Event materials

Get on board!

We want your Train Walk to be straightforward to organise, so we've created these resources - you may not need all of them, but we hope there's something here just perfect for making life easier for you. The most helpful resources however, are in the Train Walk pack, but these . It has ideas for your event, a promotional check list and a section on safety - all essential for putting on an event!

Fundraising resources

Ask your walkers to raise money - make sure they know why you are supporting the NAS so they are enthused to raise money in turn.

Give out sponsor forms or set up a Just Giving or Virgin Money Giving page - make sure the first sponsor is generous, then everyone else will follow suit!
Get your walkers to take their sponsor forms with them everywhere, and to send online sponsor forms out by email to all their friends, or post the on facebook.
Make sure your walkers ask for gift aid too - it means we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 raised.
Download our "In Support of The National Autistic Society" logo to use on your promotion and invitations.

There are lots of other ways to raise money too - hold a raffle, sell food or drink or have games for people to play for a small fee! Have a look at the event resources (below) or guide for more ideas.

Promotional resources

The Train Walk poster - print it off, fill it in and put them up all around your community (you can also order more of these from the NAS - just call 0845 180 0426) or visit our online ordering system.
Train Tickets - print them out, fill them in and give them to each of your walkers with their sponsor forms when they sign up. Or, you could use them to invite friends, neighbours and family along to your event. They are designed in black and white so you can easily photocopy them.
Media guide - whether you are holding a Train Walk in your local area or you are an NAS branch, this media guide and editable press releases will help you to tell your local press about your walks. Contacting your local media is really easy and the NAS press team will support you every step of the way. You can contact the press team anytime on 020 7903 3593 or press@nas.org.uk. If your Train Walk is taking place in Scotland or Wales please contact the regional press officer in the first instant. For Scottish events contact Cat Synnot - catriona.synnot@nas.org.uk or 07904 732 199. For Welsh events please contact Matthew Mathias - Matthew.Mathias@nas.org.uk or 029 20 629 314.
To help you plan your promotion, we've created this promotion spreadsheet - if spreadsheets are the sort of thing you find helpful, download it and fill it in, it will help you estimate how effective your promotion will be. If they ares not your thing, we've plenty of other resources to help you with!

Event resources

Give your children a challenge during their walk with this great treasure hunt.
Get your children colouring in these great Thomas masks so they can wear them during the walk.
Show people the route with these great Train Walk route markers - great for bigger events.
Do you have walkers of all ages and abilities? You might like to have different length walks - download our Percy route arrows or James route arrows to help you mark out your routes.
For more challenging walk ideas, have a read of our Train Walk ideas for older children and adults.
Congratulate your children on their achievement with some thank you cards - drop us an email with your name and address and how many you would like and we will send these out to you.
Register your participants with this registration form.
Make sure the people helping you know what to do in an emergency - you might like to fill in and give out this emergency contact form (pdf) (and in word to be editable).
The guide has a section on safety (safety signals) which covers anything related to a normal sponsored walk. If you are doing more than that you might need to do a risk assessment. We hope this form and guide makes it a really easy process.
Take photos at your event and upload them to the Train Walk 2011 Flickr group. Don't forget to get permissions from your walkers for their photos to be uploaded, and send us a copy of your photo permissions forms too.