HEALTHIER FLEETWOOD OPEN MEETING - 4th February 2026
- Healthier Fleetwood
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
With our chair of residents Pauline a little under the weather, Karen welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited Heather from Ember & Blossom CIC to start us off with a round-up of what’s been happening since we last met.
The Fleetwood Community Christmas Day Dinner was a huge success, bringing together around 200 people for a festive meal and lots of fun. Heather estimates that the event generated over £300,000 in social value and the intention is to secure a venue for next year and beyond as soon as possible. ITV also featured the event in their Christmas Carols programme with HRH the Princess of Wales, a great advert for the Fleetwood community.
Ember & Blossom are hosting a series of creative workshops ahead of International Women’s Day (Sunday 8th March) and community groups/venues are invited to get involved. Flags made at the sessions will be paraded in the town on IWD – details to be announced. Boys and men are welcome to get involved and a donation of period products or cash is appreciated to support girls and women.
Heather is also supporting the Big Heart Project which will see more large scale artworks painted on walls across Fleetwood for civic pride and as a visitor attraction.
Janet was representing Fleetwood Rotary this month. The Club is celebrating their Centenary and just enjoyed a social evening, a dinner and Neil Diamond tribute. Among the other events planned, the Fleetwood Dragon Boat Race on Sunday 21st June will take place at The Boating Lake. Teams of 17 are invited to take part with funds raised split between Rotary and charities.
Rotary is a founding partners of the Fleetwood Beach Wheelchairs service and Janet is one of the volunteers. The service is open for phone bookings only at the moment but looking forward to fully reopening in the Spring and has been approached to benefit from a long-distance bicycle ride fundraiser later in the year.
Wyre Council are supporting many groups and projects as always. Adam told us about the new weekly wellbeing session at Westview Community Association starting on Thursday 19th February. Staff from Fleetwood Town Community Trust will deliver gentle exercise and signpost to other services.
Adam also asked if, following an approach by a resident, there was any feedback on keeping the area near to Aldi Fleetwood clean and tidy?
> Email community@wyre.gov.uk for more information
Karen thanked Emmanuel Church for their continuing support including hosting the Healthier Fleetwood Open Meetings. John told us the Church were looking for a new minister and Paul directed us to the next Bereavement Journey programme which starts on Thursday 26th February.
The Wyre Flounders meet every Saturday afternoon at YMCA Fleetwood pool for adult-only swimming in a quite environment, great for anyone recovering from illness or with anxiety. New members are welcome.
>Call Susan on 01253 522232
Julie from Alcohol Free Women said the group continues to be busy, supporting ladies to make changes to their lifestyles. Regular meetings include at Fleetwood Health & Wellbeing Centre plus in Blackpool and Carelton with around 30 members in total. She was looking forward to an event at Ribby Hall and enjoyed attending Joyfest 2026.
KCA Support group have been helping many individuals and families on their cancer journeys and this can include shopping trips or just meeting for a friendly chat. Lesley said yhey are looking at an event for Easter and another Open Day in the Summer at the fishing lake in Bispham. They are also looking into the possibility of fundraising for a minibus and would like to work with other community groups on this. Volunteers are also always welcome.
Verla and Katie joined us from Homestart Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre. They help families access local services and deliver support in areas such as post-natal depression, isolation, physical health problems, bereavement and more. Locally the ‘Stay & Play’ parent & child group is weekly at Fleetwood Methodist Church and they also host the ‘Dad Matters’ drop-in sessions. Volunteers are highly valued and matched with the right opportunities - Homestart received the Volunteering Standard award from Wyre Council.
Healthier Fleetwood has received funding to deliver a Hoarding Peer Support Group and Denise will lead the twice-monthly sessions. The first few weeks have been attended by a small number of local residents, the referral process through Fleetwood’s social prescribers will be launched this month.
>Inquiries about the group to listening@healthierfleetwood.co.uk
Fleetwood Day is returning in 2026 on Sunday 3rd May in Euston Gardens. Margaret from the Civic Society chairs the event committee and invited community groups to attend and take a stall for awareness and activities. Volunteers to help set up gazebos on the day are appreciated.
Anne & John from The Walnut Tree offer peer support to anyone with a dementia diagnosis or coping with a debilitating condition. They have collated a guide to groups and events across Wyre and also host a monthly drop-in at The HUB Fleetwood, last month was very busy and enjoyable.
David advised that partners across the town were working together on an all-year-round calendar of events for Fleetwood. There is an opportunity to meet some of the partners and offer your expertise/time to the Fleetwood Arts Partnership at an informal evening on Thursday 12th February, 6.30pm – 8pm at Fleetwood Museum. Anyone with an interest in the arts and community events is welcome.
>Inquiries about the Arts Partnership to listening@healthierfleetwood.co.uk
Ron’s Run is a series of fundraising events for local foodbanks and food-poverty charities where you bring a donation of non-perishable food items rather than cash. Luke is working on plans for the next Fleetwood event which will be on 7th June.
Mark has been confirmed as the Chair of the Pride in Fleetwood Board which will oversee distribution of £2m per year each, allocated to a number of communities by the Government. There were over 60 applications to join the Board as a volunteer, and around 30 of these were due to attend a workshop event last week. A final board of approximately 15 people will be announced in due course. It is for the Board to make their recommendations on how they work, community meetings etc and which projects will be supported by the funding – dozens of suggestions have already been received and are being collated for the Board to consider. It is anticipated that dedicated communication channels for Pride In Fleetwood will be shared soon.
Before the meeting closed, Anne read her poem for this month ‘A Watery Tale’.
Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the meeting or just came along to listen. The next Healthier Fleetwood Open Meeting is on Wednesday 4th March from 6.30pm, at Emmanuel Mount Church … all very welcome!
Comments