Community Sport & Health Update
GLL presentation at Woman's Health event
On Thursday 20th August, the Barnet Community Sports Officer (CSO) attended the first Barnet Women’s Health Event at Church End Library. The event provided women from migrant communities with a safe and welcoming environment to learn about health and wellbeing, ask questions and connect with local support services.
A range of organisations attended, including the Edgware Sexual Health Team, Breast Cancer Screening, Cervical Cancer Screening, Meridian Wellbeing and Violence Against Women and Girls. Attendees had the opportunity to network with stall holders before listening to presentations about the services available across Barnet. Arabic and Farsi translators were also available to support attendees.
As part of the event, the Barnet CSO delivered a low impact seated exercise session, demonstrating how physical activity can be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Following the session, 19 women showed an interest in the Healthwise programme, particularly the Physical Activity Referral Scheme.
The Barnet CSO also promoted GLL’s Pay As You Go and Live Better memberships, providing attendees with information on affordable ways to become more active and access local facilities.
New Hub session at Ansell Court
On Tuesday 25th August, the Barnet CSO, introduced a new Hub network activity for residents living at Ansell Court which is an assisted living accommodation in partnership with Your Choice Barnet and Barnet Homes.
The sessions are aimed at encouraging residents to stay active and enjoy being involved in sport and physical activity. This also give residents an opportunity to socialise, build confidence and meet other people within the accommodation.
The key focus of the sessions is making sure everyone can take part, with some residents using wheelchairs and others with limited mobility as well as learning difficulties all activities were adapted to suit different abilities.
The first session was seated football. The residents were given a few challenges including passing the ball to each other, scoring goals and working together to keep multiple balls moving around the room. The session was well received, with all residents participating and already suggesting bowling and golf for their next sessions.
Barnets CSO encouraged the residents to choose the activities they would like to try as this encourages more people to take part and give exercise a go.
Floating Pot Funded Crash Course
During the week of 17th to the 21st August, Barnet provided 24 swimming crash course spaces to children and young people who are affiliated with Barnet Active Creative Engaging (BACE). The sessions were designed to help participants learn the basics of swimming, build confidence in the water and develop their existing swimming skills.
BACE is a fully funded holiday programme for children and young people across Barnet. Better Barnet has worked in partnership with BACE for over three years, providing free swimming crash courses and other holiday activities.
The August sessions were well attended and received positive feedback from participants, with requests for similar sessions to be offered during futudre school holidays. 24 spaces were made available with 16 children who attended all the sessions throughout the week, allowing them to make good progress with their swimming.
Participants developed a range of skills, including floating on their backs, basic swimming techniques and some children who were more advanced, new skills such as diving. The sessions are also to help build water confidence and for those who can swim, encouraged them to continue developing their swimming skills.
The swimming crash courses were fully funded by GLL, supporting the commitment to making swimming accessible to local children and promoting swimming as both an important life saving skill and an enjoyable family fun activity.
The sessions also provided an opportunity to teach children about water safety and the importance of being confident in and around water. For the children that couldn’t swim, having these crash courses helped build some confidence in the water while teaching water safety skills that will support them to stay safe around water.
Swimming Lessons for Care Leavers
Live Unlimited is a charity that provides opportunities and support to Barnet’s looked after children and young care leavers, empowering them to live their best lives. The charity supports care experienced children and care leavers throughout their journey, helping them to develop life skills, build relationships and networks, reduce isolation and access the best opportunities possible.
In partnership with Live Unlimited, Finchley Lido Leisure Centre is delivering an eight week swimming programme for care experienced young people aged 16–26, commencing on 10 August 2026. The programme provided eight consecutive swimming sessions and supported 8 care leavers to develop their swimming skills and confidence in the water.
Participants had a range of swimming abilities, from non-swimmers to improvers. The sessions were designed to encourage participants to become more physically active while developing an important life skill, improving water safety awareness and building confidence in the water.
The programme has been well received, with a request for a further block of swimming sessions to commence at the end of September. This will provide an opportunity for additional care leavers to benefit from the programme and continue developing their swimming ability, confidence and overall wellbeing.
The swimming lessons have been funded through a grant secured by Live Unlimited to support care leavers and provide access to positive activities and opportunities that contribute to their health, wellbeing and personal development.
Urban Gamez in partnership with Barnet Homes
The annual Urban Gamez event took place on Friday 28th August 2026 at Heybourne Park in Colindale, as part of a community initiative organised by Barnet Homes. The event gives local residents the opportunity to take part in a range of games and activities, while also connecting with local community organisations and services.
A wide range of local charities, organisations and services attended the event including Barnet Council, Active Within, BOOST, Centre of Excellence, Colindale Communities Trust, Diabetes UK, Barnet Walking Football Club, Community Safety Team, GroundWork London, GLL, Gro Health, Inclusion Barnet, the NHS, Notting Hill Genesis, Shaw Trust and Home-Start.
Barnet CSO, Lara Bone and Apprentice Community Activator Kunal Solanki represented Better Barnet and hosted a stall promoting Better's local centres, activities and membership options. The memberships promoted included FAB (Fit and Active Barnet), Healthwise, Centre Specific, All Centres and Pay As You Go.
Lara was also invited to lead a warm up session for children taking part in the races, making sure they are ready for the main event. The main activity was the 20 metre race, with children receiving a free T-shirt and drink when they registered to take part. The event was another great success, with a large turnout of over 400 local residents.
Better Barnet's involvement provided an opportunity to engage directly with local residents, promote the range of activities and services available across Barnet and raise awareness of the different membership options and services that Better can provide. Lara and Kunal spoke to 30 residents who also took part in a weighted squat challenge.
Better Barnet will continue to support and attend Urban Gamez and similar community events, helping to increase awareness of local opportunities to be active and encouraging more residents to get involved in physical activity
New Living Life Library project in Finchley
On Monday 10th August, Healthwise Coordinator Billy Phillips introduced a new six week Better Balance Hub Network session at Finchley Church End Library. The free sessions are aimed at supporting residents to improve their health and wellbeing through blood pressure checks and balance exercises.
The programme has been well received, with 15 participants booked to attend, including 14 females and 1 male. All participants received a blood pressure check, with no contraindications identified, and were provided with a Better Balance booklet to support them throughout the programme.
Following the success of the Finchley Church End sessions, a further six-week programme has been confirmed for Chipping Barnet in Q4, taking place on 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th November and 11th and 18th December.
As part of the continued development of the programme, all participants booked onto the Chipping Barnet sessions will receive a Health Commitment Statement and a prompt to sign up for FAB membership through the Libraries booking system before attending their first session. This will help encourage participants to remain active and continue engaging in physical activity after completing the Better Balance programme.