Monday 31st July 2017 - prep, prep and more prep

Posted 8:00pm

The last few days have been full of paperwork and preparation.  We have a potentially big meeting this week, so I wanted to pull out all the stops. I have created a PowerPoint presentation of twenty slides around the finished Ajani pilot - and am pleased with it. Accompanying that, I have drawn up a three page report.

Saturday, Rosie came along to join in with our weekly fitness session.  It is great to see how more confident she is with her appearance.  I am still hopeful that Michael will come back too. Our third successful user, Wayne, is making better decisions with his life too - and all three have said we have helped them over the last couple of months.

I attended the Highbury Fields walk today - first time for nearly three months as it clashed with the Ajani Monday morning project. It was lovely to go along, but I still think we will provide a new walk around the funding we have asked for - on another day.

Thursday 27th July 2017 - cloudesley, connect, emails

Posted 4:50pm
Couple of busy days gone past.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time completing our funding application to Cloudesley - to expand and manage our Izzwalkz initiative.  Overall we have asked for around £6,600.  This will cover the costs to run and oversee 260 walks in Islington in one year - five a week. It averages out at approximately £25 per walk - which I think is value for money considering what we are trying to achieve.

The funding would cover first aid training for volunteers, plus a comprehensive first aid kit for each walk. It would also cover all marketing for the project - from posters and flyers, to social media and adverts, as well as our ongoing work on the website.  We have asked for funding towards volunteer expenses - we need one on every walk - and this would cover travel, washing (official clothing), mobile and general time - we asked for £10 per walk for this.  Finally there would be extra insurance costs - as well as clothing costs: t-shirts for summer, caps, warmer clothing in winter - all with the Izzwalkz logo on them to show they are walk leaders.

Naturally there are no guarantees on funding. We did have a good meeting with their funding director, but he explained they do get a large number of applicants.  There is a total of around £50,000 to be spent, and they normally target six to seven projects, to spend anything up to £10,000.  We hope our £6,600 bid will be successful. We demonstrated that our walks are aimed at all ages, but in particular the older generation, as well as those going through physical or mental health issues - and that the benefits of walking are well-documented.  We can live in hope.

We have contacted Connect Help On Your Doorstep. According to their website:

"Help on Your Doorstep is a registered charity (number 1133145) working in the London Borough of Islington. Our team works across Islington, with offices in EC1, Canonbury, Caledonian Road, Finsbury Park and Archway."

"Help on Your Doorstep aims to make a visible difference to the health and well-being of the communities it serves by empowering individuals to overcome the barriers they face and improve their lives. We do this through pro-active engagement with local people, professional provision of information, advice and guidance and in partnership with local service providers."

We have asked to meet up as they have terrific connections throughout the borough and deal with many people face to face.  Getting our Ajani and Izzwalkz message out could be easier through them.

Finally, we have made email contact with some significant people.  I was passed the number of a director of a financial management company who may know people who would like to put money into our venture - again no promises. I have also contacted Councillor Caroline Russell who I met earlier this week, sending her more information about us, and talked about the Local Initiative Fund that can help with the walks. We have many more emails to get out.

Most important for now is preparing for our SHP meeting next week - we also have more video filming, our stop-smoking event, and another outdoor fitness session all going on. I wonder what we will be able to achieve when we actually access salary funding!!!!! 

Tuesday 25th July 2017 - website, program review, councillor

Lazza and Caroline Russell, Islington Highbury East Councillor

Posted 9:55pm

Due to examinations and holidays we have not updated our website for a while. But thankfully our guru master, Kacper, is free for a few weeks before university and we are updating it in the next few days. I am very happy with how things are going, and he will be looked after once we obtain funding as everything has been done for free, which is tremendous. (just in case he reads this!!)

We have made serious changes to wording and continue to make changes with pictures on all our pages.. It is still a work in progress but it was very important to update wording as more and more people have access to the site as we progress. Ajani and Izzwalkz are both coming along well, with great feedback, and it was good to be able to get a few photos around. I also want to see if we can get some video on there.

