Wednesday 27th June 2018 - Ajani with SHP

Posted 2:15pm

We are thoroughly enjoying our third Ajani programme with SHP - the final session is tomorrow. Instead of seven sessions over six weeks  we are experimenting a five session programme (which should be over four weeks but is actually over 16 days due to the availablity of the London Itish Centre venue - organised by SHP). It does mean our outcome dynamics have changed, but that is fibe for both sides.

We are loving our intervention, and have averaged around 7 to 8 a class. Above are some photos from our boxing session we do on our third week - but we also have sessions on mindset, nutrition and health/targets.

The feedback has been strong again - and we are delighted with how the whole process has gone - tomorrow we are concentrating on how to sustain the mindset, achieveable goals, as well as how we can assist with our fitness sessions etc. We need to get some video feedback as well as written.

It has been a slightly different program as it is only 16 days, we had to change venue for the second session due to Ed Sheeran visitng the Irish Centre, we had to use Tuesday and Thursday mornings too. But I think we have handled the obstacles well.  I will be very interested to see and hear the feedback tomorrow - and that includes any constructive information on the course. We are still finding our way, and adapt as we go on occasions.

On a personal note, it is amazing to see the delivery of a programme I thought about and designed. To be allowed to promote our fresh approach to mental health is an extraordinary opportunity and privilege. We are not qualified, but we definitely have a product that can only grow and develop.

Wednesday 27th June 2018 - Great Get Together Picnic

Saturday 23rd June 2018

GGT Picnic at The \Chestnuts N5

Posted 2:10pm

With incredible thanks to Islington Council for providing the funding, and Laurette and her team at The Chestnuts Community Centre, Highbury Grange, N5, HMHB organised a picnic for the Great Get Together Weekend last Saturday.

While Luke ran our Saturday fitness session on Highbury Fields last Saturday, Lazza was helping get the centre ready - full of food bought the day before and lots of sandwiches he had made that morning. The centre had been given a lot of cakes, donuts, an enormous box of pretzels, and we provided litres and litres of water and dquash (alcohol free).

It was  a lovely warm day, and we all had a terrific time. The pcture above shows Lazza and Luke surrounded by Ajani users, Izzwalkers, and the Islington Mayor, who was on the first of five functions that day.

Not only that, the previous Mayor, Una, said that when she came on our birthday Izzwalkz last November, that that was her favourite function of the whole of her year as Mayor, which touched us deeply. and made me very proud.

HMHB is all about getting people active, getting out of the flat/house, bringing people together, and creating a "I will do it" attitude.  We were there for several hours before clearing up, and everyone had a terrific time. We made new friends, and it is lovely to hear people saying that something we have organised has been a success.

Yay!!!!

Wednesday 27th June 2018 - Monday Fitness Sessions

Second week Monday 18th June

Third week - Monday 25th June

Posted 2:00pm

Has it really been two weeks since an entry. My word - time is flying - and there is so much news I am going to make several entries today to do them justice.

First, we offer terrific thanks to the management of Highbury Leisure Centre. At the start of June we approached the newly refurbished centre and asked about the possibility of using one of their studuos during the week to run a fitness session for our Ajani and Izzwalkz users.  They listened to us and liked what we were doing, so agreed that for three Mondays (11th, 18th, 25th) from 12pm to 1pm we could have their largest studio for FREE. Wow!!!!  

As you can see from the pictures, we have a mix of users, and PT Dean puts us through our paces. And he does not go half measures. I was sweating a lot, as were others - which is the way I like it. Exercise is meant to get you out of your comfort zone and working hard.

And, last week, I spoke to the management again - and wonderfully he agreed to allow us use of the studio for the five Mondays in July - wow!!!!  It really is a great gesture, and we can reach people who would not normally get access to this intervention.

Thanks go to PT Dean, who has to dash off to his normal job afterwards. Great thanks to Better Gym forn allowing us use to the studio and all the equipment therein. Well done to Lazza for procuring the venue and getting people there. But most thanks to our users who have faith in us, come along, push themselves, and show that this part of the project is going well.

