Havant & East Hants Mind were recently invited to visit the Houses of Parliament to discuss and demonstrate their new program “Supporting Families in Havant” to a range of invited guests including MPs. The event was hosted by MPs and Sport England and took place in the “Strangers Dining Room” within the Houses of Parliament.
HEH Mind Business Development Manager Ross Borman met the head of strategy for Sport England Simon Macqueen. Ross gave positive feedback to Simon about these new strategies and processes from Sport England and how they impact upon HEH Mind’s family engagement work.
Ross also met briefly with Havant MP Mr Alan Mak who was also able to attend the event, despite a busy Parliamentary schedule.
The Lottery funded programme, led by Havant & East Hants Mind, centres on improving the well-being of families and encouraging them to take part in fun physical activity as a family group. Research has shown that physical activity leads to better health and well-being.
Studies show children require parents not only to help them to access physical activity, but also they need parents to participate so they have a role model to associate with their own long-term involvement with physical activity.
The Havant & East Hants Mind led family programme made headline news last month by attracting £324,000 for Havant. The programme will run for four years in partnership with Oarsome Chance, another small charity based in Leigh Park. They will be working with 30 families each year for up to 6 months.
The program will also partner with a range of physical activity groups and some sports clubs, training Mind Mental Health Ambassadors within each of these settings.
Ross Borman explained, “We will be working with a range of sports clubs as well as organisations such as Havant Borough Council, our local schools and other voluntary sector partners in order to maximise this opportunity for local people”.
For more information about the program and the Sport England event at Parliament please contact Ross Borman on info@easthantsmind.org
The exciting new musical production Freek Street is to have its premiere at the Station Theatre West Town Hayling Island.
OOPS for theatre, the company that promotes new musical works, is presenting another work by the international singer, Alex Poulton called Freek Street.
Alex Poulton Baritone Singer
The work is being performed at The Station Theatre, Hayling Island and runs from the 5th to the 7th July.
Freek Street explores the mental attitudes of the characters, who live in the street, as seen from the point of view of a newcomer, whilst under hypnosis. It is a fast moving, exciting and very amusing experience. Although the musical is set in the 1970’s, the issues investigated are very pertinent to today.
David Bolton (Hypno-magic) has agreed to introduce the work and Darren Royston has undertaken the choreography, both of whom are familiar to viewers of prime time television.
David Bolton (Hypno-magic)
The music is both catchy and poignant and belongs to no particular genre. This retro-musical contains more than 35 original songs, performed by more than a dozen varied characters.
Darren Royston Choreographer
The event is a community project with profits being donated to MIND, the mental health charity.
Havant and East Hants Mind is celebrating after being awarded £323,556 of National Lottery funding from Sport England to help low income families in Havant to get active with their children.
Four out of five primary school children do not get the recommended amount of daily exercise of 60 minutes a day, and are missing out on the benefits it brings. Children from low income families are most likely to do very little physical activity.
Havant and East Hants Mind –Fun families projects is one of the first to receive investment from a £40 million National Lottery funding pot that Sport England has dedicated to helping families get active together.
The fund is a key part of Sport England’s focus on helping young people have an enjoyable experience of sport and physical activity so they develop a positive attitude towards being active at an early age and continue being active in later life.
Sport England are funding organisations that help families get active together, because parents and close family members can have a big impact on children’s experiences. As well as giving children direct access to sporting opportunities, Sport England research shows that they are also significant role models in helping their children get active – because how a parent behaves impacts what a child sees as important.
Parents who are active themselves, and enjoy it, can encourage positive feelings about exercise and its value in their children. Yet many parents lack the skills or confidence to take part in sport with their children as they fear they cannot keep up. For example, if adults don’t know how to swim or lack confidence on a bike, this has a knock-on impact on the activities they feel they can do as a family and how much they encourage children to take part.
Each of the funded projects will work to address this by building adults’ confidence around getting active with their children, and by providing experiences for families that are enjoyable, convenient and low cost.
Havant and East Hants Mind has been promoting good mental health and wellbeing for the last 25 years in the area. It’s work with families naturally emphasises the link between physical health and better wellbeing. Thanks to Sport England we will be able work with 120 families over a 6-9 month period. Helping them to address a range of barriers preventing them from getting involved and modelling techniques to build the fun sessions into part of healthy routines for families. The project which is funded for the next 4 years also works closely with partner Oarsome Chance another fantastic charity based in Leigh Park.
Sport England’s Director of Children and Young People Jayne Molyneux said:
“It’s not right that four in five children don’t get enough exercise and are missing out on the health benefits it brings. Just by seeing their parents being active, children can be inspired to do the same, and if they have an enjoyable experience they’re far more likely to continue as an adult.
“Parents have many demands on their time, and often lack the confidence to get active with their children. That’s why Sport England is working hard to make getting active with your children an easy choice. With this new National Lottery funding, families (via their children’s school) will access the support. This will continue after the initial 6 to 9 months working with mind family workers, by actively building wider healthy support networks throughout. HEH Mind will be able to offer will be able to convenient, free/ low cost and fun activities in nearby locations.
We are delighted to be working with National Lottery funding and our partners Oarsome Chance on this much needed project.
About Sport England
Sport England is a public body and invests up to £300 million National Lottery and government money each year in projects and programmes that help people get active and play sport.
It wants everyone in England, regardless of age, background, or level of ability, to feel able to engage in sport and physical activity. That’s why a lot of its work is specifically focused on helping people who do no, or very little, physical activity and groups who are typically less active – like women, disabled people and people on lower incomes.
Working for the last 25 years in Havant, Hayling Island, and across East Hampshire Havant and East Hants Mind has seen an ever growing demand for support with mental health illness and wellbeing.
This Mental Health Awareness Week (14 to 20 May 2018) Havant and East Hants Mind will be visiting their local communities to promote and start conversations about mental health and wellbeing. Additionally, HEH Mind staff will be signposting visitors to relevant resources. Read more…
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Havant & East Hants Mind were recently invited to visit the Houses of Parliament to discuss and demonstrate their new program “Supporting Families in Havant” to a range of invited guests including MPs. The event was hosted by MPs and Sport England and took place in the “Strangers Dining Room” within the Houses of Parliament.
HEH Mind Business Development Manager Ross Borman met the head of strategy for Sport England Simon Macqueen. Ross gave positive feedback to Simon about these new strategies and processes from Sport England and how they impact upon HEH Mind’s family engagement work.
Ross also met briefly with Havant MP Mr Alan Mak who was also able to attend the event, despite a busy Parliamentary schedule.
Photo © The News, Portsmouth.
Photo © The News, Portsmouth.
Photo © The News, Portsmouth.