Kacper came up with a great idea to put a paragraph about donations, which has a "donate" button that will link through to our GoFundMe page. Sadly, we are still waiting for our first donation - but we have a few irons in the fire on that front at the moment - which I will talk about another time.

Yesterday morning, I met with Luke and Dean to have a thorough review of the pilot Ajani program, to talk about the good and bad points, changes we were going to implement, and how can learn and move forward. I thought it was a terrific chat and very constructive. I feel blessed to have these guys on board with me - this is a team, not just me (which it felt like for a long long time).

This evening I met up with local Highbury East Islington Councillor Caroline Russell. She is very much into getting people active and walking and particularly was pleased to hear about our Izzwalkz initiative. There is a Local Initiatives Fund where you can access a small amount of funding for something in this area - and Izzwalkz Clissold Park clearly comes under that remit. I am going to email her some papers and get an application form. But I also asked if I could keep her informed as we talk to the Islington CCG and SHP, and she was happy to agree to that.

Tuesday 25th July 2017 - fitness sessions, funding

Our founder, Lazza, dancing through the
exercise ladder in Highbury Fields

Posted 9:40pm

First of two entries today

I realise we have not posted here since Friday, but we have not been sitting back doing nothing. In fact we are pushing harder and harder.

Saturday we had our normal weekly fitness session - and it was great to have Rosie come along, considering the Ajani course has finished. Actually, we were hoping people would continue to attend our events, and this is proof that we are on the right track

I think the inclusion of equipment is a big thumbs up. I am so glad we have started to invest into the business in this way - despite our lack of funding. It just goes to show that we can build things up with access to funds.

We also went along to watch the GoIslington event on HF, despite the wet weather. There were various sporting activities, as well as a large climbing wall, and a tent that held spiders and snakes!!

We are in the process of completing a few applications for various funding and help options. We have an August interview with Voluntary Action Islington in regards to a years free business advice.  We will be sending off the Cloudesley application for Izzwalkz tomorrow. The Gunners Fund have confirmed receipt of application and said their committee is meeting in the next few weeks.

The "to-do" list is over 25 items, but I am going to hit it hard in the next three days. Next week is very busy, and could be crucial in our next direction. So preparation is key.

Friday 21st July 2017 - applications, assessment, spreadsheets, CCG

Posted 4:45pm

Another week over - and one that has again been busy but productive. We had our final week of our pilot with S.H.P, a trip out to Islington Museum, attended the SHINE event managed by S.H.P, our weekly Thursday Izzwalkz walk, and a solid meeting with our business guru, Scott.

This weekend is going to be just as hectic. We have our weekly fitness session to run, and afterwards we will be attending a massive sports event on Highbury Fields. From what I gather,it is called the GoIslington Festival, and this is it's fifth year.  It is a celebration of over 20 sports, and also involves Dance and Live Music.  There is participation and lots going on - should be fun.

I have a couple of applications I want to get off on Sunday night, ready for people to see on Monday. The first is our Cloudesley funding application, based around our Izzwalkz initiative. I like to think we will get something - even if not the whole amount we are looking for - which is just over £5000. But who can tell?

The second is something I viewed via Voluntary Action Islington, as well as being forwarded to me from S.H.P. There is a Capacity Building Essentials Project, that offers assistance towards Business Planning, Financial Management, Publicity and Promotion, Fundraising, Monitoring and Evaluation. Delivered through a series of one-to-one sessions and training workshops - all over one year. The project itself starts in September.  It's an interesting application, very detailed. I thought at one stage we would not actually be applicable, but have been encouraged by V.A.I to submit.

I went through some financial spreadsheets with Scott yesterday as we approach SHP to do further courses. I value his input and opinion very much, and he makes excellent changes.  It's a touchy subject in a way. We need to cover our costs and some salary, but do not want to either undercharge ourselves, or put ourselves outside their own budgets. I am sure we can get it right. Our meeting with them will be at the start of August, and i propose to do a presentation as well as a report - want to look as professional as possible.

