Thursday 30th May 2019 - Saddle and Sole event

Posted 4:45pm

We mentioned this a few weeks ago, but we can confirm that we are officially organising two health walks at this event in a couple of weeks time.

I met with Islington Council's Active Travel Programme Officer, Owen, this afternoon to iron our the details. I was delighted that he liked my idea of a health walk.

We are proposing to run two similar walks. Each would last an hour and consist of walking interspersed with stretches and exercises, as well as walking at different speeds. We will encourage chatting with people they do not know, and demonstrate a healthy walk actually improves physical, mental and emotional health.

This is an amazing opportunity to promote ourselves, as well as work with larger numbers of users, and show we can gain feedback from just one walk.

Tuesday 28th May 2019 - very busy week ahead

Posted 1:30pm

It feels as if time is racing along - and we have so much to complete this week.When you think that Saturday is going to be the first of June, it can almost be scary.

We are gathering videos together to try and form into a coherent presentation for the lottery. We want to provide statistics, feedback, testimony, plus action too - all around our values, passion and professionalism. I will be meeting with Kacper this week to discuss exactly the layout, and any new videos we need to put together. I have to say that I will not be editing - that will be down to him. It will be interesting to see the software that we bought last year, specifically to prepare videos for our Youtube.  It is so important for our future.  I am also rewriting the original four page proposal, as after discussing it with Scott I realised I have not actually answered the questions the lottery needed.

So that is for this week!!!

I need to get Fitness Session flyers out to several Health Centres and organisations - and aim to do that Friday - having a good wander round the borough dropping off the paperwork. This also involves our walk. With regards to the Friday walk with Highbury Leisure, we have agreed in principle to this, but by the end of the week I want that cleared up. We are adjusting our website too - on both the walk and the new Tuesday fitness session.

So that is for this week!!!

I have been re-titling all the photos and videos we have taken over the last two and a half years for HMHB. They were all on the laptop under a number from when they are downloaded. All of which needed to be dated and explained. This has been job I have been doing since January on and off. But worthwhile as we can now look back and know what every photograph is about, and the day it was taken. I imagine we will be able to do a small display for the lottery proposal too. I should be up to date by the end of the week.

So that is for this week!!!

It is important to get the accounts up to date on the Sage Software. I am a little behind as I have not been doing it monthly. But I am sure it is important as the lottery people will clearly want to see our up to date accounts and figures (not that we have any money at the moment - I am having to prop the business up personally which is causing me financial issues). Our end of year accounts are the end of May anyway, so it would be handy to have that done and dusted, so it is not a problem later.

So that is for this week!!!

Finally, I need to get our Corporate Page set up on the website. Several months ago we emailed out, and more recently we posted out to a large number of possible corporate companies, all to no avail. I think we will need to physically go to company addresses and speak directly. But we will need to a good page on our website too. We will not be able to have that finished by the end of this week, but I would like to have a good blueprint ready.

So, busy times ahead!!!

Sunday 26th May 2019 - Part Three - New walk confirmed

Posted 1:45pm

As many know, we have wanting to expand our walking initiative in Islington - Izzwalkz - for a long time. Part of the reason it has taken so long is finance. It is also important that it happens every week regardless of holidays or weather.

Better Gym in Islington, managed by GLL, have a weekly health walk on Fridays. I went along to it last week and it was really good. It is a health walk, where they meet outside Highbury Leisure Centre at 10:30am, walk up to the top of Highbury Fields, do some exercises (which are available to all ages and abilities) then head back to the Centre.

We have been discussing with them the chance to partner up on this event, which is popular. They get between 30 and 40 people most weeks. It is meant to be part of their Exercise on Referral Scheme / Rebalance scheme, but they allow others to come. It is great seeing many older people coming along.

I am very happy to say that they seem happy to have us join up. In fact they normally have one person who manages the session - his name is Simon and he is very good at interacting with everyone and keeping people enthused. But with so many people attending they really need to have a couple of people in charge - and I think for insurance reasons too that is important. We said that perhaps we could do that and it appears that is going down well. We still have to dot the "i"s and cross the "t" s, but we are 99% there now. And we can now say we are part of two weekly health walks in Islington (the only company doing that!!!).

Sunday 26th May 2019 - Part Two - Peabody Taster arranged

Posted 1:45pm

Delighted to announce that we are doing a taster Ajani session with Peabody Housing Association, one of London's oldest and biggest. This could be a fantastic beginning, so it is imperative that we get it right!!!

It is on Wednesday 26th June, at one of their Islington centres, and will be a two hour program covering all our normal events. We are hoping for the same incredible feedback we got from Haringey Well-Being Network, which was extraordinary.

We are looking to invite several interested parties along to experience our delivery, our passion, and hopefully then be able to talk about further programs and building a proper working relationship.

They have multiple estates and properties all over London. What an incredible opportunity!!! We have to thank Martin at Peabody for recognising our potential, and for letting us have this chance.

