January Community News

Each month we like to highlight work we do away from the leisure centres or different groups we support in our centres. Our monthly community newsletter gives us this opportunity to highlight the work we do across the borough.  

MSK event

In partnership with the MSK team at the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust, Glass Mill Leisure Centre hosted the first of 3 MSK events scheduled between now and March. The events are aimed at raising awareness of what provision is available to people with MSK in the borough. There were various stallholders in the Atrium promoting things like Healthy Walks with us having a stall to promote Healthwise.72 people attended this event on the day. They are going to change how they book and promote the event to increase the number of attendees as they have the capacity to exceed this number. 

Hypertension event

In partnership with the ICB and NHS this month Wavelengths Leisure Centre hosted a Hypertension awareness event. This is the second of three events we will be hosting around the borough. Over 50 people attended this event, which featured a presentation about the leisure centres and Healthwise including a brief seated class lead by one of the Healthwise team. The centre received positive feedback from the organisers complimenting the staff for the help and support they provided on the day 

Bulky Waste Amnesty

In partnership with Lewisham Council the team at Bellingham Leisure and Lifestyle Centre agreed to host a bulky waste amnesty vehicle in the car park. The aim of this being to reduce fly tipping and give people in the Bellingham area an opportunity to get rid of bulky items that they may perceive to be difficult to get rid of. Up take was lower than hoped but this was putdown to the bad weather experience on the day. 

Felix Fresh Giveaway & NHS

Bellingham Leisure Centre hosted another monthly Felix Project Fresh Food Giveaway. Over 260 people from the local community and groups attended on the day. Lewisham Family Hubs were also present to hand out leaflets to parents about their service. At this giveaway we had the local blood pressure team come and do free blood pressure readings for attendees. They will be attending future events from March and will also look to offer other services and checks. 

Throughout the month we have also met with a variety of groups and organisations to plan out activities over the next few months. These include planning for health and wellbeing events happening in the borough the Better will be a part of, to setting up opportunities to provide people with careers talks and advice to help support people back into work.  

We have also met with other partners with the aim of launching new targeted programmes for those who may struggle to engage with mainstream activities, these include working with Mencap to enhance our disability programme.