This weekend I also need to get an email off to our C.C.G contact - along with several other emails. The to-do list, that I had made serious inroads into, has grown once more. It seems never ending, but that is part of getting the project off the ground.

Finally, I have adjusted the wording on the GoFundMe page - we have had Zero payments so far - as I felt that my first draft - that included some personal stuff at the start - may have been off putting for people, as it may have appeared that I was asking the money for myself - when in fact it is purely for H.M.H.B and the projects.

Wednesday 20th July 2017 - evaluations, spreadsheets, stop smoking

Posted 11:55pm

It's a late night entry today - but that's because I have been working late.

For our crucial meeting with SHP next week, where we will be discussing the pilot program, and further possibilities, I needed to create two spreadsheets - one to do with just continuing with SHP on a small basis - but getting income; the second one is for the, hopefully, opportunity of applying for the Big Lottery to do a lot of courses with SHP partnership.

We have sent through our evaluation sheets to SHP for the people who were on our course.We could have handed them out on Monday during the course but felt we did not want to waste time during the day. And it seemed fruitless to give them to the service users to complete later as they could get lost. However, if the SHP key worker fills them out with the user on their next visit then we are guaranteed to get them back properly.

Finally, I have created a poster for our Stop Smoking event on Thursday 3 August.  It's all fun here. My to-do list has changed dramatically from last Friday - but with additions is just as long. Unfair!!

Tuesday 18th July 2017 - SHINE event, plus BITC news

Dean and Lawrence, standing either side of

SHP Aftercare Recovery Manager Joe

Posted 5:20pm
Third blog entry of the day.

Dean and I attended the SHINE event being run by SHP today - an event to showcase their service, which was celebrating its 40 year birthday - but also to promote the various projects running alongside them, and other organisations they cooperate with.  We were delighted to be asked to present our project - which we did at the beginning - and we incorporated some stretching and exercising too, getting the audience to participate - which went down very well.

It was a great event, with various speakers. We made some good contacts and pushed our Saturday fitness session with a few people.  These kind of network events can be brilliant. You are hopefully going to get yourself noticed, as well as make a few contacts that can be mutually useful.

We also spoke to Business In The Community today on the phone. They were just seeing how I was doing following the Ready For Work programme I did a couple of years ago - which is where I met my business mentor Scott. However, they also have some terrific business contacts, and I cheekily asked them if we could perhaps use that with our GoFundMe page - and they were quite open to talk about it. This could be a fantastic way to boost our image, and maybe get someone to actually give some money on the page.  There is so much we want to do, and so much we need to prepare for, but unless we can get some funds it just does not happen.

Tuesday 18th July 2017 - final pilot program day + outing

Posted 4:40pm

Yesterday saw the completion of our first pilot of Ajani - and the feedback has been very good, for the people who stayed with us. No-one attended every week - but we totally understand the issues that can surround and overwhelm someone - but at least three came with us a majority of the way - and the gains they have made in their mental and physical health have been terrific.

We were anxious to attend it on a high. We have several Unique Selling Points (USPs) - one of which has been the "extras" we incorporate into the program. So after the course we all walked along the Regent's Canal between Camden and Angel. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we were having a great laugh and banter all the way - another selling point (we created a special trust amongst us all). It was wonderful having Wayne, Rosie and Michael along.

We lunched in Duncan Terrace, which is a small green area behind Angel station. Then we made our way down to the fantastic Islington Museum.  We had contacted them prior to say that we were coming. I thought it was important as we were attending as a group that we stay as a group - and hoped they might show us around. In fact, they spend a considerable amount of time with us - and patiently and expertly described a lot of the exhibits, which was instructive, interesting and memorable - and I learnt quite a lot myself about the history of the area.  I would highly recommend the museum to anyone.

We then went our separate ways - but it is important for us to say that Ajani does not just finish there for our users. We stressed we will continue to have outdoor sessions people can come too, and events to attend - as well as interact through our social media - and we will encourage people to join up.

