Improving health and wellbeing in North East Hampshire, Farnham and Surrey Heath 2021

Mustard Seed – The Power of Play

Mustard Seed Autism Trust is a local charity working with families with autistic children. We provide professional support, therapy and training.

When working with families we sometimes signpost to private play therapists but this is often too costly for many families in our community and so our project – “The Power of Play” – enabled us to employ a qualified play therapist to provide specialist support to autistic children and young people with complex emotional and mental health difficulties. We were thrilled to be funded and be able to have a positive impact on local families.

C was in his final year of primary school. His anxiety during the lockdowns had worsened dramatically and he was engaging in self harm and refusing to leave the house. We organised for the play therapist to start some sessions with him. Slowly his confidence improved and he was able to complete his last term of primary school and has had a positive transition to secondary school.

Here is some feedback from his parents:

“Julia has been wonderful for C. At his lowest time we had the support of play therapy offered by Mustard Seed. Play therapy has made an enormous difference to C’s mood, self-esteem and confidence, and Julia is always available to listen and provide support and advice when needed. Honestly, a game changer!”

You can find further information on our project and progress below, and watch a video about our work and the impact of the innovation funding.

We are always open to working more closely with local organisations that support young people and would love to link with other organisations that are able to support those who are not digitally confident or who perhaps don’t have equipment to allow them to access on line resources.

More about the project

The 2021 “Power of Play” project was the natural next step for our organisation, building on our current provision but why did we feel strongly it was needed?

For autistic young people the pandemic had added additional anxiety and stress around:

• fears of getting ill (resulting in additional OCD behaviours)
• changes in rules and guidance - unpredictability
• difficulties doing school work at home (and keeping up with peers)
• returning to potentially new teachers/rooms/peers/schools
• changes in school routines as schools adapt to keep children and staff safe
• a long period with a lack of social interaction (and the impact of this on return to school)
• managing potential trauma, bereavement, safeguarding issues

Some children whose mental health has been adversely impacted by Covid19 have suffered debilitating anxiety and depression, self-harm, violent and suicidal behaviours.

During Play Therapy a child can use toys and creative activities to express their emotions. Working at their own pace the child starts to make sense of their emotions or the situation they are struggling with. By being able to offer this service through our own charity it enhances our service and is a life line to families and young people who perhaps wouldn’t be able to access this therapy otherwise.

An update

At the time of writing 10 children and young people have received support through the power of play project to date and the feedback has been excellent. Some have had support with the transition to secondary school, some with general emotional and mental wellbeing, 4 have received therapy to help with grief and/or trauma and 3 new children will start 1-1 sessions in January.

Staff will be working with the play therapist in the future to develop the Child Parent Relationship Training course ready for families to attend later in the spring of 2022.

Through the Innovation Fund we have been able to meet with and strengthen our relationship with another local charity Headroom. They have very kindly shared their evaluation methods with us and we are looking at adapting our own to capture a better picture of our impact.

In September 2021 we opened our waiting list to new referrals. We aim to do this twice a year, taking on about 50 new families each time. In previous years it has taken two weeks to fill the 50 spaces so we encourage parents to respond quickly when we open. This September we received over 60 requests for support in the first two hours and had to close the waiting list by 11am!

We set up an advice line in January 2021 in response to Covid19 for those families not on our waiting list and have provided support to 68 families through this. We have also set up a resources hub on our website and are doubling the number of visitors to the site every quarter.

We are very conscious that we are a tiny staff team and the demand for our service is continuing to escalate so if you would like to help us in anyway please do get involved and contact us through the methods above.

Read more information about Mustard Seed autism support.

Singing for Health and Wellbeing

VoxSkool had a successful Summer of 2021 welcoming family, friends and anyone wishing to sing their heart out and have fun to local parks and open spaces.

We bring local communities together through music and singing, to contribute to improving their health and well-being through growing our VoxSkool Community social singing groups. Members do not need to be able to sing or read music as each group has a singing leader to inspire and bring the best out in them.

