NETBALL with a difference has come to Okehampton. Walking Netball is a low-impact version of the popular women’s team sport and it is going down a storm at the Old School Sports Hall on Wednesday evenings.

Wendy Raymond, newly qualified in the sport, runs the sessions with the help of Angela Herrod-Taylor. She said they’d both been playing traditional netball since primary school, but were converts to the gentler walking version.

‘It is low impact on knees and when I first heard about it I thought it would be a bunch of old women walking around a netball court,’ she said. ‘But oh God I was wrong about that. The thing is, the players have still got the same distance to cover but they are walking, so you do have to walk quickly.

‘The ladies taking part range from 40s to 70s and what they find is that not only do they get to do some exercise, which makes them puff and pant at times, but they also have a good laugh, which I think is particularly good for all of us. It is really good fun.’

Support has been given by Okehampton Community Recreation Association (OCRA), the Okehampton Lions and Okehampton Round Table.