Overall, we feel we have done well, and provided exactly the service we said we would. Yes, we will make changes - and adapt ourselves. But an amazing first start. Now we just need to get some money in to progress.

Tuesday 18th July 2017 - busy weekend - exercise; collecting lunch

collecting from Tooley St, Pret-a-Manger

Sunday 16th July

Posted 4:30pm

First of a couple of entries for today, as I want to split up some news.

The weekend went very quickly - which is always the way when you want to get a lot done.

Our regular weekly health personal training session in Highbury Fields went well - even though there was just one service user joining Dean and myself.  Dean had us pushing hard with various arm, leg and core exercises - poor Michael said his legs were collapsing towards the end.  These things always seem to be such a struggle while you are doing them, but you feel good afterwards.

It has been good to see different people coming along and enjoying our sessions.  The feedback has been terrific - I think it is because they see us putting ourselves out for them - they all know we have no funding, and the fact we are coming out voluntary has to make a statement.

We brought down some equipment - it was the first time we have used our fitness ladder, and Michael seemed to enjoy using the stretch bands.

On Sunday - I traveled down to London Bridge to visit the Tooley Street branch of Pret-A-Manger. SHP has a charity agreement with them. It enables SHP to collect leftover food for a meeting the following day.  As Monday was the last day of our pilot program, we wanted to provide a lunch and an outing - more to follow in our next blog entry - and the staff were terrific. As you can see from the pictures above, we were allowed a selection of baguettes, wraps, croissants, etc.  Yay, and many thanks to them.

Friday 14th July 2017 - Facebook news and upcoming events

Posted 2:20pm
The second of our blog entries for the day.

We have a Facebook page - which we need to grow - and the only way to do that is to get more and more people aware of it.  One of the best ways is to "boost" your postings - which means that, for a small fee, Facebook will post your entry to a certain number of pages within your local community.

Of course, the main stumbling block for us at the moment is those words "a small fee". Without funding this becomes very difficult.  Luke, one of our deliverers, has kindly paid to boost our GoFundMe posting on our page - I do know that a few people have clicked on us now - and i believe we have some new followers.  But we have to start growing quickly to get ourselves noticed and established.

Our Facebook page is - healthy minds healthy bods.

We are starting to use it more and more.  We will be placing a new inspirational quote on every day for example. It is nice to read words that are positive in the morning.  We also want to use it, like this blog, as a way of getting information out to service users for upcoming events.

With that in mind, HMHB is going to be very active in the next fortnight.

Tomorrow we have a group outdoor pt session - and from what I gather it is going to be our biggest so far. We like to make these fun - and will be taking a couple of photos for the media sites.

On Monday, after our last course date on our pilot programme, HMHB has organised a lunch followed by a trip to Islington Museum, who will be expecting us around 2pm, and have promised us a short intro group presentation before we look around - which will be fantastic.

On Tuesday, SHP are running an event to promote themselves and their activities - and we have been invited along to have a table and meet with prospective service users. We are also giving a short 15 minute presentation of our service around 11:30am.

Finally, next Saturday, our Ajani group has been invited by Change Grow Live to join in their picnic/barbeque on Highbury Fields in the afternoon.  It will be similar to our own event we ran in June, and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that the weather continues to be nice.  Our Izzwalkz ladies will also be coming along.

We promised a fun, proactive, interactive program - and I think we are delivering on that!!!

Friday 14th July 2017 - thursday walk extras

pics from Izzwalkz CP - thurs 13th July 2017

Posted 2:00pm
This is the first of a couple of blog entries today as there is a lot to cover.

I wanted to talk a little about our Izzwalkz initiative, what we are doing, where we are going, and how we are getting there.

I still recall our first walk last November 2016, four of us setting off. I was not sure if it would last, how it would go, if people would come, and if the medical practice (Highbury Grange) would continue to support it, and us.

All of those worries were unfounded.  I always wanted to introduce some kind of physicality into the walk, but I think it was important to just get it established.  It has become a terrific weekly event, with more than one of our regulars saying how much they "look forward every week" to coming along. It's not just the walk, but also the social inclusion. We have such a laugh.