By offering both face to face and online opportunities we hope to give people choice that suits their circumstances and confidence levels. New Members might include: single parents, new mums, the elderly (those living alone and those in care homes), people whose first language is not English, carers and also those who are recovering from ‘Long Covid’, to help in their recovery.

We would love to connect with local people and organisations who can help support us with this project and if you want to learn more or join our VoxSkool Community then take a look at our Facebook where you can find videos to help you get to know us a little more and what we love to do.

Outreach, befriending and digital support for carers

Crossroads Care Surrey reaches out to support unpaid carers, and in 2020 alone we provided over 2,100 carers living across Surrey the opportunity to take a break while receiving direct care and support for their loved ones.

Despite the Covid pandemic, we continued to support carers by taking the time to hear their stories about the impact of Covid on their lives and the increased pressures that it put on their caring role. One of the most important things for carers looking after a loved-one is that they feel supported by their wider community. As a direct response, our Community Outreach project was developed - bringing the support that was needed to help carers manage through and beyond the pandemic.

The Innovation Fund allowed us to continue this project throughout 2021, growing our reach through expanding our volunteer programme and supporting people with outreach shopping, prescription collections and / or befriending support calls, all of which have helped carers to feel less isolated and alone, and more connected with their community.

For people to connect with someone outside of their home and usual day-to-day environment can be life changing. For one carer, who is 54 and cares full-time for a child with complex needs, the support has been hugely helpful and given her time to just chat with someone and take her thoughts away from caring for a bit.

You can read more about our ambitions and project to date below and learn more about the services we offer by visiting the Crossroads Care website.

Army Welfare Field to Plate

Field to Plate is a healthy eating initiative that aims to inform and educate young people in a fun and creative way using cooking as a tool to address subjects such as obesity, diabetes, social isolation and loneliness - improving young people’s mental health and wellbeing in a creative and inspiring way learning as they grow, plan, prepare, cook and enjoy food in a social setting.

The project is unique and aimed at military and civilian young people age 8-18yrs who are based across Aldershot, Sandhurst, Church Crookham, and Minley Barracks. It is delivered by professionally qualified Youth and Community Workers and Ghurkha Support Workers from the Army welfare Services. The project puts the young people at the centre of the decision making process empowering them to take ownership.

We are proud of our progress to date and how the young people have engaged with this project despite delays through restrictions to our initial plans.

We have put together an amazing recipe book designed by one of our young people that will create part of the project and uses recipes, games and puzzles aimed at positive mental health and wellbeing.

The Youth Voice group are in the process of doing an action research project around healthy eating and they will establish the program going forward, their project will be a six week project running from January 2022 and they will write the program for the younger group.

We are arranging a cooking project in partnership with a local secondary school to deliver to some of the young people on free school meals and we are planning on taking a group of young people away in April 2022 to run a healthy eating project.

We are aiming at a 5 day field to plate project in February half term of 2022 with a social enterprise project at the end of the 5 days to be decided by the young people.

We would love your input to help us reach the young people who could most benefit from this project. If you have any ideas around the social enterprise element of the project or would like to become more involved, we would love to hear from you.

Ultimately we hope to support young people to grow in confidence, to learn to understand food and enjoying cooking and to share their ideas and passions with family, friends and the local community.

Improving your health and wellbeing

Here at Rushmoor Healthy Living we are passionate about working with our beneficiaries to truly understand the barriers they face. We then provide support to empower them to address these barriers, help themselves and improve their quality of life.

One way that we have done this is through our exercise and rehabilitation classes which support those in their later years and with long term health conditions. That was until Covid restriction meant that these couldn’t continue in the same way.

Throughout 2020 we had almost 500 in-depth conversations to support our members. During these chats we identified key issues which were often mentioned:

Members had put on weight during lockdown and didn’t know how to reverse it

Members were struggling to motivate themselves to exercise.

Members were concerned about their weight/diet/mental well-being, etc but didn’t know how to address it and didn’t want to bother their GP as they felt they wouldn’t have time to help, particularly at the moment.

Members weren’t wanting to admit to others that they were struggling, they felt that everyone else was coping and so ‘why aren’t I?’

