Wednesday 31st October 2018 - completion of fourth Ajani

Lazza on the final day of Ajani

Brickworks Community

Posted 12:10pm

We had oour final day of our four session Ajani at Brickworks Community Centre yesterday. It was an interesting course - our first using a Community Centre.

Various numbers attended, but that was always going to happen, as people did have health commitments. Overall, the feedback was, as always, terrific. Our unique delivery style was welcomed - the fact we do not lecture was appreciated, and there has been an increase in exercise and fitness, as well as better nutrition.

It has again demonstrated several outcomes to us:

First - we can do it with limited staff if required.
Second - our design can be adapted to the group we are working with.  We changed our exercise/fitness part from other programmes - and this also enabled us to learn more about ourselves and what we can achieve.
Third - we have only worked with people in recovery before - this was a new experience, but demonstrated that the course is great for both preventive and corrective
Fourth - we can work with different numbers successfully - but we obviously would like double figures for all courses
Fifth - our interaction and visuals are fun and informative - and or new presentations we prepared for this course went down very well

Overall - we just need seed funding to expand, establish and grow - this intervention should be available to all. Yay!!

Monday 29th October 2018 (4th entry) - general HMHB update

Posted 12:40pm

So, here we go with our fourth entry for today - this time covering our general HMHB news.

CORPORATE
We are looking to work with corporate clients - as it appears getting finance from the public sector is proving very tricky - despite everyone loving our idea and concept, as well as asking to see our evidence. I am sure contracts can come, but we need money to prove our outcomes and get us established.
Therefore, public sector is now where we are looking,  We have designed and developed a day even around our values, and feel we have a concept and product we can take to corporate companies, in exchange for sponsorship. Scott is helping us develop contact information, and we are creating a database of big companies to approach - and will look to be doing that next week. It is a huge undertaking, but we need seed funding for salaries and running costs.

PUBLICITY
I am looking around to see just how we can get ourselves noticed and followed - on social media as well as regular media.
We recently overhauled our website - but it is crucial we get that properly up to date - with gallery and blog pages running behind - as well as features on fitness sessions. Lazza has also decided that a couple of the new changes are not working - and we must get that all changed quickly - especially if we are contacting corporate clients and pointing them towards the site.
We also must do daily entries - that shows people we are fully focused and working hard. With thar in mind, we are looking to greatly increase our video presence on Youtube, and have come up with a title for videos that no-one is using at the moment - so we can stand out.

ACCOUNTS
We have a qualified accountant overseeing our first non-dormant year accounts, and they will be going into HMRC next month. We felt it important to have an outsider complete these, to be impartial and ensure everything is correct. He also recently did our PAYE on the two month lottery grant money we received. Sadly Lazza is back on Universal Credit now, so another reason to fund seed funding as quickly as we can.

OVERALL.
We have come so far in the last two years. Great strides. The programme has developed into a unique, fun, interactive event, and the feedback has been sensational. We are constantly looking at ways we can improve it. All we need is the money so we can stop worrying about the future and start concentrating on providing the best possible service we can.

Thanks

Monday 29th October 2018 (3rd entry) - Fitness Sessions (Sobell Saturday Mornings)

24th September

Highbury Leisure Studio One

Posted 12:30pm

We had been enjoying a fantastic relationship with Highbury Leisure Centre - as proven by the terrific photo above - our PT Dean with the group.
Every Monday, from 12pm for an hour, the Centre gave us their main studio for free, which was a brilliant gestire - and we have to thank Manager James for that.  We had an hour of various exercises, organised by our Personal Trainer Dean - and everyone took part. It is specifically designed for anyone to be able to take part, regardless of age or ability.

Sadly, due to a fire on the roof of the building at the end of September, we are now unable to access the centre (and it looks like it will be closed for 6-12 months).

However, James has workeed some magic, and we have a new session time.

Saturday 9am to 10am - Studio 1, Sobell Centre

Wow!! What a great gesture. We are opening it up, not just to our walkers and Ajani users, but also to all users/staff at Haringey Recovery Services, all users/staff of Single Homeless Project, all users of Islington Mind services - and have created posters for all three to promote it.  We are also contacting the Eagle Project, and will be pushing it with them, and WDP (Better Lives) in Seven Sisters Road. I do hope we can get good enough numbers. The Centre have provisionally given is this for November, but we can get for longer if it kicks off.  PT Dean can do alternate weeks, and we will manage the others.

Monday 29th October 2018 (2nd entry) - Izzwalkz update

Our 100th Walk

Thursday 25th November 2018

Posted 12:10pm

Our Izzwalkz initiative has had its ups and downs.

