GOOD NEWS - February 3rd
We must start with huge congratulations to Fleetwood Beach Wheelchairs for their success this week at the Visit Lancashire Tourism Awards.
This wonderful charity was acknowledged in the category Accessible & Inclusive Tourism, only a little over a year after their visitors began enjoying the purpose-built chairs.
You often hear the expression that something is 'priceless', well the smiles and laughter of people as they have fun on the beach with their friends and family, perhaps for the first time, is beyond value.
The idea for the service and the passion to make it happen came from local resident Michael Gray and it's a thoroughly deserved recognition of the hard work put in by the dedicated band of volunteers and their supporters. Healthier Fleetwood is proud to have played a part in helping the service to get started alongside the other founding partners Fleetwood Rotary, Fleetwood Town Council and Wyre Council.
Also this week we were delighted to hold the first Healthier Fleetwood Open Meeting of 2022 and what a great night it was!
Around 60 people attended to hear news from the many of the groups active in the community, discuss new ideas and generally enjoy an inspiring and positive couple of hours. We’ll share more details of the topics discussed soon, here's a few to mention …
Kevin told us about the fundraising to create a play area in memory of Lucy Willacy-Brown, a pupil at Larkholme Primary School who sadly passed away in 2020.
An incredible craftsman, Kev makes beautiful wooden rocking horses as you may have seen in the Inside Out Exhibitions at Fleetwood Hospital last year. A new horse is being auctioned for the fund.
Read the full story on the Gazette website and if you’d like to make a donation go to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lucys-outdoorarea
Tony and the guys from Fleetwood Mens Shed are making plans for an event to mark Mental Health Awareness Week in May.
Marine Hall will be the venue for a full day of activities and information from the professional and voluntary organisations working in and around Fleetwood - details of how to get involved will be shared soon.
In the meantime, there’s now a full week of groups and drop-in events at the Mens Shed hub on Manor Road, and more to come including a new lunchtime session.
All the details are on their Facebook page.
We were introduced to the new team of Social Prescribers who will be supporting residents to improve their health and wellbeing.
Joining Wendy and Lisa are Wendy ‘2’ and Adam and they will be out and about in the weeks and months ahead, meeting the community and directing individuals to groups and events that will have a positive impact on their physical and mental health.
Full contact details will be announced soon, for now, please see the information on our website to get in touch with the social prescribers.
The meeting was filmed and photographed by a team from The Reporters Academy who are working on a project in Fleetwood, meeting residents and recording their stories and ideas for a stronger community - watch this space!
Our thanks to Pauline for hosting the meeting in her usual lovely, relaxed manner and to John, Susan and Mandy of Emmanuel Church for their hospitality at the meeting.
We always meet on the first Wednesday of the month, from 6.30pm to around 8pm at Emmanuel at the Mount ... these are your meetings, please come along and get involved.
Plenty of other good news to pass on this week … Maxine at Maxi Fitness has always been a great supporter of creating a healthier Fleetwood, attending our very first meetings nearly 6 years ago.
She's now looking to help local residents who'd like to improve their health and fitness by offering dedicated sessions at the gym, starting with an Open Day to find out what people want to achieve and feel comfortable with. If this is something you or somebody you know would benefit from, see the Maxi Fitness page on Facebook or contact us and we can put you in touch.
There’s a new ‘wellbeing walk’ from Wyre Council starting this weekend and then every Saturday afternoon at 1.30pm from Marine Hall.
Join the volunteer leaders for a relaxed walk along the Promenade taking in the sea air and enjoying the views over the beaches, parks and gardens of Fleetwood. It is an easy route, the walk will last up to 1 hour and the aim is to be accessible to all. There’s no need to book, just turn up.
For more information on this and other walks email countrysideservice@wyre.gov.uk
For the half-term holidays, there’s an event on Fleetwood beach to mark World Whale Day on February 17th.
Hosted by The Bay: A Blueprint For Recovery, this is an afternoon for all the family including fun education, beach activities and sand sculpture.
We have posters, leaflets and printed listings for all the groups and events mentioned above available at our Wellbeing & Community Information Centre at Affinity Lancashire … and we are extending our opening hours.
You can now call in on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am to 3pm to find out what’s happening in your community.
We have partners organisations with us on most days including the Macmillan Cancer Support drop-in every Tuesday and the social prescribers are often available for a chat.
Tomorrow (Friday 4th February, 11am -1pm) we’re hosting the Just Reminiscing, a collection of fascinating artefacts, books and more from days-gone-by designed to spark memories and start conversations.
If you are interested in learning more about fostering, call in on Tuesday 8th February to speak to Sam from Capstone Foster Care, 11am - 2pm.
Fleetwood Town Community Trust have a number of vacancies to join their team delivering health & wellbeing activities for young people and children.
These include a Youth Engagement Coordinator and team leader for the NCS program working with 16 / 17-year-olds and casual PE and school sports coaches for activities at schools and camps.
A reminder of the networking event at The Coffee Box, Affinity Lancashire tomorrow (4th February) to find out more about the new Bee Anytime app.
Local businesses and services are invited to attend, 9.30am - 11am to find out more about how the app can work for them.
And finally, you may have seen a post on a Facebook page this week asking for recommendations of local groups and activities. Some people were kind enough to mention Healthier Fleetwood but what was so heart-warming was how quickly and how many positive comments and suggestions came in, proving again that Fleetwood has a fantastic community spirit and is a great place to live.
Until the next time, take care.