Members didn’t always have the knowledge/tools to know how to eat healthily and/or pre-plan meals to avoid unhealthy choices.

In response to this we applied for and were successful in receiving Innovation Funding to bring together small groups of our existing members, working closely with them to help motivate, support and equip them to eat a healthier, diet and increase their physical activity levels with the aim of losing weight and improving physical health and mental wellbeing. In addition we encourage and support relationships between group members in order to foster peer motivation, as well as to provide a long-lasting support mechanism to increase the likelihood of participants sustaining changes after the project ends.

You can read our full evaluation report below and we are trilled to have been able to secure funding to run this project again in 2022.

Thank you for your interest in our project. If you would like to find out more about our organisation, please visit the Rushmoor Healthy Living website.

Evaluation Report January 2022 - BE Healthy BE You

Aims:

We wanted to use our expertise in community engagement, to set up an innovative 6 month pilot project which will address some of the needs we identified through our work during the lockdowns. The project brought together a small group of local residents – 10 (within the stated CCG areas - mainly from Rushmoor) and collaborated closely with them to motivate, support and equip participants to:

• eat a healthier, reduced calorie diet and increase their physical activity levels with the aim of losing weight and improving physical health and mental wellbeing

Our Staff:

• provided group as well as individual support
• encouraged support relationships between group members in order to foster peer motivation, as well as to provide a long-lasting support mechanism to increase the likelihood of participants sustaining changes after the project ends. Very soon, the group had become friends with each other and a real sense of working as a team was established
• provided motivation as well as encouraging peer support
• provided regular supported check-ins to encourage accountability – but a soft approach so as not to pressure anyone
• encouragement and supported lifestyle changes – provided advice on a safe way to change
• removed barriers by offering tools and knowledge to help equip participants to make successful long-term lifestyle changes and behavioural changes. We encouraged the group to swap stories and talk about issues regarding these changes – everyone is different, but all waned to achieve the same goal.
• offered tips and encourage the group to share tips to help participants achieve the aims. We provided the data behind the tips and ways to use them
• created a toolkit which we can use to roll out a subsequent project at significantly reduced cost and with the potential to benefit larger numbers of local residents

Be Healthy Be You was a completely different approach to the normal weight loss programmes. We provided more individual and tailored support to the pilot participants compared to that provided by well-known general weight loss groups and would look at supporting participants to overcome barriers which would otherwise stop them from achieving the aims. We targeted those who would be unlikely to seek ‘help’ from well-known general weight loss groups (perhaps as a result of factors such as lack of confidence/ self-esteem, lack of knowledge etc) or had found their methods did not work. We took away the naming and shaming and “competitive” nature of mass weigh ins that feedback had told us were a barrier to continue a weight loss programme. They found those methods too brutal and while they may motivate in the short term, actually become a burden and negative impact long term. We believe behavioural change is at the heart of any programme and likely to endure than lose weight quick schemes.

Impacts and Outcomes

We feel we achieved our aims and direct impacts and outcomes on individuals and the group were:

Weight loss, increased confidence, feeling healthier, improved mental health, improved physical health, feeling of belonging, peer support, behavioural change, lifestyle change, reduction in loneliness and isolation, digital inclusion and accessibility (through Zoom, Teams, Facebook etc), increased confidence of body image, sense of achievement, reduction in anxiety, newfound sense of aspiration, better knowledge of nutrition, new “friends for life”

These impacts and outcomes are what the group members listed to us. We asked how they felt at the start of the programme and at the end. The difference was startling. We also used the physical results (weight loss, body measurements etc) but the key fact was the palpable evidence of behavioural change that led to better confidence and sense of wellbeing. The group went from apprehension and shyness to enjoyment and openness in a noticeably brief period of time and maintained this until the end of the project, they told us the changes THEY had made would be easy to keep long term and reported that happiness and feeling well were a far better motivation than calorie counting or diet fads.

