EXECUTIVE MEMBER
REPORT TO COUNCIL
21ST OCTOBER 2009
HEALTHY TOWN PROGRAMME
‘Let’s make Middlesbrough a Healthy Town’
Since my last report, the awareness raising promotional campaign has been fully rolled
out with additional packs of posters, leaflets etc going out to all schools following their
summer break. This initial campaign was intended to culminate in the Town Meal – itself
a Healthy Town project – which was successfully staged on 26th September.
The Town Meal’s primary purpose is as a celebration of the range of urban
farming/growing projects, supported by the Programme, which have taken place over the
spring and summer months. However, the opportunity was also taken to showcase all of
the projects within the Programme covering the active travel, youth engagement and
physical environment themes – to raise the profile of these other activities. Aided by a
fabulous day weather-wise, the Event was really well attended and had a great family
carnival atmosphere.
The Healthy Town Management Team is currently completing a full review of the recent
Social Marketing exercise, the feedback from the Middlesbrough Partnership Forum held
earlier in the year, and the budget re-profiling exercise, to see how the Programme can
be modified to better reflect public needs. This review exercise will be reported upon to
the Executive Board in November.
As we approach the end of the second quarter of 2009/10, we are running close to our
re-profiled target on projected expenditure of Healthy Town Grant. This reflects the fact
that more and more projects are now moving from the development to the
implementation stage. Of particular note in this respect are the following:
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The project to provide vocational training in horticulture at the walled
garden in Stewart Park is now underway,
Youth Dance Middlesbrough and its project to deliver a programme of
community dance classes at 5 venues around the town has been launched,
Under the leadership of MFC in the Community, the ‘mini’ and ‘youth’ health
trainer programmes have been introduced into selected schools, and
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A second group of 20 students has started on the ‘junior’ health trainer
programme at UCA/EMEC, supported by a range of equipment provided by
the Healthy Town Programme.
The Management Team has so far approved 13 grants under the Community Initiatives
Fund scheme (which supports the Healthy Town Programme) committing some £35,000
of the £50,000 available with several other applications in the pipeline to be assessed.
Another 10k Success
Over the past 6 months nine families in Middlesbrough have been given support to
prepare for the Middlesbrough 10K Run. The Community Protection Service's Healthy
Living Team have taken a family-centred approach to help family members become more
active, tackle weight problems and achieve better health. The goal of running the 10K
was set at the start of the programme and 27 family members completed the run on
September 6th. A collective weight loss of 25kg was achieved and better fitness levels
were reported by all who attended the programme.
LifeCheck – Baby LifeCheck and Teen LifeCheck.
The Department of Health has provided funding to local authorities to promote the
LifeCheck – which is an on line service to help the public assess information about their
own and their child’s health and well being. The public can answer a set on questions
about their lifestyle and LifeCheck gives confidential results and advice to address any
health and lifestyle concerns. There are NHS LifeChecks for people at different life
stages – Baby LifeCheck, for parents and carers of babies aged between 5 and 8
months, Teen LifeCheck, for young people between 12 and 15 years, and Mid-Life
LifeCheck for adults between 45 and 60 years (soon to be launched).
A programme of local promotional and awareness raising events has been developed
through a multi agency group lead by Middlesbrough NHS. These are planned for
delivery over the next few months and involve voluntary sector organisations, Sure Starts
and the Youth Service to publicise the use of NHS LifeCheck to the target groups.
SPORTS DEVELOPMENT
Active in East Middlesbrough
Through Middlesbrough’s Community Sport Network, funding was drawn down from
Sport England to deliver physical activity programmes in the Community.
One of these programmes, a physical activity deliverer / co-ordinator for East
Middlesbrough began on 1st September. The programme is heavily supported by STEM
and the post holder is housed with them to increase accessibility to the local community.
The post holder, Craig Woodhouse, will work with the local adult community to identify
their needs and aspirations and barriers around getting active. Craig will deliver activity
sessions and has a budget to enable coaches to work in the area. The delivery takes
place at a mixture of community facilities. There has been high initial interest for dance
programmes but the scope of delivery will grow over time.
As the post is only funded for one year, the main issue for the postholder is to create
sustainable opportunities and give people the skills and confidence to continue to
exercise independently.
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Activity Through Dance
On the 1st September the Activity through Dance Officer (Joanne Jacques) hosted a
celebration event in Jo Walton’s Youth and Community Centre. The event was delivered
as a chance for people involved in the scheme to celebrate their involvement and show
off their skills and also as a means of attracting new people to get involved in the project.
Activity through Dance is a two-year scheme funded through the Joint Investment
Programme. The scheme uses dance as a tool to get people to be more active and to
benefit from the social elements of the programme. The scheme targets sedentary adults
with the participants being mainly 40 years plus.
The event included a healthy buffet, entertainment and of course, the chance to dance.
Over 80 adults attended the event, of which 40 were new to the Activity through Dance
Scheme. Since the event 20 of the newcomers have carried on their involvement
attending some of the weekly sessions that are delivered through the programme.
LEISURE CENTRES
CLAIRVILLE STADIUM
Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) Juniors, based at Clairville Stadium and a partner of the
Council’s in making more people more active, were involved in an exiting promotion meet
on Sunday 30th August at Wigan. In a very close match they won by a slender margin of
11 points.
As a result of this excellent achievement Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) juniors team have
been promoted along with Preston into the Northern Premier Division after competing in
the lower leagues for the past ten years.
Match Result:
Middlesbrough AC 552,
Preston 541,
Liverpool 499,
Wakefield 391,
Rotherham 348,
Doncaster 219
Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) also hope to enter a women’s team in the UK Women’s
Athletics League next season. The qualifier for this will be held on 19 th September in
Cardiff. This is the highest league in the UK for women athletes.
Unfortunately the senior team missed out on promotion to the Northern Division 1 by just
39 points after a severely depleted team worked tirelessly to fill gaps for athletes who
were unable to be present. All athletes who competed were a credit to the club, with
many competing in several events they have never tried before. The Club Chairman
commented that ''The team deserved a pat on the back for their endeavours, they should
hold their heads up high for what they had achieved throughout the competition, it had
been their efforts that had led to the team being there, however on the day we had
succumbed to stronger teams who had fielded national and international athletes''.
For those Members who are interested there is more information on the club’s season on
the Middlesbrough Athletics Club Website (www.middlesbroughac.org.uk)
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Play Scheme
Clairville Stadium had a very successful 4-week play scheme during the summer
holidays, with 736 admissions. That is an average of 37 children attending per day.
The sessions included activities and trips to the Centre of Life in Newcastle and Light
Water Valley.
Extended Schools
Working in partnership with the local Extended Schools Co-ordinator the Stadium
delivered activities to children from 16 schools this year. 3 children from the Children
Looked After Service were part of the group who enjoyed the sessions.
Junior Activity Programme – Autumn Term
Clairville Stadium has re-started the Junior Box a Cise and Kidz Power sessions after the
summer holidays. The sessions are aimed at boys and girls 6 –12 years of age and of all
abilities and the emphasis is on fun.
Other regular activities have also resumed including St Josephs daily Breakfast Club and
twice-weekly gym visits from Newlands School.
BRENDA THOMPSON
EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND SPORT
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