A SUMMARY OF OUR RECENT MEETING

Our thanks first of all to Fleetwood Rugby Club for hosting this meeting.

Mark Spencer welcomed everyone and was also congratulated on his excellent sub 4 hour time for the London Marathon only 2 days earlier. Mark’s movement around the room for the rest of the evening gave some idea of how much he was aching as a result!

With the Healthier Fleetwood partnership now around a year old we do have to think about forming a body that can bid for funding, make decisions and deliver on our projects effectively. Fiona has been looking into this and presented some options which she would formally put up for approval at the next meeting. Volunteers to act as ‘trustees’ or ‘board members’ were invited, stressing that there was no financial liability and it should only involve an hour or two’s work per month.

Tracey from Regenda reported that the applications for the Health Creation officer had closed and interviews would be held soon. This new role and the 6 green space projects the officer would oversee were being funded by the successful bid to the Walney Fund submitted by Regenda on our behalf.

Working with Connecting Communities (C2) there was a number of opportunities coming up for residents to get involved and be part of the long-term aims of Healthier Fleetwood. These include a local event and a 3 day residential course at Exeter University where C2 are based.

- STOP PRESS. The dates for these events have been postponed until the interested parties can confirm they are available.

At this point Mark invited anyone in the room to share their story or update the group on their work and we enjoyed several hugely positive and inspirational stories …

Callum and Andy from The Well gave us an update of the free sporting activities available in association with Lancashire Sport, Fleetwood Community Trust and other partners. Andy is taking over as coordinator with Callum moving to a new role and both said how volunteering and working on the project had benefitted them personally and their families during recovery from substance and alcohol abuse.

Gail told us of a number of free courses available to residents such as microwave cooking for 1, singing and creative writing. Also that she was starting a dog-walking group on Wednesday mornings along the Promenade.

David and Rob from the Fleetwood Festival of Transport updated us on the plan for the Town’s big day in July. Healthier Fleetwood will be involved on the day presenting healthy food advice.

Janet from Marine Hall spoke about the forthcoming Food & Drink festival on 20th August, another huge event for Fleetwood and again we will be there. The venue is also at the early stages of planning a Health & Wellbeing event for next year with our support.

Mark invited people to join him on his next running adventure the Fleetwood half-marathon also on 20th August and Maurice mentioned the Fleetwood triathlon in September …. Mark looked less keen on this!

Ian from the rugby club mentioned the forthcoming fun days on 6th & 7th May with celebrities from Emmerdale attending, loads of events and activities and live music into the evening. The event is supporting Lancashire Fire & Rescue and the Princes Trust.

Back to the agenda … Karen reported that the Fleetwood Garden Buddies was up and running with volunteers preparing to start on their first garden for a housebound, local resident. Over the coming weeks and months the number of volunteers is expected to grow and the project expand.

Mark announced a new event, the Fleetwood Young Chef of the Year for primary age children. We have presented this to the headteachers now and it’s been well received, discussions about the format are underway. It is hoped the final will be in October and possibly combined with a wider event where young people of all ages take the lead in the discussion about health through songs, comedy, drama whatever format they choose.

Shaun from Westview Community Association has been very supportive of the projects with schools making introductions to the headteachers.

David reminded the group to visit the website regularly for news, keep in touch with information to be added and follow through social media. Also that when we receive some expected funding we will order further leaflets, posters, banners etc and make sure that the Healthier Fleetwood message is known across the Town. We are now appearing about every 2 or 3 weeks in the Fleetwood Weekly News and the BBC remain interested in our progress.

Mark thanked everyone for attending and closed a very enjoyable meeting.

Apologies to anyone or anything that’s been omitted from this report. Please contact us if you want any information on something mentioned above.

A date and venue for the next meeting will be announced soon.