Supporting Facts:

Decreasing weight, improving diet and increasing physical activity levels, are all factors that are well-known to significantly improve physical health, reduce obesity and reduce risk factors for a wide range of diseases/conditions. Obesity significantly increases the risk of severe illness and dying from Covid, as well as potentially leading to a number of serious and potentially life-threatening well-known conditions including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some types of cancer and stroke. The project’s outcomes will improve physical health and support the prevention of a wide range of conditions such as those mentioned above. The project is also likely to therefore reduce doctor and hospital visits, reduce long-term social care needs and support people to remain independent for longer.

Decreasing weight, improving diet and increasing physical activity levels can all have a significant impact on mental wellbeing. Increasing physical activity for example can improve mood, reduce stress, improve energy levels and improve sleep quality. Eating healthily can improve your mood, concentration and energy levels and help reduce depression and anxiety. In addition, having peer support and building social relationships can have an enormous impact on how we feel.

The project encouraged participants to come together to support each other to achieve the project aims. It helped facilitate the building of friendships and peer support mechanisms, which have the potential to be long lasting. We know from our work with our class members during lockdown, that many were feeling lonely and isolated. We also know that using our tried and tested methods of engagement within other RHL projects, we have proved highly effective at reducing loneliness and isolation and we feel we achieved this with

Be Healthy Be You.

Summarising Statements from individual and group results and end of project questionnaire.

Average weight loss - 7lbs! - Biggest weight loss - 11lb!

Average of 1.45inches lost from chest measurements - biggest chest measurement loss - 4inches

Average of 2.3inches lost from waist measurements - Biggest Waist measurement loss - 5inches

Average of 2.12inches lost from hip measurements - biggest hip measurement loss - 3.5inches

Average of 1.3 inches lost from Arm measurements - biggest arm measurement loss - 2 Inches

Average 1.9 inches lost from Thigh measurements - Biggest Thigh measurement loss - 4 inches

90% of participants lost weight

100% of participants lost inches from their body measurements.

Summary of questionnaire / direct feedback

Confidence has skyrocketed with 90% of participants feeling more confident. Some participants even say they feel 8 Times more confident in themselves than before starting the class.

80% of participants feel more confident in not only shopping for but also creating healthier meals for themselves and family members.

Weight loss seems to be the thing participants are most proud of from the sessions.

Guest speakers were a big hit.

70% felt they had the right amount of support

70% would support a weekly peer support session

80% of participants feel energy levels have increased

All participants felt supported, 60% of participants felt completely supported

40% of participants involved family members with their healthy eating plans.

Helping them to eat healthier too

Healthy choices -

100% reported making healthy swaps.

90% have decreased their fat intake.

70% have reduced sugar intake

80% have reduced Calorie intake

70% have reduced frequency of consuming takeaways and ready meals

50% increased consumption of wholemeal and wholegrain foods.

60% have increased water intake.

90% now eat more than one piece of fruit or veg a day.

Quotes from service users:

“It has enabled me to make healthier food choices and be aware of my exercise levels”

“Supported me through tough times when confidence low or unwell”

“A definite increase in motivation, and a small weight loss to go with it!!

“Helped me to get myself in the right direction by finally starting losing weight, think more about what I eat.”

“Made me more self-assertive.”

“It made me think about myself more and try to be more positive”

“Loved the project, really worthwhile to do as a group – Rachael (RHL) has been fantastic support, has so much knowledge and has been so supportive. Great talks organised from professional people, thank you so much.”

Conclusion

The results speak for themselves. The group of ten strangers from all walks of life really enjoyed the programme and the feedback has been fantastic.

The determination and enthusiasm to continue the programme outside of the project is the real success. Friendships and peer support mini groups have been established and the feeling of happiness and new-found confidence tells us it was a success. I am proud we took on a project that was so different than the usual weight loss programme. We did not concentrate on weight loss or finite results. We invested in meaningful behavioural change through tailored support that would lead to a far more sustainable weight loss and wellbeing. Feedback is telling us we have achieved this.

Since the programme finished, Rushmoor Borough Council contacted us and provided the funding for another 6 month project. It fits perfectly with their priority to reduce the high rates of obesity throughout the Borough. I will be contacting Hampshire County Council to obtain funding so we can expand the size and scope if the project across other boroughs.

