Havant and East Hants Mind wins National Lottery funding from Sport England to help families get active together

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.

Photo © The News, Portsmouth.

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.

Photo © The News, Portsmouth.

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.

Havant and East Hants Mind (service enquiries)
www.easthantsmind.org
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 02392 498916

Posted on: 28th May 2018