coast Path Connectors Project Officers who lead on community engagement in their hub areas. In this blog, we’re sharing our video series capturing the Coast Path Connectors project across our five hub areas in Plymouth, Torbay, Cornwall, North Devon, and Dorset.

Plymouth

This video introduces you to the Plymouth hub and its Project Officer Gemma and one of our project partners – the University of Plymouth’s student wellbeing team. We initially lead walks with university students for a year, and after this, we trained their staff so that they can continue to take groups out to discover the beautiful Coast Path into the future. Watch the group as they walk around the coast near Wembury, on the outskirts of Plymouth.

Torbay

This video introduces you to some Torbay walkers, who are exploring the Coast Path at nearby Teignmouth. It introduces you to Stuart, the Project Officer and one of the volunteers Tracy. Since filming the video, Stuart left SWCPA to take up an amazing community engagement opportunity with one of our partners, but Tracy has progressed from volunteer to staff member. Training volunteers in walk leading skills has been an essential part of the project so that walking can continue in the future, and also it supports volunteers in their future careers.

Cornwall

This video introduces you to Jack the Cornwall Project Officer, Tuesday, one of our volunteers and Jani, a walk participant as they explore around the Coast Path at Hayle. Tuesday and participant Jani explain their reasons for joining a social walking group and the benefits of this. Our walks are designed to be as accessible as possible and participants are given detailed information before joining so that they know what to expect and feel confident about coming along. Participants are encouraged to walk at their own pace with plenty of stops to admire the stunning coastline.

North Devon

Filmed around the beautiful coastline of Mortehoe, this video introduces you to Huw, Project Officer and Nick a volunteer, as they walk with a regular open group of walkers. Anyone is welcome to join this walking group which is made up of people who had been referred by health professionals, members of our bereavement walking group Healing Steps as well other members of the public. From feedback and our evaluation of the project, participants and volunteers’ physical and mental health has hugely benefited from these walks.

Dorset

This video introduces you to the Dorset hub and its Project Officer Catherine and one of our volunteers Jon. Here they are exploring Old Harrys Rocks near Swanage. The video was taken in Summer 2024 and you can see the beautiful coastal landscape and wildlife to see there. Connecting participants to nature is a key aspect of the project and walking throughout the seasons like these groups do, means that there is always so much to discover on the Coast Path.