Our success reflects what the Innovation Conference agenda set out to achieve i.e. support organisations to trial new and ground-breaking projects to improve the health and wellbeing of people across the Frimley CCG area. The fact we can sustain the project after your funding pays testament to the Innovation Committee decision to fund us and our confidence that this new radical approach would work.

Jim Ruddy, CEO

RHL (Rushmoor Healthy Living

Mentoring through Sport - Basketball

The Source supports and empowers Young People aged 14-25 living in Aldershot and the neighbouring towns to transform their live through face to face, over the telephone and online Personalised Programmes of 1-1 and group support. Our Personalised Programme focuses on building: self-esteem, emotional intelligence and resilience.

Our innovative new project, mentoring through basketball, is the first of its kind between ourselves and the Army Welfare Service - Aldershot. This one-year pilot will focus on the area of Church Crookham, in particular the Quetta Park (Army family housing) area, working with young people from Army families and other young people from the community and we are pleased to say launched in April 2021. You can read more about our aims and the structure of the programme below.

Read more about our organisation by visiting The Source website.

Supporting the Nepali community to access timely health care

Located in Rushmoor we have always strived to ensure that our advice and support can be accessed by all members of the community. Our wider “Overcoming Barriers” group, made up of a number of local partner organisations including the local Primary Care Networks meets regularly to develop ideas to support everyone in our local area. The Overcoming Barriers group has resulted in overwhelmingly positive feedback, and has quickly become recognised as a valued resource.

Through the work of this group and with the support of Innovation Funding, we are creating a shared, open, electronic library of Nepali language resources for anyone to access and share. The resources focus on helping people to access the NHS service they need at the correct entry point. We want to overcome identified barriers to help Nepali people to access interpreter services on NHS 111 and similar, independently, without needing someone by their side for assistance.

Our first project was a video to support people in accessing NHS 111.

Also take a look at the other resources we have available on our YouTube channel to support Nepali speakers.

Our continuing commitment to delivering services to the Nepali community will ensure the resources produced will be well used, both within Citizens Advice Rushmoor, and shared with our key partners. Our work with the NHS, the Cambridge Practice, Aldershot and others in the Primary Care Network, will help ensure that it is tailored to future as well as current needs. We are also working with Rushmoor Borough Council led initiatives to better reach local residents in Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs); feedback from this initiative will help inform how we move forward in other activities to reach vulnerable residents unable to access mainstream services. The resources that we develop will remain as a community asset which can be shared after the project ends.

We were please to be featured in the Frimley Clinical Commissioning Group's 2021 Annual General Meeting video which showcased community projects having a big impact on local people's health and wellbeing. This was in connection with another project we support - Project Together. We feature in the video at 4mins 24.

As demonstrated above, we already work closely with other key stakeholders in the community but we are keen to work with other community groups so the resources we develop can be shared widely and adapted for different community groups.

See what other advice Citizens Advice can offer by visiting our website.

Community garden in Fleet

Hart Voluntary Action is working in partnership with Hart District Council and other local organisations to develop and establish a community garden in Fleet with a strong supporter and diverse user base.

Hart Voluntary Action will be running ‘Minding the Garden’ at Hart's Green Garden and propose to establish a partnership with the Fleet Primary Care Network (PCN) via the Social Prescribing Link Worker as well as other local organisations to engage patients and local people in the project and the workshops we plan to run.

After a long wait we have now been given access to the community garden site to start preparing for community engagement in the New Year of 2022! It has been a journey – made much longer due to the challenges brought about by COVID but we are so grateful for the Innovation Funding and the patience of all involved to be able to get to this point.

Whilst we have been waiting we have not stood still though. We have done a lot of work to promote the garden and engage with the community including:

• A guided walk led by a Countryside Ranger
• Two information events at the local library
• Teams presentations to those who can refer in i.e. Hampshire County Council, the Frimley Clinical Commissioning Group, Hart District Council, Social Prescribers and Wellbeing centres
• Held information meetings in the community garden car park (weather permitting)
• We were part of The Great Big Green Week and ran an event planting seeds, onions sets and broad beans.
• And run Christmas Wreath Workshops

We were please d to be featured alongside our partners Men's Sheds in the Frimley Clinical Commissioning Groups 2021 Annual General Meeting Video we are the first project featured.

