Doctors in Kirklees are recommending some patients to take up walking or other activities, as part of a scheme being run by Kirklees Council. PALS - Practise Activity and Leisure Scheme - has helped about 1,500 since it was launched four years ago. JIM GREENHALF reports

Bill Gooch was a teacher. Six years ago he became poorly with ME, the energy-sapping illness which leaves its victims feeling permanently tired and low-spirited.

Twelve months ago his GP recommended that he have a go at one of the PALS' free ten-week courses.

When I met him and his wife, Barbara, at Spenborough Baths the other day they were leading a group of people about to set off on a short cross-country walk in the sunshine.

"Five years ago I couldn't have walked from here to the main road," he said. Barbara, a keen swimmer, walker and cyclist, acknowledged this.

"All he wanted to do was sit down. Now we go out three mornings a week."

As I prepared to join the group on its regular Wednesday morning walk (they're not hikers or ramblers), John Standley told me his story. Three years ago he couldn't even stand up.

"I went to bed on the Thursday night. On the Friday morning - it was May 10, 1995 - they had to call an ambulance. I had two slipped discs in my lower back. I was in hospital for seven weeks, and after that I couldn't walk for three months," he said.

Like Bill Gooch, he could have been a medical wreck, forever undergoing treatment. But for the past couple of years he's been out with the PALS.

"I can walk now, I can swim and cycle. This is the best thing that's happened to me. The group is encouraging you. I am still having lots of pain, but this has helped me a lot," he said, as we walked up the road to the first muddy path of the morning. Unlike Nancy Sinatra, I wasn't wearing boots made for walking. To make matters worse, my right ankle had been causing me varying degrees of discomfort for about six weeks. But as I walked, talked, and scribbled notes in my little red book, I found myself smartly side-stepping puddles and mud without the customary wincing twinge.

John Steer and Wendy Jennings, who organise the walks, each had medical conditions. John, 65, was overweight and suffered from angina. Wendy, a business and economics teacher for more than 20 years at a Cleckheaton school for 11-to-18-year-olds, became permanently depressed.

"I was told to lose three stones. With the PALS and with the pills I have improved my fitness. I started out by doing a mile, but now I can do 12 or 13 miles," John said.

Wendy told me: "This has given me my confidence back and made me feel better. The people here are very supportive."

One thing I noticed during the course of the walk was that every now and then Bill, John or Wendy would turn round and say to someone, "All right?" They were here to help each other, not compete.

Again and again I asked people to explain the difference between taking this kind of exercise on their own initiative and doing it with others. In every case I was told that the group acts as a strong motivator. Alone, a person may find making an effort difficult. Belonging to a group, however, provides an incentive.

My group of PALS believes that walking and talking is both physically and psychologically helpful. My time with them wasn't long, but as I concentrated on keeping my feet and noting their stories I stopped thinking about my dodgy ankle.

Perhaps a similar scheme could be set up in Bradford, which has a bad history of heart complaints. A recently-published story in the T&A's Asian Eye shows what may be achieved.

Abdul Majid was advised to get more exercise in the aftermath of heart trouble. He started playing crown green bowls and eventually won the major Bradford Hospitals Handicap.

Where there's life, there's hope.

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