Naomi and Aaron Williamson with 2 year old son George pictured in Holywood.

Beat the Street are looking for Ambassadors living or working throughout Belfast, Lisburn, Newtownabbey and Holywood to build upon the success of last year’s initiative and encourage residents to stay active and improve their health.

More than 34,000 people in Northern Ireland took part in Beat the Street last autumn. The innovative walking and cycling game, saw communities transformed into a giant game where people tapped flashing sensors called Beat Boxes in order to earn points and win prizes. Thousands of people from local schools, community groups and businesses travelled a total of 156,000 miles in seven weeks.

Following the success of the game in 2016, Beat the Street will continue to keep people active in Northern Ireland by signposting residents to healthy events and campaigns as well as launching and supporting positive community initiatives – for example, creating a local cycling group or leading regular nature walks. To help facilitate this, the Beat the Street team have begun a search for ambassadors who will be able to encourage their friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to be more active and help run walking and cycling groups in the community.

The walking and cycling initiative was brought to Northern Ireland on behalf of The National Charity Partnership – a partnership between Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Tesco who are working together to help millions of people to improve their health through programmes such as Beat the Street.

Dianne Whyte, Engagement Manager for Beat the Street Northern Ireland, said: “The success of the Beat the Street game last Autumn showed what the amazing people of Northern Ireland are capable of – we want to encourage people to keep on walking and cycling in the coming months and are looking for people passionate about physical activity to help build a positive legacy in Northern Ireland.

“Whether you’d like to set up a up a school or community walking group to help families stay active and connected in their community, a fun cycling group to explore the miles of ‘off road’ corridors we have across the area or simple volunteer at Beat the Street community events – get in touch and help us transform the health of the entire community.”

Anyone interested in becoming a Beat the Street Ambassador can get in touch via dianne.whyte@intelligenthealth.co.uk or via the Beat the Street Northern Ireland Facebook or Twitter pages.