Friday 10th February 2017 - good meetings, energised

Posted 4:30pm

It has been a busy few days - so a few things to put on here.  But it is all progress.

Next week I have a meeting with AGE UK; they have a quarterly magazine in Islington (GT Islington) - and we are hoping to persuade them to do a proper feature on us - with photo and write up.  If that happens that will be great.  In the meantime: they have promised to put a small block about the walks:

This is what they suggest:

Healthy walks - with Healthy Minds, Healthy Bods.  

Meet outside Highbury Grange Medical Practice

Every Thursday at 11am.

Keep an eye on the website for new walks near you! www.hmhb2016.org.uk

Free

That coincided with our twelth walk yesterday morning which we can officially put down as the coldest so far - it was a bitter wind.  But we still managed to get five people - and that, sadly, despite a large local funeral for a very popular lady - and I know some of our regular walkers attended.

Last night, I went along to the local library where one of my three local area councillors had their surgery.  I chose this guy because he is the "mental health champion" on the council.  Fortunately, I was the only resident to attend, so we were able to chat for over 50 minutes.  He was incredibly "excited" to see the outcomes from our two pilot programs starting in March, and was quite enthusiastic about the project itself.  He did say money was very tight, and that is nothing new, but urged me to continue with what we are doing, as potential for the council to get involved.

Today I attended an event being run by the DWP at Barnsbury Job Centre.  It was centred around contracts with the DWP and services they get in to support their clients.  It used to be covered by the Flexible Support Fund - but now it is the Dynamic Purchasing System.  The application is still slightly complicated, but they do cover full funding (including salaries), and I know that we are offering something that is not currently available, but has got a lot of people excited.  I will have a good look through the websites this weekend, and discuss things further with Scott next week.  Funding is also found for small start ups - and I came away from the event upbeat and excited.  I would like to get applications in as soon as possible.

I also hooked up again with the Kings Cross Better Gym in Pancras Square - behind Kings Cross Station, and opposite St Pancras Station.  A really nice gym, and I finally got a tour.  I sat down and went over a few things with them, and I asked if we could meet up with the manager on the 20th February with Adam as well.  All came across in a promising manner.

Kacper and I are getting together on Sunday to tie down the last changes and tweaks to the website, which is encouraging.  So it is all coming together.  A lot of hard work still to do though.