Since early 2021 we have come so far! The images below show an idea of what our garden might look like but you can see our most up to date progress and events coming up on our X social media page.

Nicole and Headroom

In partnership with the local charity Headroom, the Innovation Funding was to support the development of a specialist counselling programme for young people (aged 11-18) with neurodiversity, trauma and PTSD. I offer an innovative style of therapy that amalgamates my various trainings in yoga, counselling, therapeutic arts and play.

Joining the Headroom team throughout 2021 has been a fantastic experience. I feel that we have learnt so much from each other. The charity began organising group supervision sessions in June of 2021, so all the counsellors have benefitted from sharing knowledge. I have also been invited to run some training for the charity, which I feel is such a fantastic opportunity, and one I am very grateful for!

Further to this, I have been supporting young people via counselling sessions as part of the project. You can see our work in this short video we have recently created.

Headroom supports young people and their families in the Hart and Rushmoor area and you can read more by visiting their website.

Reinvigorate an unused community garden

When we applied for Innovation funding we were in the early stages of planning our project to reinvigorate an unused community garden within Frimley Lodge Park to be known as “Flourish”.

The space/garden was already there (see photo below) but wasn't being used currently. We felt this type of space was needed both for the Surrey Heath Borough community, and voluntary organisations especially at the time of applying (in 2021) and coming through the Covid-19 pandemic. We hoped it would help ease some of the mental health issues and isolation that have been exacerbated over the pandemic years, as well as supporting our younger, older and more vulnerable residents to find enjoyment in an outdoor setting.

We had already made contact with a few different organisations one being “Surrey Heath Young Onset Dementia Service” to use the space in a way which suits their clients. We hoped that this garden could become a safe space for all local residents.

We had ambitions for this to be the start of something bigger, that we could potentially have more gardening spaces out there for the community to be involved in. If you're local why not come a long and see how the garden looks today - Visit Frimley Lodge Park.

Food banks and more

The Old Dean Community Group works with and supports those living in areas which are among the worst scoring on both the National and Surrey Multiple Deprivation index.

We have always been at the heart of this community but in response to the Covid-19 pandemic we created free food stalls, entirely in the open air, with a simple setup utilising public car parks etc and offering deliveries of food parcels to those unable to come to the stalls.

We saw the need for this service to expand beyond providing food and our project focuses on providing more advice and support on diet and health - impacting on physical health, mental wellbeing, loneliness, social isolation and anxiety.

The first thing the Innovation Funding allowed us to do was to purchase two gazebos which kept the weather off and through this process we have established a relationship with the Mental Health Support Team which allows us to expand out support offer.

After some negotiations we now have a licence to use the car park of the Surrey Heath Young People and Family Centre and have just been able to start the active demonstrations to everyone visiting the Free Food Stall. In the mean time we have been working with the Hope Hub to run basic cookery/ food education sessions at St Martin’s Church and we collectively have big hopes for 2022.

You can view more about our project in the Frimley Clinical Commissioning Group's 2021 Annual General Meeting film, we are featured at 2mins 39.

Coming to the stall encourages people to talk about their health, consume more fresh fruit and vegetables and shows them there are people who care about them. It encourages conversations allowing people to avoid the anxiety of using shops or certain services and most of all it creates friendships and reaches the corners that are hard to reach by other means.

We would love to link with other groups that could support us in our ambition and especially to community gardens and allotments. We hope that you will support our journey.

Cooking on a Budget

The Hope Hub exists for those in poverty, people who are homeless or at risk of becoming so and we support them for as long as they need our services to progress towards independence and/or training, volunteering and employment.

As such, most of the people we work with lack key life skills coupled with the lack of belief and desire to cook healthily, often living off processed and fast food meals.

Due to this our successful project focused around funding to support our ‘Cooking on a Budget’ courses to be delivered from The Hope Hub building with access to all our facilities but the pandemic made that a little more tricky than we anticipated.

