Meet the walkers: team Happy Positive Striders

Seonaid told us about introducing her grandchildren to long walks, and the fun she had bonding with her colleagues.

"At last we did it!!!! We are so proud of ourselves. We really pushed hard this time as we came so close the first time we took part in the challenge, when we came in second. This challenge has helped us to become a stronger team at our work, and now out of work we have become very good friends.

We gave our team the name Happy Positive Striders, as we all work at Haddington Primary School. Our school motto is Happy, Positive, School. On a daily basis we clock up at least 20-25,000 steps. We had so much fun going out at night after work, and weekends, to increase our step count. We all feel it helped us get through some tough days at work, supporting challenging children. We have had a lot of support from our families, and colleagues at work, to push and help us reach our incredible total.

Along the way we have all made some great memories, I think we all agree the walk to East Linton along the river Tyne in the rain and back was definitely the favourite walk (maybe the bar lunch helped).

We all feel we made lots of achievements during our step count challenge, but I think the best was that Claire has managed to give up smoking, which is never an easy thing to do, we are all so proud of her.

My personal achievement was that my two Grandchildren managed to walk along the river walk to visit my Dad, which was a total of 5.7 miles, and they are only 5 & 7 years old. They loved it so much that they have added REALLY long walks to their list of things to do during the school summer holidays."

Lisa told us how taking part in the challenge gave her the opportunity to get to know her local area.

"I was invited to be part of the challenge by this crazy lot. And I have to say, it's certainly been a challenge!

After only living in Haddington for a short period of time,  I thought it would be a great opportunity to get to know the area well and spend time with my work buddies.

My funniest memory is walking along the river Tyne and laughing so hard at my team mates for getting stuck on the wrong side of the river! Our team leader Nicola decided to be brave and take the first jump over. I couldn't help much from laughing and watching as Seonaid devised another way over. This involved long sticks to begin with. I think she was going to attempt to pole vault. Luckily we all managed to remain dry.

Admiration goes out to our team mate Claire.  We are all so proud of what she has achieved. Not only taking part in this challenge but also giving up smoking at the same time. Well done Claire!

Four weeks in and I was ready to give up. The only thing that kept me going was my team. Having a good bleather and laugh as well as living in beautiful East Lothian gave us all we needed to push through the aches, pains and blisters.

Would I do it again?

With this crazy bunch, maybe..."