The Monmouthshire Walking Festival needs you!

Monmouthshire Walking Festival organisers want to hear from people with an interest in walking or getting involved in organising a countywide festival.

A week full of walks throughout the county is being planned for Autumn 2010 as part of a festivals and events project being run by adventa, Monmouthshire's Rural Development Programme.

The festival aims to repeat and build on the success of the Monmouthshire Walking Weekend, which took place last April and featured around ten walks of various lengths and themes, with around 150 peopletaking part.

The Walking Festival will include a much larger number of walks, with a greater variety of themes and levels of accessibility, ensuring that as many walkers as possible have the opportunity to join in.

A meeting has been arranged at The Bridges Centre, Monmouth, on Tuesday 7th July, for anyone who is interested in being a part of the 2010 Walking Festival in any capacity whether as walk leaders, first-aiders or general helpers, or with specialist knowledge in areas such as risk assessment, PR and publicity or admin support.

Louise McGuinness, Festival & Events Coordinator at adventa said:

"Walking is a key aspect of Monmouthshire's appeal to visitors and an autumn walking festival is a natural extension to the tourism calendar.

"However, the nature of our funding means that adventa won't be able to run a walking festival after 2010.

"It would be a huge shame for such a popular event to lose momentum just as it has got going and this is why we are looking for proactive individuals to join the steering group for the 2010 festival, who may then be motivated to keeping the Monmouthshire Walking Festival alive in the future."

The meeting will take place at 7pm on 7th July and light refreshments will be served. Anyone interested in attending should contact Louise to book their place, by telephoning 01873 736035 or emailing louisemcguinness@monmouthshire.gov.uk