The photos above were from our latest walk, yesterday morning.  Sheila, who came on our first ever walk, nearly eight months ago, was there alongside some of our other regulars. It tends to be the older generation who come along - which is terrific. We would like to get more people on JSA, ESA, or who are available during the day, to come along, but age is immaterial.

We have slowly been introducing different exercises - this week we brought along some gloves and pads. With a little bit of knowledge, I was able to instruct them on jabbing and punching, as well as doing an upper cut and a hook.  It's really a matter of just pushing to get people a little out of breath. Exercise is a proven answer to some mental health issues, as well as physical health issues. Making it fun and having a laugh is paramount.

Over the next few weeks we will be incorporating more stretches, and different exercises, bring along different pieces of equipment.  Like the boxing, actually having gloves and pads available made it more fun, and people made an effort.  Everyone said how much they enjoyed it afterwards.

Moving forward, we had an excellent meeting with a charity on Wednesday afternoon - and we will be putting in an application around Izzwalkz to get them expanded into five different Islington areas. At least we are getting noticed, which is terrific.

Wednesday 12th July 2017 - funding meetings and opportunities

Posted 1:00pm

Am sitting down with a lovely cup of coffee feeling in a positive mood. We have been talking for months and months (well years actually) about funding; persistence and perserverence are maybe finally paying off.

I have a meeting in an hour to talk to a funder to expand and sustain our Izzwalkz program. As our regular followers will know, we have always been aiming for a minimum of five weekly walks in Islington - spreading over the borough (with thoughts on six or seven). That would mean at least 260 organised health walks a year which would be phenomenal. But that organisation would need a small financial income - to cover things like volunteer travel and clothing, insurance, marketing (posters and flyers), an online social media presence - including paid exposure, as well as website and domain name expenses.  We would anticipate approx £20 per walk - which on the face of it is cheap for the outcomes we are already seeing;  increased energy, better social inclusion, raised confidence, happier people. The walks even include some stretching and gentle exercise - so again that can only be good for people.  Hopefully, this funder will also see what we are doing and we can get in a successful application.

I attended an Islington PPG (patients group) meeting last night, organised by Healthwatch in Islington, and attended by patients, medical professionals etc. from Islington Medical Practices to chat with Islington Commissioners about ongoing work in the borough.  I found it very interesting. Fateha, the practice manager for Highbury Grange Medical Practice was there, and we had a quick catch up.  I also finally met with Emma, the CEO for Healthwatch. I have been in contact with her for over six months, and has been encouraging and helpful to us.

The best part was that we were able to ask questions. I already chatted to Emma asking how I should maybe word my question; And I asked - why is it impossible for new projects to meet and chat with the CCG? We understand that money is tight, and we certainly do not expect anyone to just give us anything. But when we have a project that everyone likes, is different from any current service available, and one in which we are getting good feedback from, we should at least be able to meet and chat with the CCG about what we are doing, but it is impossible.  Why is that?" - And i got a reply that I felt, in my opinion, was a little pfaffy. It didnt really answer my question. So, me being me, I said that - and again stressed that a new project like ourselves needed to be able to talk to the CCG.  Well, that worked. A lady, who I found our later is one of the active people on the commissioning board, came along to chat with me - and I will be forwarding on paperwork to her with a view to another meet so we can discuss how can we proceed.  Not bad!!!

I have also contacted SHP to ask for a meeting date to discuss how we can make a Big Lottery Fund application, as well as sit down to discuss further courses in the meantime.

Tuesday 11th July 2017 - pt session, penultimate week, plus video filming

Luke leading our boxing session

helping Dean (PT) and Rosie (10/7/17)

Posted 4:30pm

I am just waiting to attend an Islington PPG (Patient's Group) meeting near to Angel. I am attending as a representative of the Highbury Grange Medical Centre patients, which is a real privilege.  I am not exactly sure what will be happening, but I am hoping that I will be able to speak to someone in regards to our project - or at least get a terrific contact.