Sunday 26th May 2019 - Part One: Reports Completed

Posted 1:30pm

It is all well and good getting terrific feedback, but you then have to be able to pass that on to relevant parties and funders, in a form that is interesting, direct and demonstrates your capabilities and successes.

That mans writing reports. We completed the two Ajani reports this week - now available on the footer of our website - for the Hackney residential housing programs we did between February and March this year, alongside the fantastic Anchor Hanover. We loved every moment of this venture, and we were delighted at how the Ajani focus can help over-55s. Concentrating on outcomes around being more proactive proved very useful. And the way we deliver on nutrition and exercise was commented on favourably.

We would love to go back to Hackney and Hanover - and as people know we have completed a small funding application for a seven month project starting in September, with just myself and Dean.

We have also completed a report on the last funding we had from the Local Initiatives Fund - it should have been done last year, but I was very ill at the time and then it just got forgotten. But as we have applied again this year, I had to ensure a copy was sent to the council. It was a success, and we are very hopeful for this year too. It is such a joy to do the current walk, and the fact we are expanding is testament to our delivery. More to come too!!!

Wednesday 22nd May 2017 - GP Bulletins

Posted 10:45am

Where do these days go? It's seriously five days since my last blog. Wow!! I will probably make a couple of entries today, but this one concerns my local health centres, medical practices and GP surgeries.

Social prescribing is important these days. A doctor should know of local projects and programs that can help both the physical and mental health of patients, and they can refer the patient to attend.

With that in mind, any local projects - like ourselves - need the medical practitioners to know of our interventions - namely our walks and fitness sessions.

Through one of our wonderful contacts - Cripplegate Foundation - we only discovered last week that there is an internal online GP Bulletin board - this is where you can "post" your events - and this information goes to all the GP places in Islington.

So last week, we put up three notices - for their approval - detailing our Tuesday fitness session at Highbury Leisure, our Saturday fitness session at Sobell, and our weekly health walk on Thursday with Highbury Grange Medical Practice.

It will be interesting to see if we get any referrals. 

Friday 17th May 2019 - News galore - plus personal

Posted 2:15pm

Feels like there is a lot to report. I still cannot believe it's the middle of May already - the days are flying by.

We have completed the first draft of a four page initial lottery proposal. I have sent copies to various people to look through and we will be doing several different drafts before we are happy. One of the people it went to was the North London Lottery representative, who we met last year. She was lovely and we will naturally add or change anything she suggests. We all understand just how crucial this is for our development. I am keeping everything crossed.  And we have started on the thinking behind the video - including music to accompany it.. I have my own ideas of course.

We need to continue building our program and networking. I have followed up today with emails to both Peabody and Better Lives - both of whom we want to run one off taster sessions with, and both have expressed great interest in doing so, I just want to get dates in diaries so we have targets down. There is always a great deal of back and forth. It's a challenge. We have also followed up with Haringey Well-Being following our absolutely fabulous taster session with them - and I still am flabbergasted at the terrific feedback we got from that. I want to get a program date down in the diary too.

Single Homeless Project are pushing our fitness sessions, which is brilliant. We may even be getting another personal trainer from them - although our wonderful PT Dean is our number one - we love him. We really ant the numbers to grow on these sessions - so keeping all crossed.

Personally - just wanted to say thanks to everyone who does read this. Many of our service users, and people associated with HMHB, are going through some kind of physical or mental health problems. We understand more than others how this affects your life. I am waiting for surgery myself, but that does not compare with what some people are going through.  All I can say is, life is short. Things happen. It can be hard, but push on, keep being proactive, and don't let the buggers get you down.

Wednesday 15th May 2019 - Preparation is key for lottery

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” Alexander Graham Bell

Posted 1:00pm

Just about to head off to meet with our friend and mentor Scott. He really keeps me focused and just being able to talk things over with someone can lead to greater confidence and effort. We have known him for four and a half years - incredible!!

One of thee major talking points will be the lottery, and our forthcoming initial proposal. As we put in the title for this entry, preparation is key. And, we have really been preparing for two and a half years.

We have demonstrated a terrific work ethic, as well as our passion for the work we are doing, and the feedback we are getting. On tight budgets, to say the least, we have now worked in three boroughs, created close networks, delivered programs to astonishing feedback, and have met with significant people, most of whom can appreciate our vision and values, and the fact we are different from the normal, which can be scary to some. Being able to change and adapt is vital, and we are brave to be trying to do something fresh and pioneering.

I spoke earlier today with Kacper, our website guy about the video we need to design and produce. Sadly, he is having laptop issues (we have the software, we purchased it last year), but his laptop is playing up. Of course we have no funds to purchase another, but this is just another challenge to overcome. A good video is essential in getting our message across, to show our passion and commitment to HMHB and what we know we can achieve.

All in all, we feel we are in a good place, but time is cracking on - we aim to get in the proposal and video by the end of June at the latest. That is only 6 weeks though, so a lot of work to get on with.