Wednesday 13th June 2018 - Ajani success; Job Centre; Walking article

Posted 1:45pm

The sunshine seems to have disappeared, and it is a little cooler today. However, a spectacular summer is predicted, and I am very much looking forward to that.

Especially, as we had great success with our first session on our Ajani programme with SHP. It was our third commission with them, and we had 13 attendees, and lovely feedback. The whole morning seemed to go very well, and all joined in enthusiastically.

Being myself, I forgot to take a rota/register, and also failed to make sure all the paperwork was completed - so that is a task for next week. I also failed to inform everyone that the next session (tues) is at a different venue. We are using the London Irish Centre, and Ed Sheeran is apparently visiting next week so they are pushing all others out. Instead we are using a community centre in Belsize Park, and I have voiced concerns that people may not come because of that. We will wait and see.

We were encouraged that several said they will come to our fitness session on Saturday morning on Highbury Fields with PT Dean. It would be terrific to see that grow over the summer. It would certainly help with my own fitness goals. We also have two free visits to the local gym studio to use on the next two Mondays, and hopefully several will come to that. The gym itself sent a lovely tweet out about us.

We are meeting up with Islington Job Centres manager, Ian, on Friday to discuss the two Ajani programmes we want to run with them funded with the Lottery money when it arrives. We just need to find venues that wont charge us. I am also meeting Ingeus on Thursday to discuss a programme with them.

Finally, we have been sent a copy of the article about Izzwalkz which will feature in the next Islington magazine. It has a large photo of the group wearing boxing gloves, and it gives us a great write up. I am hopeful that more new people will come along and join us.

Monday 11th June 2018 - Highbury Gym; Website; GGT

Posted 3:25pm

We are very lucky with the sunshine at the moment, as it is shining brightly, lots of warmth, and hopefully here to stay.

It naturally makes me smile and feel happy - which is always a positive.

And things are also good on the HMHB front. We had our free gym studio visit this morning - just a few of us this week as thhe Med Centre Ajani has been postponed to the 11 July. But next week we should have over double figures as we invite the SHP Ajani (starting tomorrow) service users to attend.  PT Dean was fabulous as he put us through our paces for an hour.

Had an excellent meeting with Kacper, who is overhauling our website - and he showed me for the first time what he is preparing.. It looks fabulous and will make us look even more professional and worthwhile. New pages, new content, and lots of pics and news. We hope to launch it towards the middle/end of July - so plenty of time to get it right first.

On Friday we got the news that we are getting the funding for the Great Get Together picnic we are running with Highbury Grange on the 23rd June.  I am absolutely delighted with that, and it will get us even more noticed in the local community.

Now I'm off to catch the new Jurassic dinosaur film. Yay!!

Friday 8th June 2018 - Ups and Downs (the joy of a business)

Posted 2:10pm

It has been a week of highs and lows, ups and downs, joy and frustration.  New ideas are forming too, as well as sorting out current issues.

After the postponement last week of the Islington Giving funded Ajani programme with Highbury Grange Medical Centre, we were told we were getting at least 7-8 people this week.  At the time the course was meant to start we had 1, and the second turned up 25 minutes later as we were packing up. It's a challenge, and we are dealing with it.. But HMHB themselves had an internal problem that day too, so maybe it was for the best.  After discussions, we will be running the program starting 11 July, with five sessions over four weeks.  Fingers crossed we can do the project justice.

We need to be able to face difficulties, and prove we can not only deal with them effectively,, but also come out with positives.  I think we handled the position.

On Thursday, we had an official Islington Council photographer come on our walk, accompanied by Council representative Elsa. Thankfully the weather was fantastic,, and the turn out wasn't bad, as I was aware several people would not be coming due to commitments. In the end I think there was nine of us. We are appearing in the next Islington Council magazine issue, and we may even be on the front cover.  There will be a feature about us inside - and this is great timing as we are hoping to get some small funding from the council to finally expand to five weekly health walks around the borough.

Our third SHP Ajani programme starts next Tuesday, and it looks like it is going to be the best yet - with a good number saying they will attend. This is five sessions over four weeks, and we have two days out planned, plus PT sessions, two gym sessions, as well as our usual games and fun, and will be inviting people on our walk.  We are all excited to see how this one goes.