A lot has happened in the last few days.  On Saturday morning, we organised another of our weekly personal trainer sessions in highbury fields - and I am happy to say that Rosie from our group came along.  We had a good fitness experience - led by our trainer Dean. I certainly came away exhausted - and we had a good coffee afterwards (I even made it to the gym again - both Saturday and Sunday).

Monday was the penultimate course week - and we went over a lot of our aims in the last few weeks - bringing up a list containing:  "Choice; Responsibility; Procrastination: Pro-Active; Perserverence; Listen; Change; Action".  We also had a great boxing sparring session - Luke leading us as he has taken part in boxing before - showing us the jab/punch; upper cut; and hook.  It went down very well, and just goes to show that having a bit of equipment can make a huge difference.  We ended the session by asking people to go off and think of a targets and aims; to cover the next week, month, year, and three months.  Having a target to aim for can give your life purpose and hope - both are things that can be lacking if going through stress and issues.  (pic above from the boxing session)

After the session Luke, Dean and myself managed to fit in a bit of football activity.

Today, we all headed off - plus Kacper (website man) - to St Pancras Leisure Centre, who had very kindly booked one of their large studios for us - so that we could film some videos for our Youtube channel/.  I don't think we got as much done as I would have liked - but we definitely got nine/ten videos filmed - including ones on stretching. Our bespoke videos are there to show that people like myself can struggle with fitness, as well as show how to do various exercises (with a medium and easy option), plus explain common mistakes as well as the muscles used.  The banter is half the product.  It was fun, and there will be more to come.

It was good catching up with Kacper - who has been very busy with examinations and holiday. We will be making huge changes to the website - including new wording, new pictures, and videos. An overhaul was required. So I will report back on that in about seven days time to enable us to make all the necessary changes.

Friday 7th July 2017 - fitness equipment, applications, filming, walk

Posted 3:15pm

Our first lot of fitness equipment has arrived.  After chatting with our Personal Trainer, we ordered some stretch bands (pictured above), a fitness ball, some markers, an exercise ladder (pictured), and some boxing pads to go with our gloves.  Obviously just a start - and we will be building up a good selection of equipment over time.

We are planning another outdoor session in Highbury Fields tomorrow morning - and we can bring some of the equipment to try out - and get some pictures and a little video too.

We are starting to push on plenty of funding applications. We need to push now as hard as possible. At least we are getting noticed. It was a terrific idea to get started on a voluntary basis - but we really need to start getting paid for our time and efforts.  We are organising a couple of meetings with SHP in regards to moving forward with them.

I am looking forward to filming videos next Tuesday.  We have some on our Youtube channel which we filmed with our first PT, Adam, last year.  Sadly that never worked out - which is a shame as we are talking funding and contracts now - but we need to replace them with Dean, our new fantastic PT.

Finally, we are looking to progress on our walks - especially growing the numbers. We had a lovely walk yesterday - the weather has been wonderful - and it is still lovely hearing just how much the ladies (it is normally ladies) enjoy the morning.

Tuesday 4th July 2017 - bbq, smoking, day out, fitness

Posted 1:30pm

My second blog post of the afternoon - I did not want the first to go on and on and on!!!

We are meeting up with CGL this afternoon as they are running a picnic/bbq - like the one we did on the 17th June.  It will be open to all the CGL service users, but they have kindly invited our Ajani and Izzwalkz users to attend, as well as staff from SHP and HGMC.  I just want to get some basic details from them to pass on - but it is great that we are being recognised as an important organisation now in our own right - being established would be terrific.

I am delighted to say we have finally managed to get a solid contact within the Islington stop smoking service (solutions4health - logo at top of entry).  I had a call back yesterday and, after having a chance to speak with SHP, we are organising an afternoon hour meeting at the start of August for all SHP service users, including our Ajani clientele.  I think it can also boost staff from both SHP and HMHB (thinking of you both Luke and Dean!!!!).

