Bristol Girls Can launch campaign encouraging mums to get more active

Bristol Girls Can launch campaign encouraging mums to get more active

Posted on: 02 Feb 2022

The Small Steps campaign aims to motivate mums to take small steps towards getting active.

 

Bristol Girls Can aims to break down barriers and encourage women to exercise and have fun getting active through a a brand-new campaign working with mums all over the city. 

 

To find out more or to read about some of the inspiring mums involved in the project, visit the Bristol Girls Can website or join the Facebook community at Bristol Girls Can.

 

 

Launching this month (February 2022), Small Steps has been developed by Bristol Girls Can alongside mums and staff from South Bristol Children’s Centre. The campaign is aimed at mums of young children all over Bristol; inspiring, encouraging and supporting them to take small steps towards being more active.

 

The campaign encourages mums to start small – whether that’s a walk around the block or a kitchen disco while cooking dinner – it all counts and it can be fun. You don’t need to have a gym membership to give it a go and, if you have young children, exercise with them still counts and can help establish healthy habits for life.

 

Councillor Ellie King (Cabinet member responsible for Public Health, Communities and Bristol One City) praised the campaign, saying:

 

“This campaign gives a voice to a diverse group of Bristol mums from less affluent areas of the city who are overcoming barriers to exercise in whatever way works for them. The Small Steps campaign uses real stories and empowering photos to challenge our view of what women being active look like. 

 

“By sharing these stories, Bristol Girls Can hopes to inspire women from across the city to take their own small steps and feel the benefits of becoming more active.”

The campaign's focus on mums is in response to Sport England's findings showing motherhood has a mostly negative impact on women’s activity levels. Local data shows women report lower levels of physical activity than men, and women living in the most deprived areas of the city are even less likely to be active.

 

Research carried out for the project by the University of Bristol found the pandemic has made keeping active even tougher for mums who were already facing barriers to exercise.

 

Small Steps has worked with a diverse group of women from all over Bristol to create a project that aims to both celebrate these already active mums and encourage others to get more active. 

 

The project is also funding Small Steps activities for mums to take part in with their children, at various South Bristol Children’s Centres. These include Buggy Walk and Talk, Toddler Yoga and Boogie Disco sessions. 

 

Bristol Girls Can is part of the nationwide This Girl Can campaign, developed and funded by Sport England and delivered locally by Bristol City Council’s Public Health Team. 

 

To find out more about Bristol Girls Can or to get involved, visit their website or join the Facebook community at Bristol Girls Can.

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Article by:

Stanley Gray

Stan is a born and bred Bristolian, recently graduated from studying English Literature in Sheffield. His passions are music and literature and he spends the majority of his time in venues all over the city, immersing himself in Bristol’s alternative music scene. A lifelong Bristol City fan, Stan’s Saturdays are spent watching his team both home and away.