The Healthy Fun Day at Park Lane Methodist Church on Saturday 25th
January 2014,1-4pm
This year’s event was a Wembley Methodist Circuit approach including Park Lane, Neasden, Ealing
Road & Sudbury Churches. The purpose of this day was to help to improve our physical, mental and
spiritual health; focusing on preventative measures such as healthy living and lifestyle; diet and
exercise to help improve health and health outcomes; to raise awareness of some of the main health
issues that are prevalent in our diverse congregation, mainly of African Caribbean descent.
The emphasis was on promoting family health, by sharing information, empowering the individual to
look after his/her own health.
The Master of Ceremony Joseph Kingsley-Nyinah introduced the event, after which an opening
prayer was said by Reverend Kofi Tekyi-Ansah from Ealing Road Methodist Church.
The organisation of this event led by Gloria Parnell, events coordinator with a planning committee,
was mainly supported by Brent Healthy Lifestyles Team and British Heart Foundation.
The six keynote speakers were invited to talk in the dedicated Side Rooms just off the Main
Hall of the Church. Each was billed as a drop-in session consisting of a key specialist in their
field on healthy living and healthy lifestyle supported by PowerPoint presentations and
interactive audience dialogue throughout.
Look After Your Heart – Dr Markland Patel
The first session of the afternoon took the form of an interactive session of around 30
minutes on coronary heart disease. It was facilitated Dr Markland Patel a heart specialist
from Hammersmith Hospital and Community Emergency Life support trainer with BAPS
Charities. The session peaked at around twenty participants with a very lively, topical
discussions relating to heart disease, the effects of smoking on the heart and finishing up
with a CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) demonstration.
Healthy Eating – Heart UK
This session was facilitated by Baldesh Rai from Heart UK. It was a natural flow from the
first seminar so most delegates stayed on into this session which peaked at around 20
during the thirty minutes. With a focus on cardiovascular diseases, the causes of heart
disease through to diet and cooking for a healthier heart. Baldesh got the healthy message
across very well whilst understanding that many of us still want to maintain those unique
specialities from the Black and Indian kitchen in our cooking today. The effects of salt in the
diet and cholesterol busting techniques were also highlighted in a Q&A session which went
down very well.
Prostate Cancer – Prostate Cancer UK
A popular seminar which was we also held last year. It was good to see a number of women
also present for this seminar representing the family in these cases. Facilitated again by
Nicole Bobb form Prostate Cancer UK she has been a community champion and volunteer
for the charity for the past three years. A detailed visual presentation explaining prostate
cancer was followed by a personal testament from Nicole relating to her father who died of
the disease and the effect on her personally and her family which resonated well
throughout the audience. Again around 25 were present for this valuable insight into the
cancer and men.
Looking After Your Mental Wellbeing – Mind UK
A lively seminar with Amarinda Vadera, Mind UK coach and founder of her own company
specialising in empowerment of the mind. Her talk covered the definitions of mental health,
identifying the signs and symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression. She also covered in
details the triggers and causes of depression in both the young and old with useful tips on
prevention and self-help.
The Importance of Immunisation
Our punultimate seminar by Dr Donald Palmer a Senior Lecturer in Immunology and longstanding member of Park Lane Methodist church. A diverse audience of young and old who
all joined in the introductory quiz and questions. Dr Palmers talk was centred on 'Why we
are not ill all the time'? and was a valuable observation into the importance of
immunisation, body defences and vaccination in the young, community and older
generation. A practical and scientific insight into Dr Palmers work which went down very
well in this lively presentation and follow up question and answer session.
Autism – What is It? – Ruah Care
Our final presentation and seminar of the day was given by Andrew Matthews who an
autism professional and founder of autism charity Ruah Care. He came down especially from
Nottingham to talk at the Healthy Fun Day. Andrew managed to demystify autism
illustrating what autism is and how it affects children, young people and adults. Although it
was the last talk of the day it was very well attended and some came especially to
understand autism as well as Asperger’s Syndrome. The talk was very engaging with many
questions in the Q&A session afterwards.
Some of the speakers maintained a stall in the main hall so further information and
discussion could be had beyond their keynote presentations. All the other speakers were
available for one-to-one discussions as well.
Health Stalls
Health promotion information was arranged on health stalls. An array of health promotion
topics such as hypertension, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage health awareness, dental
health, dementia. A team of health advisors were available to give advice on screening to
detect early signs of bowel cancer, healthy eating, diet and exercise. Silver Star provided
diabetes risk assessments.
Keith Gussy Young football coach.
An extra dimension was included in the programme for the children and young people with
Keith a professional football coach. The Brent and Middlesex School’s football manager gave
a talk and explained that discipline, exercise and eating the right foods were the keys if you
wanted to become a London Premiership team trainee. The session ended with a great
photo shot with some of the attendees, as Keith had been the Brent torch bearer at the
2012 London Olympics.
Salsa and Zumba
The interactive session included a healthy exercise programme of Salsa demonstration by
MamboCity with about 15people in the class and all joined in & had fun. Zumba was led by
Vanessa Simpson from Park Lane Church. It was exhilarating and again very enjoyable.
Healthy eating demonstration Healthy cooking and eating demonstration was very popular.
The provision of healthy food such as chicken, salads, healthy fruit drinks such as smoothies
were provided by members of the planning committee for the Healthy Fun Day.
The general feedback both from the Satisfaction Survey forms and verbal feedback was
extremely positive, about the event day. Feedback after each seminar was also very positive
with many commending the messages and actions they would take away.
Gloria Parnell, Coordinator, Roy Stanley & Anita James, members of the planning
committee, and Paul Rochester.