Wem Active Towns projects need your vote
Wem residents are being invited to vote for their top three projects on Thursday 22 September 2016 and Saturday 24 September 2016 as part of a campaign to help increase participation in physical activity of local people, in particularly those less active.
Up to £30,000 can be awarded based on the projects chosen by residents as part Shropshire’s Everybody Active Towns community fund project to help motivate people to get involved in helping everyone in their locality become more physically activity. To win this funding people need to get out and vote.
The Everybody Active Wem voting events will take place at Wem Town Hall on Thursday 22 September 2016 and Saturday 24 September 2016 from 9am to 1pm.
The campaign invited residents, community groups and organisations in Wem to submit their projects to help increase participation in physical activity in the town.
Nine projects made it to the final voting event, and everyone young and old will have the opportunity to vote for their top three projects. Shortlisted projects submitted by the local community include:
- North Shropshire Story Trails
Everybody loves a good story and if you say you don’t, you’re lying. Stories can be funny, scary, silly and everything in between, and the stories of north Shropshire are no different. In fact the area is almost bursting with them. The project is for professional storytellers to lead groups around specially designed story trails telling the tales your local area has to offer.
- Every Child a Cyclist
Bringing Bikeability Level 1 training to all Year 3 and Year 4 children at St Peter’s without the usual £20 charge to parents. This bid is aimed at non cyclists and children in the very early stages of their cycling journey, and would deliver the opportunity for them to learn to ride and grow in confidence. By experiencing the thrill of cycling we aim for Wem to have a generation of cyclists being active because they want to.
- More Walking More Often
We want young children to enjoy walking, we and aim to have all children walking every day. To assist with this aim every child would also be issued with a hi-vis vest to wear as a reward for being active when walking as part of the new weekly walking scheme. The school would also like to start a daily Walking Bus, the idea being that children who were previously dropped off at the school gate would walk to school.
- Exercise with Baby classes
We would like to provide postnatal classes to allow mums to get fit and toned, whilst babies are included through songs, movements and visuals. With no childcare to organise, an opportunity to meet other mums, a chance to get fit and tire out little ones at the same time, what could be better? There will be two classes – level one aimed at mums first starting back into exercise with babies aged 7 weeks to 7 months, and a level two class for mums with babies aged 5-16 months old.
- Scooterpod
We know that scooting can be away of encouraging children to be more active who find walking boring. As part of an ongoing strategy to promote active travel to school, we would like to install a scooter pod providing a safe place for the scooters to be stored during the day freeing up space in the bike shed.
- Everybody Dance
To support line dancing and ballroom and sequence dance classes for adults and older people. The dance classes are a great way to have fun moving to music and meeting new people. They are for anyone and everyone, so if you’ve never danced before you will be most welcome to come along.
- Extending Wem Extend
To provide a suitable exercise class for more less-abled and elderly people of either gender in our community at a reasonable cost. Classes are designed to improve mobility, stamina, posture and co-ordination by movement to music that is enjoyable. Exercises start from sitting in a chair and develop to standing and moving for those able, the less able can remain sitting and still join in.
- Clamber Stack
Children enjoy using the adventure playground at St Peter’s, but it is important to keep the variety of activities available to a maximum to appeal to as many children as possible. We would like to purchase some play equipment and install a clamber stack in the adventure playground, as it is different to anything that that is currently on offer.
- Ramped
To deliver a series of skate “Jams” in the Wem area for people to become more active and ride together. The mobile skate park will be set up in Wem and equipment provided giving the opportunity for young people to have a go, whilst also having experienced staff / riders present to inspire those attending.
Sue Thomas, community enablement officer and Everybody Active Wem lead, said:
“Wem’s Everybody Active projects all need your vote, so please come along and vote for the top three projects that you think provide value for money and will help the less people to become more active.”
Karen Calder, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for health and well-being, and Chair of Shropshire’s Health and Well-being Board, added:
“It is well documented that lack of physical activity is now a national epidemic and poses serious health risks to our local communities. Without action, the burden on health and social care will destabilise services and reduce the quality of life for individuals, their families and communities.
“The Everybody Active Towns project is a fantastic initiative that gives local communities the opportunity to work together and come up with sustainable ways to tackle physical inactivity in their community. The success of this project is very much dependent on the response of local people so I would really urge local residents to get involved and come along and take part in the voting events.”
Voting is open to people 11 years old and over who live, work or are currently being educated in Wem.
Further information about Everybody Active Wem projects can be found here.
For more information about Shropshire’s Everybody Active Towns project visit http://www.healthyshropshire.co.uk/topics/physical-activity/everybody-active-towns-project/.
Further information
Physical inactivity can pose serious health risks to the individual, and is now one of the key health issues in the UK, responsible for one in six deaths and costing the country an estimated £7.4 billion a year. Those who aren’t active enough risk developing a series of conditions – depression, dementia, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and more.
Everybody Active Wem is part of Shropshire’s Everybody Active Towns community fund project currently being piloted in in four areas across Shropshire. Other towns include Broseley, Whitchurch and Craven Arms.
The community fund project was set up by Shropshire Council’s public health team to help motivate communities to come up with ideas and sustainable projects to improve physical activity within their locality.
The projects can be targeted to any or all ages across the life course, from early years to later life. Proposed projects will compete for funding through a public vote in their town.
The maximum amount available to each of the four communities is £30,000, but will be adjusted according to community response and to ensure a genuine competition can take place. The response to this competitive process will indicate the level of successful community engagement.