I wanted to organise a further day out - following on from our trip to the arsenal stadium in May. It would have happened already - but fluctuating numbers, as well as available days for everyone, has meant a delay. Instead, as next Monday is the official last day of the course, we felt it would be good to have a lunch after and then have a small afternoon out - and we are looking at Islington Museum.  A social event would boost us all I feel.

Finally, Luke, Dean and myself enjoyed a good kick about with a football and then a little exercise yesterday lunchtime - as we were free following the  morning course disappointment.  I have found my own activity energy levels are improving greatly - and a loot of thanks goes to Dean for that.  I think I am definitely on the path back to achieving targets and building confidence in my own body again.

Lastly - there may be news on an idea I have had for a business link up - it's new, so just putting a teaser out there. YAY!!

Tuesday 4th July 2017 - ups/down: cloudesley; videos

Posted 1:10pm

I have so much to put down that this is the first of two entries into the blog I am making this afternoon.  It is great being busy - and seeing progress.  I have had to learn to be patient, but also persistent!!!

Sadly, following my very upbeat message on Saturday prior to the group fitness session, Dean and I ended up doing over an hour by ourselves.  I have to say it is boosting my own personal fitness and stamina levels, and I have now lost 5kgs in the last 5 weeks - just another 13 to go (so three months could be magic for me!!).  But it is disappointing that we go to all this effort to provide free access to exercise and fitness - something we know people are constantly asking for - and yet the same people do not attend.  I am not judging too harshly I hope - having gone through a few depressions in my time for various reasons I can understand how negativity can overwhelm you - but even so it would be nice to have people attend.

Then on Monday, on what would have been the penultimate week of the course, for various reasons we had no one attend either. SHP said they were not concerned, it did not reflect badly on us, and in fact they are still very happy with what we are doing and want to talk seriously about further work.  It is something we need to review though.

On a brighter note, our friends at St Pancras Leisure Centre have very kindly agreed to let us use one of their exercise studios for free to film some bespoke fitness videos for our Youtube channel - we will be taking up their offer next Tuesday - and I will be speaking with Dean this week on how I am expecting the content to come over.  Seeing myself on video again is a great spur on my personal weight journey (as partly mentioned above) - but I am excited to be putting a slightly different slant on the many videos that are currently on the internet.

Finally, for this entry, tomorrow we are meeting up with Cloudesley charity - they only fund projects in Islington - and we will be looking now to expand and grow our Izzwalkz initiative in the borough. I would very much like to have 5 different walks going every week by the end of the year. We calculate that the cost of volunteers (we should recompense travel, washing etc), insurance, marketing, clothing, website, etc. could be £20 per walk - which is terrific value - so that would be approx £5000 a year for 260 walks.  Obviously no guarantees anywhere - but keeping everything crossed.

Saturday 1st July 2017 - crunch month, fitness session/equipment, paperwork

Posted 10:15am

It's Saturday morning, and I am just getting ready to meet up with Dean and our group to do an outdoor fitness session in Highbury Fields.  I am really hoping we can get four people along - but let's just wait and see who turns up.  I have to say I am very much looking forward to this today - and have suggested to Dean, along with the stretches and exercises, maybe we can introduce some circuit training too.

This is a crunch month for us.  Our first pilot program will finish - and we have already started organising a meeting to discuss every aspect of it - from what went well, what we can improve, how people have felt on it, etc.  I do know the feedback has generally been very good, which is terrific - but I have found certain parts of it challenging, but totally fulfilling.  Seeing the improvement in some individuals has been wonderful, and makes it all worthwhile.  We also will be talking about finance for further courses.

Using some of the picnic/bbq money we purchased some items for sport and fun at the time.  This week we added to that by ordering various pieces of equipment to help with our PT fitness side; these include markers, stretch bands, a fitness ball (as pictured at the top), boxing pads (we already have gloves) and a fitness ladder.  This is just the start of what we are hoping to buy. We ordered through Amazon so sadly will not have any items for today - but am excited for future sessions.

I have been going through and sorting paperwork. This, again, is a crucial month to ensure we have everything in place, and handy to find and use.  We aim to push on funding applications and meetings, so getting everything filed away is vital.