Really excited at a couple of new ideas we have been mulling over for a couple of weeks, and which we will now be looking to do - and more news on  them will be on here soon.

Monday 4th June 2018 - Ajani flyers

Posted 1:30pm

Delighted to get our Ajani programme flyers from Vistaprint at the weekend.

We need to be able to promote our course with various agencies, and it was essential to design something that stood out.  Therefore, we decided to choose colour - and a massive logo of Ajani on the front page.  It is quite generic too - so can be used with the Job Centre, Medical Centres, Mental Health charities, as well as other employment agencies.

The reverse side contains information about HMHB, as well as the Ajani course. And I tried to choose photographs of groups smiling and happy.

It will be interesting to see the reaction we get from them.

Sunday 3rd June 2018 - fitness session, dealing with issues, targets

Wayne, PT Dean and Lazza

after training Saturday 2 June

Posted 11:00am

On Friday - the 1st - I posted a FB entry regarding the next three months (13 weeks) - over the summer it is a terrific time to set targets and realistic goals. The sunshine, light mornings, long evenings, should all combine to get you out of where you live, lift spirits, and get you more active. I laid out around 8 targets - weekly and for the three months - and hopefully I can stick it out and see where I am personally at the end of August. But it is also good for the project and HMHB.

It was terrific to see Wayne yesterday at our fitness session on Highbury Fields. PT Dean put us through our paces - we both struggled along, with lots of wheezing and moaning, but ultimately both finished the session feeling glad we had taken part.  Wayne was on our first Ajani a year ago, and it is great to see him sorting himself out and looking forward to the future - and we can feel proud that we are part of that journey for him. (I think I'll ask him to do a little video feedback for us).

After last week's mini setback, we are starting our Ajani with the Medical Centre this Wednesday, and part of that will be getting the users to come down on Saturdays to the fitness session. It would be fantastic to start getting between 5-10 people attending on Saturdays. We are hoping this Wednesday will be better attended. Luke, Dean and Lazza are all keen to continue the success of last year, and prove ourselves.

This sort of problem shows we can deal with issues - and it is a great lesson for all of us - regardless of whether it is work or personal. This small setback we instantly looked at as a challenge. It enabled us to review our procedures, and I had a great chat with mentor Scott around that. BUt it also shows that there is no hiding - no point in worrying. We dealt with it well.

Friday 1st June 2018 - Website, next three months, targets, accounts, policies

Posted 2:00pm
Another week over - another month passed. Time is flying.

Quite a bit of news today.

Kacper is currently overhauling our website - and it will be revamped and published later this month with new content, and exciting new pages. It all sounds very good, and will give us even more opportunities to interact with our users, as well as pass on information and news.

We had to postpone for one week our Medical Centre Ajani course on Wednesday. Although we had eight people signed up, with a couple more as possibles, in the end we only had a few turn up - and wanting to provide the best possible course we took the decision to postpone for one week. We had prepared well, but some things just pop up and disrupt - and we need to treat it as a challenge, as well as review procedures so that it does not happen again.  I am sure the course will turn out well.

On Facebook and Twitter we have launched a "three month challenge" to people - to set targets and goals, and be accountable - with that in mind I have written my own challenges down so people can see them. Three months; thirteen weeks; significant change can occur.  I have put targets around health, fitness, nutrition and routine.

I finished inputting our first year accounts this week onto our Sage software. I now need to format them and put them into the HMRC and Companies House. It feels great to be actually putting some figures in this time - especially as I have put in "dormant accounts" for the last few years.

I have reviewed all our policies - expecially the privacy policy with GDPR in mind. In fact all our policies will be put onto the website on a special page, as well as pdfs of relevant reports, so that they are available for everyone to see. In fact that has reminded me to pdf a copy of our insurance document to send to Kacper too.

I am going to use the next three months to work on my own Physical, Mental and Emotional Health too - it is astonishing just how much stress and unpaid hard work goes into starting a business. So many people are relying on my to make things work.