UPS
We completed our 100th walk last Thursday - picture above. What an achievement, from a concept and idea that Lazza had for many years. To know we have gone 100 consecutive Thursdays (despite storms, rain, biting cold, terrific sunshine) without a break is tremendous - and we continue to be the only weekly health walk in Islington available to anyone.
In four weeks we celebrate our second birthday.
We have a terrific group of regulars, and I believe the way we are welcoming to all is one of the reasons we have continued to exist and prosper.
We do try and include a small amount of exercise in the middle of the walk - not every week - and introduce different ways to do that if possible. For example, this year we have tried Yoga moves, Tai Chi, high intensity, stretches, balancing etc. It makes it fun.
We have also had an outing to the British Library this year, a tour of Clissold House, a Bingo session (last week in the house), so again trying to do something different. And of course we featured on the cover of the Islington Life July magazine (as well as a full page feature inside).

We have had contact from a reporter at the Hackney Gazette, and are just awaiting a day to sit down and have a chat with him in regards to HMHB, and the walk in particular. If we could find some sponsorship that would be amazing.
The Thursday walk is every week - meeting outside our partners, Highbury Grange Medical Centre, Highbury Grange, N5 at 11am.

DOWNS
We had hoped by now to have at least one or two more walks organised. However, a stumbling block is finance. We need volunteers, marketing, higher insurance, first aid, etc, and all that costs money. We had hoped the local Islington Council would be able to supply funds, and we had some terrific discussions around the subject, but like any council money is tight and not spare.  With that in mind, we are looking forward to meeting the reporter (detailed above) and get publicity for possible sponsorship.
We would like to get walks going in Highbury Fields, Whittington Park, Rosemary Gardens, Finsbury Park, Kings Cross, and Paradise Park - on top of our current one in Clissold Park. No London Borough has seven weekly health walks - it would be great to be  organising this.
Sadly, if money is not available soon the whole project will crumble - so fingers crossed.

Monday 29th October 2018 - (1st entry) - Ajani Programmes update

Posted 11:55am
First of several entries today - as we get back on track and focus properly on our future. Have been neglectful towards blog, and other social media recently. But the next couple of months are going to be crucial - and need a routine of daily entries. So big update today.

Ajani.
Tomorrow is the last day of our latest programme - organised at Brickworks Community Centre. If anything, it has demonstrated why we are doing it, as well as how far we have come with our delivery. Lazza had to present it himself. Finance issues meant Luke needed his salary from his other job at the moment. However, the course has gone down well, and we anticipate the feedback tomorrow to be very good. It has been an enjoyable few sessions, and progress has definitely been made.

We are trying to organise others at the moment - and you would think because they are free people would be biting out hands off. Not the case - despite the extraordinary feedback. We are starting a four session one with Haringey Recovery Services on the morning of Wednesday 21 November - and Lazza is going to be talking to the staff meeting next Tuesday to promote it properly. We really want this one to go well.

We have offered others to:
Ingeus UK - based in Islington - and are waiting for a response from them - we would dearly love to forge a relationship with them - Lazza was directly helped by them around 12 years ago and it would be nice to do something for them in return.
WDP - also Better Lives - who took over a contract in Seven Sisters, Islington, from Change Grow Live. Again we are awaiting a conversation with them - but they also helped Lazza around six years ago and it would be terrific to be able to go back and help their clients too.
We have been in contact with Hackney, and looking to meet and chat with their Public Health Team. Several irons in the fire.

The course itself continues to adapt, and we are always looking at ways we can increase interaction and make it more fun, all the time increasing the information and knowledge stakes. It is still unique in its delivery and focus.

Wednesday 17th October 2018 - Development and changes

Posted 2:15pm

The last couple of  months have been game changing in some respects for HMHB.

Incredibly it has been a month since the last entry - and this is only the second in two months.

This is down to two factors:

Firstly, I admit to being neglectful on entering here. No point in using any excuses, I could have added many times, as we have not been standing still - but part is down to getting people to actually use our blog and help push us.

Secondly, although we are making progress, it does feel a little like we have stagnated a bit. We are making huge strides, but it is frustrating.

So what has been going on?

We have started another Ajani programme - this time at Brickworks Community Centre, Islington. It was meant to be in September, but noone came. However, we launched with 8 people last week. It has gone down well, but we need to ensure all people come back - the feedback was terrific  but numbers did drop.

We launched our new look website - but we have to make a couple of adjustments as I feel a couple of pages are not working as well as I would like. More work ahead.

We are making great contacts and are looking to do at least two programmes over Nov/Dec - and these are free as we have lottery money - but although people are saying the project is good and they want to see us do well, I still feel some companies see us as competition, which we clearly are not.

We still need seed funding - and it appears the only possible way is going to be corporate sponsorship, as public sector money is almost impossible to get for business start ups - particularly to  cover salaries. We have some solid ideas for this, and it is a lot of work, but essential.

We want to launch some videos on youtube - something we have been talking about for some time - and are looking at ways we can stand out from others.

Altogether, it has been tough the last couple of months. I think we were riding a crest of a wave as we have some great things happen in the first six months, but we continue too persevere and push on - we have a terrific product, great ideas and ambition, and a lot of energy.