We were not able to run the first three courses from the building but undeterred we created a 'pop up kitchen' using it in a local park and even in the middle of a church.

Our aims for the course stayed the same to:

Be available to anyone in the local community (Surrey Heath and surrounding areas) who will benefit from learning how to cook on a budget

Include a visit to the market/supermarket to identify and buy fresh produce, prepare and cook affordable range of healthy meals.

Help people integrate again through social interaction and sharing.

Create an easy to read, visual cookery book for the community to access either online or in hard copy.

Give all participants the opportunity to have a L2 qualification in Food & Safety Hygiene and receive their own apron to take away.

Provide training in the use of IT and allow access to our IT Zone.

Offer ongoing development support through our existing services to help individuals prepare for volunteering, training and/or employment.

We are so proud of those who have completed the course so far with 50% of participants achieving their Level 2 in food safety and hygiene and the remaining participants at a stage where they can move to complete this as their circumstances allow.

Click on the links below for more details of the course content and find details of case studies telling the stories of some of those who have benefited from this project.

Jack's story (opens a PDF)

Dee's story (opens a PDF)

Jerry's story (opens a PDF)

Ali's volunteering story (opens a PDF)

Find out more information and how to doante on the Hope Hub website.

Intergenerational Music Programme

Our funded project was built around using intergenerational music, rap, lyric-writing and storytelling to strengthen capacity for social connection, friendship and compassion whilst improving the emotional and mental wellbeing of both generations, the young & old.

The rap therapy project uses intergenerational music and rap to support and inspire the younger generation, opening the door into communication, understanding, confidence and community. Through this innovative and experimental project we set out to empower older people in the community to share their story, culture and heritage with the younger generation - offering a platform where they will be heard and respected. The unique workshops delivered at the Farnham Maltings and with a school and care home in Chobham - adopted lyric writing and rap to encourage the children to explore, compose and create, using these stories as an inspiration. From these intergenerational rapping workshops they then created and composed their own unique performance/rap which will was performed and celebrated at the end of the project.

You can watch a video of some of our work.

Intergenerational Music Making (IMM) is one of the UK’s pioneers, delivering co-produced intergenerational music projects, training, consultancy, research, workshops and creative events within communities, health, education and social sectors. IMM bridge the gap between generations, tackling loneliness, isolation whilst creating stronger, artistically-driven intergenerational communities. Our projects bring together targeted groups, challenging hierarchy and creating spaces for new voices.

“The value of bringing generations together is two-ways..... this is a very exciting project because of the potential reach.” Baroness Diana Barran, Minister for Civil Society.

It has been a hard year but, connecting with the children at the local school and hearing their music has given me hope. There is light at the end of the tunnel.” – Care home resident

We would love for you to visit our website.

Nature walks

Towards the end of the first 2020 lockdown I started to share my knowledge of local walks with local people encouraging them to get exercise, connect with nature and get away from the boredom of lockdowns and isolation. My aim is to help people, especially families with children, to enjoy what is on their doorstep.

So many of us suffer from a stressful world with inadequate exercise. Getting people out, enjoying the fresh air and seeing nature is a great stress reliever and helps keeps the body and mind in good shape. Taking the time to look for nature and the pleasure of finding it can be thrilling.

My walks cover the boroughs of Guildford, Rushmoor, Hart, Surrey Heath, Bracknell and Wokingham and through my website and social media presence, over 8500 routes have been downloaded so far. However I would like to reach people who may not be digitally confident or have the technology to allow them online so that they too can enjoy what is on their doorstep.

With the support of Innovation Funding I have been working hard to produce an affordable and accessible book, of approximately 30 of my nature walks (which will be graded by difficulty) with added pages about the benefits for mental and physical health including the benefits of connecting with nature. Most walking guides are based on well-known but widely spread walks so the more local aspect of this book is a unique benefit to our highly populated area.

I tested my walks, directions and maps with local people who have signed up to help me and I'm so pleased to say the book is here and being fantastically well received. Take a look at my website for more details.

Books last a long time, they can be cherished and passed on, and Public footpaths are permanent by law so, even if they are (very rarely) diverted, the walks will remain viable for many years to come to be shared between friends and families.

