Mental Health Awareness Week: Cops n Plodders improving physical and mental wellbeing

12 May 2025

Cops n Plodders was established around five years ago and uses the power of social media to bring people together from across the county.

North Yorkshire Police Federation is shining a light on the group and its fantastic work for Mental Health Awareness Week (12 to 18 May), the theme for which is community.

PC Jon Wood, one of the group’s founders, spoke about how the Cops n Plodders community has evolved to now include more than 400 members.

“It was around five years ago and there were some incidents that affected a few people,” he said.

Shared issues

“We felt people should be getting out and talking to each other more because that was how we dealt with things.

“The Facebook group developed because we wanted to do something in support of CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and it just snowballed.

“We arranged a few meets, be it walks or runs or whatever just to get people out and talking to each other.

“We recognised there were a lot of shared issues. That could be trauma presented to us as police officers or things that we had going in our own lives.

“We tend to talk to other police officers quite well, there’s those shared experiences that other officers can relate to.

The Cops n Plodders team.

“The group has gone from strength to strength.”

The group has a thriving Facebook page, with members regularly updating on their meets, exercising, or challenges.

In November and December the group embarked on a massive 440-mile Truncheon Relay, which generated lots of media attention.

It involved North Yorkshire Police officers and staff carrying a hand-carved wooden truncheon through 34 stages and passing it on to those taking part in the next leg.

PC Dan Preston, who was one of the organisers, said: “The Truncheon Relay was an idea to get the whole of North Yorkshire Police involved.

Expanded

“We were quite York-focused and wanted to expand it and get more people involved.

“We knew we had people on Cops n Plodders in those areas and wanted to get them more involved.”

He added: “Geographically we’re quite far apart so we need something like social media to make those connections, and it really feels like a community.”

The theme for April was the water-themed April Showers, with members encouraged to take part in water-related activities, such as a swimming, paddling in the sea, and even running in the rain.

Jon said: “One of the lads in the group, Martin, came up with a challenge that was water-based, because he is really into wild swimming and dunking himself in very cold water.

“So he took the lead on that and created a little competition. It’s great because not everyone wants to run and it opens it up to new areas.”

The theme for this month is May in Metres. Members are encouraged to pick a mountain anywhere in the world and to make that ascent in height during the month.

Mont Blanc

Dan explained: “If you chose Mont Blanc, for instance, you’d have to ascend 4,800 metres.

“It’s a bit of fun to give people a bit of focus so they can get involved.

“We’ll organise group events, like a night hike, so people can come from all round the Force and join in.”

Sergeant Joe Rotchell is another of the driving forces behind Cops n Plodders, and encouraged Federation members to get involved.

“It gives people an outlet,” he said. “There’s that opportunity to talk to somebody who might understand what they’re going through.

“Or it might be just to get outside with someone to clear their head.

Exercise

“As we all as the talking element and the social side, there’s the exercise element as well.

“We’ve got people who have gone from not exercising at all, to exercising on an almost daily basis.

“We had someone join recently who works at the top end of the county, she hadn’t run in nine years.

“She has joined Cops n Plodders and posted two or three runs in the first week, so it’s encouraging people to exercise, which we know improves people's mental wellbeing.

“It’s not about turning people into elite athletes. It’s about getting people out, walking, running, swimming, on their bike, on their horse, whatever it might be.

“It’s a really good thing to be involved in,” he added.

Find out more on the Cops n Plodders Facebook page.