A LOCAL walking group will step up at a Greenock park next weekend as they promote the cause of world peace as part of a global event.

Walk as One Inverclyde is a group of like-minded women formed a year ago over their shared interest in labyrinths, ancient meandering paths which lead into a centre.

They are taking part in World Labyrinth Day on Saturday May 4 at a new one which has been created at the historic Wellpark. It features a bench with a mosaic design at its heart.

Every year on the first Saturday in May people around the globe participate in World Labyrinth Day as a 'moving meditation for world peace'.

Greenock Telegraph:

Explaining the linkl, Michelle Gillespie, a member of the group, said: "The purpose of a labyrinth is to find a sense of peacefulness, to quiet the mind, calm anxieties and to reduce stress.

"Using a labyrinth is really good, if there is something going on in my life and I don't know my way around it, this gives me a moment of contemplation.

"It's a tool for life, we have to go through it to come back out of it."

RIG Arts have been working with the Remembering Together group to co-design a series of five labyrinths with artist Alan Potter.

Walking as One also held a labyrinth day last year at Lunderston Bay in Gourock. A temporary circuit labyrinth was created to allow members of the public to come together to walk, reflect and lay down painted stones, inviting them to reconnect with themselves, nature, and their community.

There are plans for a permanent labyrinth at Lunderston plus others in Port Glasgow, the south west of Inverclyde, in Gourock and Kilmacolm,  funded through RIG Arts.

Michelle, who is a women's self belief coach, believes labyrinths can be a powerful way of helping people to relax. 

She said: "A labyrinth is an ancient spiritual tool designed to foster contemplation. They have a single continuous path which leads to the centre. As long as you keep going forward, you will get there eventually and there is no right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth."

The work on the labyrinth should be completed at Wellpark this week, and Michelle and the group are inviting people to join them them there on Saturday May 4 at 1pm.

Michelle said: "We hope kids, mums and dads will come along. Who wouldn't want world peace?"

The event is funded by the Remembering Together Covid Memorial Fund.