I hope you can you help me share this resource and reach the people who don’t yet know the beauty on their doorstep or who haven’t got the confidence to get out there? Keep up to date with my latest news on our Facebook page.

Rushmoor Voluntary Services

In March 2020 there was a call to action that rang throughout our neighbourhoods to support the most vulnerable in our communities.

In Rushmoor approximately 400 Covid 19 volunteers signed up to become Operation Rushmoor Community Action (ORCA) Responders and after a year of supporting shielded and self-isolating residents it’s time to give back and ensure we are looking after the health and wellbeing of our volunteers as well.

We hope to create a package of thanks and support, from trusted sources, which responds directly to what volunteers are asking us for:

Support for their own mental wellbeing - The demand on Responders has taken its toll: some of the challenges our volunteers face are being exposed to vulnerable people and those in need; volunteering in isolation and the worry of being exposed to the virus. We want to ensure the volunteers have the skills to care for themselves so they can continue to care for others.

Supporting the wider community through upskilling – The offer of training which helps volunteers to support others when in difficult times such as when in a state of anxiety.

Offering hopes for the future, continuing the sense of community and purpose - For some Responders being part of ORCA has temporarily taken over their lives, given them something positive to look forward to each day and a sense of being part of something important. Going back to what was normal is not a pleasant prospect for everyone, for others it will leave a sense of loss. Our support programme will provide opportunities to stay in touch with fellow Responders, acknowledge the important role they have played and identify other opportunities to stay plugged in to their community.

Visit the Rushmoor Voluntary Service website for more information on how we support the local community

Farnham Town Running Club

Have you ever thought of doing the couch to 5k but just didn’t have the motivation or confidence to make a start on your own? Perhaps you are sure running isn’t for you but you may be wrong, you’re not alone and we want to help.

Farnham Town Running Club is a new England Athletics affiliated running club, established in September-2020, created with the objective of providing an active, inclusive, non-elitist, diverse club focussed on running for all abilities. Set up during a pandemic many people would consider this the “wrong time” to embark on such a project, but with a committed team we now have over 70 members and expect once lockdown lifts this number will rapidly increase.

We are based in Farnham but serve a much broader area with members from Fleet, Aldershot, Cove, Ash, Bordon and beyond. We are sociable, welcoming, and friendly and are committed to self-improvement, helping the development of others, and running our club professionally.

Farnham is an affluent town with pockets of significant net wealth, however, there are pockets within the wider Farnham area (including the locality) where there is much less wealth and areas of deprivation, poverty and lack of opportunity. Our aim through outreach, targeted marketing, local press & adverts, mailing, community group visits etc is to reach as many people as possible to encourage them to take up the Couch 2 5K supported running programme, put on by dedicated caring individuals and who can help people find a love of running and a community to share it with.

Part of the project will be for us to work with local GP surgeries and other professional agencies to identify potential participants from vulnerable communities and to urge them to consider making patient ‘exercise referrals’ to us.

Success will be not only be measured in numbers of participants and the number of those individuals who ultimately join our running club, but success will also include something far less tangible but ultimately more important i.e. how we have touched people’s lives and through the happiness and sense of achievement we have brought to that individual.

Visit the Farnham Town Running Club website.

Hot Steppers School of Dance!

As a dance teacher for 15 years and Zumba Instructor for 9 years, I am a huge believer in sport (particularly dance fitness) helping to improve people’s health and wellbeing - not just by providing a way to increase fitness but by bringing people together as part of a community who share the same interests.

Who wouldn’t want to be part of a class with uplifting music to lighten the mood? I have had many student’s come through my doors who suffer from a lack of confidence or anxiety and dance is a fantastic way to boost serotonin levels, have fun and a laugh. Evidence shows dance and movement can support those suffering with depression, anxiety or those at risk of obesity.

My project idea is aimed at people in the Surrey Heath area, specifically Camberley on the Old Dean Estate and I would love to work with a number of organisations to develop my idea, ensuring that I am reaching those who could most benefit from dance and the community it offers.