Promoting healthy living to the Friends of the Wednesday Club

Gurnos, Galon Uchaf and Penydarren Communities First and 3Gs Development Trust has provided healthy living support to local older people through the establishment of a Slimming Club. 15 women regularly attend weekly sessions and learn from information to manage a healthy diet and nutritional facts. As well as weight loss, the participants have enjoyed improved confidence, general health benefits and more active participation within their local community.

Complementing the Communities First Vision Framework: The project mainly supports the Health and Wellbeing Theme of the Vision Framework.

Through funding from the Communities First programme, the 3Gs Development Trust has assisted an old age group in the local area with the Slimming Club, providing diet, health and nutritional information. The Slimming Club, which started in October 2009, was provided for women in particular to access and keep a regular check on their weight. Information was provided on how to manage a healthy diet, with examples of healthy low budget recipes which were distributed to the group, as well information on nutritional facts on how to look after their bodies and improve their health. Every member that came to the slimming sessions was weighed weekly and paid a small donation to their chosen charity - Cancer Aid Research.

Community Development Workers funded by Communities First, supported approximately 15 women regularly in participating in the Slimming Club and monitored their weight every week. The reason for starting this Slimming Club was to promote healthy living within the older residents of the community. The women were already part of an old age group and the need for promoting healthy living was identified by this group. A representative of the project staff approached the Chairperson of this group and discussed bringing a much needed health element into the club where older people could access information on health and nutrition with an option of having their weight monitored and checked on a regular basis. By engaging with an already existing group of older people was an ideal opportunity for the project to engage and promote healthy living activities within the community.

Communities First specific role in this project was providing a support system to the group, engaging with the older people, and promoting health and well-being along with improving social inclusion. As a result of delivering this activity, the women in the group are now cooking healthier meals at home. They are following the recipes that were given to them at the Slimming Club. With over 15 people that participate in this activity on a regular weekly basis, the project has been able to measure many health outcomes and benefits over that period of time. These include:

• Steady weight loss
• Knowledge and understanding on good mental health
• Benefits of daily moderate exercise
• Managing food intake through portion size control
• Confidence levels raised significantly
• Improvement in overall general health
• More active within their community

More importantly, the participants now understand the importance of measuring their salt and sugar intake and how it can affect their health and diet. They now take this into consideration when preparing their meals at home.

The project meets the Health and Wellbeing Theme of the Communities First Vision Framework by improving their health & well being, encouraging active citizenship, building their self confidence and raising self esteem. Their new knowledge and understanding of health, diet and nutrition has helped the group change their dietary habits, have more of a focus on their health and also promotes this advice to their peers, most often in a similar situation to themselves living close by in the same local area. By promoting the information to the wider community, they are supporting other local residents and community members who do not have access to this activity. Some members have gone on from this project and joined other health related groups within the community that promote moderate regular exercise including Social Splash Society - a complimentary health project that provides improved access and support for older women in the local area to regular weekly free swim initiatives.

The barriers to the project have been around initially encouraging the group to step away from old fashioned methods of cooking which did prove difficult. The introduction of healthier ingredients took some persuasion! When it was suggested to the group that regular exercise would be part of the health programme, the group were slightly put off, automatically thinking exercise would be too strenuous for their age! However, moderate exercise was then explained and examples of gentle exercise routines made them feel more at ease and comfortable. They soon got into the strides of the exercises…

For further information on this programme, please contact:

Gemma Caldecott, Community Development Worker, 3Gs Development Trust,

Tel: 01685 385303     

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