It is drizzling and cold in Salford, but a class of eight- and nine-year-olds from Lewis Street school in Patricroft are buzzing as their teachers lead them down the streets of terraced houses between classes. They stride through a park, dodging an abandoned car seat, to swipe lanyards against three street sensors before returning to lessons.

It’s called “going fobbing” in Salford – walking or cycling to sensors on lampposts all round the city and swiping them to get points. It’s part of a health and community building scheme called Beat The Street (BTS) and it’s taken Lewis Street by storm. Pupils and parents have travelled 3,288 miles (scoring a mighty 66,490 points) on fobbing expeditions over two months to outwalk all Salford’s other 23 participating schools and 13 community groups.

Patricroft is a struggling area, where unemployment is high and the number of people describing their health as bad or very bad is well above the national average. But there’s a clear sense of purpose here as the warmly wrapped youngsters line up to swipe their fobs near the school. “I did all the 50 fobs in three days over half term,” says one little girl excitedly. Her teacher reveals that this previously inactive child now goes to an after-school sports club almost every night of the week.

The school has undergone a mini revolution. A detailed and constantly changing online content plan, social media and incentives such as tickets to local amenities, keep the players engaged – not to mention the sense of competition.

Rachael Hall, the school’s sports coach, says: “I’ve never known anything like it – children are going out walking every evening and weekend. Teaching assistants take the children out at lunchtime three times a week and take whole classes out twice a week. I’ve had parents telling me how happy they are to be spending time with their children going fobbing rather than sitting in front of the TV.”

She says a little boy with cerebral palsy with walking problems has made big progress because of the peer pressure to participate in BTS. Another pupil has become so fascinated by the project that he has taken to writing down where he has been, which has improved his school work.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I’ve never known anything like it – children are going out walking every evening and weekend.’ Photograph: Beat the Streets

This is exactly what Beat the Street founder and Reading GP, Dr William Bird is after – galvanising whole communities, with the health message almost a side issue. He says: “I want to get the whole of the UK walking, starting with the cities where it is easiest. Walking creates vibrancy – take it away and you create a flat and dying city full of underpasses where no one wants to go.”

Intelligent Health, which Dr Bird set up to operate BTS, works by turning a town or community into a game where people of all ages earn points by walking, cycling or running between sensors placed on lampposts. In the process, no-go areas are opened up to pedestrians, people have fun together and develop healthier habits.

Jennifer Dodd-Power, engagement manager for BTS in Salford, has convinced 5,500 people to take part so far – (though not a patch on Belfast which boasted 36,000 players). She says: “People are not seeing BTS as exercise but as a fun way of going out with the family. We are not saying to people ‘go and join a gym or get yourself to an exercise class’ we are saying ‘go out and meet your friends’.”

Part of her work has been to link fobbing with community events – such as the Eccles Makers Market – where BTS participants could gain extra points on the day of the event at a temporary sensor set up nearby.

The two-month games are preceded by three months’ community engagement, where people such as Dodd work with GPs, local NHS organisations, community groups, sports clubs and schools to build up the enthusiasm. Then the activities requested by a community are set up, whether that be women-only bike riding classes in Asian-dominated Handsworth in Birmingham, or just the incentive to walk into town for previously immobile elderly members of Banham Drive, Sudbury. There elderly residents walked more than 1,500 miles together and have now set up organised walks.

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BTS is proving successful in health terms according to results from 53,000 participants. During the game phase the proportion of adults meeting the physical activity guidelines increased from 46% to 57% and the percentage of adults reported walking on five to seven days per week increased from 47% to 61%.

Government research shows that those who fulfil the recommendation of 150 minutes per week of exercise will improve 23 different long-term conditions including diabetes and dementia, reduce the risk of developing several cancers and even stimulate the brain chemicals that reverse ageing, says Bird.

Intelligent Health’s research shows that people are put off by the NHS’s health messages, because they feel they are being lectured. So the year-long health programmes targeting areas of deprivation put the emphasis on enjoying activity with others – and last year 175,198 people travelled more than 1.5m miles with BTS in 21 areas.

The scheme is not working for everyone, though. Head of Lewis Street School, Gemma Lavelle, says: “Even though BTS has raised our activity levels we know that some parents have not signed up. What do we have to do to get some of the really hard-to-reach families involved?”

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