PEOPLE across Pendle are being asked to join in with the whole of Lancashire to walk, run, hop, skip, jump or swim a mile on May 18.

The aim is to encourage at least 24,901 people to pledge to take part on Your Mile Your Way Day, which in cumulative distance terms would equate to going around the world.

Your Mile Your Way is being coordinated by Lancashire County Council as part of its Active Lives and Healthy Weight programme and leisure providers, including Pendle Leisure Trust’s Up and Active team, who will all be running activities on May 18.

A range of activities are being planned across the county on the day that will be free to join or alternatively, people can do their own thing —as long as they remember to pledge their mile via the Your Mile Your Way website at yourmileyourway.co.uk

Pendle Leisure Trust’s Up and Active team want people to join them in a three-park challenge which will see teams transport an actual sofa for the length of a mile around Alkincoats Park in Colne at 10am, Barrowford Park at 3pm and Victoria Park in Nelson at 6.30pm, to provide a new spin on the Couch to 5k programme.

The initiative is being supported by comedian Ted Robbins — star of Phoenix Nights — who shed more than four stone and became a gym regular after surviving an on-stage heart attack.

Ted said: “It took a cardiac arrest for me to look at my life differently. But during my recovery I started doing short daily walks which doctors recommended to get my strength back up.

“I started off doing a walk around the hospital ward, then a 15-minute walk, then half an hour, and now I have built up to a couple of miles. I would love to eventually do a fundraising walk or jog. The great thing is, I enjoy it and I look and feel younger than I have for ages.”

Figures show that 23 per cent of adults, equating to around 218,000, in Lancashire do less than 30 minutes of moderate activity a week, when it is recommended adults undertake 150 minutes of activity each week.

Children aged between 5 and 18 should be taking part in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, however survey results show that only 15 per cent of children aged 15 in Lancashire are estimated to be reaching that level.

Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, director of public health for Lancashire County Council, said: “The figures show that we need to do more to encourage people in every part of Lancashire to become more active.

“We’re hoping Your Mile Your Way Day will become a catalyst for people across the county to commit to taking up more regular exercise.”