WHEN I was young I walked to school - most children did. Today things are very different. Many parents are working and drop their children off at school - by car - before heading for the office.

Even stay-at-home mums often choose to use the car for the daily school run.

Just 12 per cent of children in Great Britain travelled to school by car in 1975-76, but recent studies show almost half of primary school children now do so. In some rural areas that figure rises to 90 per cent.

Next week though, parents in Bolton are being encouraged to leave the car at home by the campaigning groups The National Travelwise Association and Living Streets, who co-ordinate the National Walk to School Week.

The week is also being supported by outdoor clothing and equipment store Mountain Warehouse who are discounting walking gear to help tempt families to leave the car at home.

Unfortunately parents who drive short journeys to school can make up a large percentage of the rush hour traffic.

The school run makes up 20 per cent of peak morning urban congestion and brings with it an increase in pollution.

Yet the rise in traffic is one reason why parents prefer not to allow their children to walk to school - that and the "stranger danger" issue.

This has led to increasingly unhealthy lifestyles for Britain's children.

Living Streets is an organisation which campaigns to get better public spaces for communities, for safer streets and encourages families to walk rather than use their cars.

Each year it organises the International Walk to School Week and last year 30 countries supported the campaign, including Argentina and Zambia.

Joanne Greenhalgh and Julie deBorde are mums with children at St Peters Smithills Dean CE Primary School in Bolton.

Both enjoy walking to school with their children and are in favour of the National Walk to School Week.

Joanne Greenhalgh would always prefer to walk to school with her six-year-old son, Robert, than take the car. She has walked in rain, hail and snow with Robert and her two youngest children, Beth aged three and two-year-old Sam.

Originally it was a journey she made out of necessity - she did not have a car - but even now she is a car owner Joanne prefers to walk.

"On a windy, rainy morning it blows the cobwebs away. I always feel better for walking to school," says Joanne.

She has experienced one or two "difficulties" on the way to school from the family's Smithills home.

"I have been confronted by a flasher - which was not a very pleasant experience - and I often have to wash the children's shoes and the wheels of the pram because of the amount of dog dirt around," she explains.

She has also experienced a pram-wheel puncture in the pouring rain. "Luckily a friend came to the rescue and picked the kids up for me," she said.

But, undeterred, Joanne continues to make the daily trek - when possible - to and from school.

"Sometimes we can't walk to school because I have to drop Beth off at nursery," she says.

"We all enjoy the walk, particularly if we get the chance to stop off on Moss Bank Park on our way home. We also enjoy collecting conkers.

"Even though I have the option of using the car now I still prefer to walk."

Robert often uses his scooter to get himself to and from school while mum walks behind with Sam in the pram and Beth.

Julie deBorde has to drive to and from school when she is en-route to her work as a private cleaner. If she does get the opportunity to go on foot then she will do.

First of all she has to wave 11-year-old Tim off for his day at Canon Slade School before heading, with four-year-old Oliver, to St Peters.

Julie, aged 31, who lives in Smithills, explains: "I'd walk every day if I could. It is a lovely walk to school and Oliver really enjoys it.

"I won't walk if the weather is really bad. I don't want Oliver to get soaking wet and then have to sit all day in his wet clothes. After saying that, I'm sure Oliver wouldn't bother."

Oliver enjoys throwing sticks in to the river, "just like Winnie the Pooh does in the books," says Julie, who enjoys a chat with friends on her way. "It's a social thing. We get the chance to have a chat and the children enjoy playing together." Julie says it is often easier to jump in the car rather than make the effort to leave the car keys at home. "The problem is that you get lazy when you have a car. Very often you use the car simply because it's more convenient," she says.

Julie believes walking to school is a very positive experience for Oliver. "He feels a bit more free than he does in the car. He is a very active little boy and he enjoys the freedom of walking to school," she says.

Factfile

One in five children aged five to 10 travelled to school unaccompanied ten years ago and today that figure is just one in nine.

Cars ferrying 11 to 15-year-olds to school in the UK emit 187,422 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. If just one in 20 of those children were to walk or cycle instead, this would reduce the level by nearly 10,000 tonnes a year.

Traffic has grown by more than half in the last 10 years and by 2025 it is expected to increase by another 150 per cent.

The number of journeys made on foot has fallen by 13 per cent over the past 10 years.