Tuesday 29th May 2018 - marketing ourselves

Posted 12:10pm

Am sitting in the offices of KPMG, just waiting to chzt with my mentor, Scott. So a good time to update our blog. I am going to push this again on social media today - so if you are reading this from that please do look back at our last few entries too - exciting times ahead we feel - especially as being a business set-up it has been a huge struggle.

We are preparing to do several of our programmes. With that in mind, it is important that we manage to market ourselves properly. There are a few events in the next few months where we will be able to chat to people and hand out flyers and leaflets.

Therefore, using the ever-present Vistaprint, we have now got A5 flyers for Healthy Minds, Healthy Bods, another for our Izzwalkz Clissold Park walk, and have just designed and ordered one regarding our Ajani Project - the main part of the business. Getting our foot in the door on mental health is not easy, as we have found. I think a lot of this is down to funding cuts, but also I think areas are protective around the work they already have. We are not copying anyone, and have approached this with a new fresh approach to not only dealing with mental health situations, but also aiming to be preventive too - something that has not always been done before.  We are, however, getting known - and in a good way.

We are updating our website again - looking at some new pages.  I really want to start utilising videos - especially as Luke is very photogenic (more so than myself). But we want, again, to do it in a new fresh way - with open discussions around issues - sometimes with guests too. We must start doing that in the next month. We are also looking at starting a new Izzwalkz website - naturally when we move to other boroughs we will have to come up with other names and new websites too.

I am very excited at the prospect of the next three months - I mentioned this on our facebook page. Again if people are looking at this who have not read our blog before, and coming off media:

Facebook - www.facebook.com/healthymindshealthybods  - please like and follow us

Twitter - @hmhb2016

And we have a new info blog  - www.hmhbinfo.blogspot.com - finding out about current research and news and putting it for people to see

Thanks everyone

Monday 28th May 2018 - big week ahead as Ajani HGMC starts

Posted 3:25pm

It's another Bank Holiday, and before I rush off to catch the new Solo, Star Wars film, I find it is an incredible six days from my previous entry - where do these days go? Time is rushing by.

But, once again, lots and lots is happening with HMHB. In particular, we launch our third ever Ajani programme with Highbury Grange Health Centre this Wednesday. From last May we did 2 programmes in 52 weeks. In the next thirteen weeks we should complete six.

Really excited by this one, and keeping everything crossed we get a decent number to justify the funding we received from Cripplegate Islington Giving. That's the only thing I am nervous about as we do not have that control. The programme itself is exciting. We have the seven sessions, three free gym studio visits, three day trips, six walks, six PT fitness sessions, a talk from the stop smoking team, a talk from the oral health team - wow!!!  We are thankful for all the support we are getting.

We also have the SHP one just about sorted too - but as only over 16 days we have one trip, and one gym studio visit. But still all the other perks - and we looking ata  different outcome dynamic.

We have proposed a walking programme to the council - who indicated they wanted to see that progress and that there could be money for that. We have said that at the end of a year we would like to have at least five weekly health walks running in Islington - overseen and managed by us. We can wait and see if they are still interested.  It would mean a new Izzwalkz website, plus marketing for all the walks, as well as running costs.

However, we are going to continue with our estates idea with the lottery too. With council and CCG backing.  Lots to get on with.

Tuesday 22nd May 2018 - lottery: program content: fitness equipment

Posted 5:00pm

Loving this weather. And looking forward to going to see Deadpool 2 this evening in Stratford. Getting out of the flat, enjoying the fresh air, collecting all the lovely Vitamin D from the glorious sunshine, it all lifts the spirits. Builds energy.

We have been  in touch with the North London Coordinator for the Lottery, We will me meeting her at an event organised by Voluntary Action Islington towards the end of June. However, we have taken the opportunity to invite her along to one of our programs we are running so she can see for herself what we are doing, how we do it, and hopefully get positive feedback from our users.

I have also been very busy ironing out the final content for the upcoming Ajanis. We like to do things a little different, which makes us unique and stand out from the crowd. In regards to health, instead of us telling people about the benefits of cleaning their teeth, we have organised someone from the Oral Health team to come and give a a presentation (we did that on both our previous courses and it went down very well). We do something similar in regards to smoking. Someone from Solutions4Health comes and presents on the benefits of stopping smoking (it does not matter if the users actually smoke as it is a good lesson anyway). We are excited to be working with them again.

Finally, we have increased our items of fitness equipment. After ordering them over six weeks ago, and having to reorder on Amazon after a non-arrival, we finally have a total of six boxing pads to go alongside our six pairs of gloves. At least this means we can have at least 12 people on our courses who can all work together. It will be fun using them on our Izzwalkz too.  All we are waiting for now are the 12 exercise mats to come - again, we have had problems, but hopefully by the end of May.

Tuesday 22nd May 2018 - Sage; Domains; GGT

Posted 1:35pm

Busy busy bee - that's me. It is great to be doing so much, as this means we are progressing - but there really is a huge amount of work going on, as well as coming up. I'm going to earn every penny of the lottery salary for two months in July and August.

I tried to work with Quickbooks accounting software - which is meant to be user friendly for small business. I found it far too confusing.  Most of my working life I dealt with Sage software (I am guessing most reading this are yawning by now - I love accounts though).

So I abandoned the Quickbooks - signed up for Sage - and it was like returning to an old friend. The interface has changed a bit, but thee fundamentals are the same, and I spent over five hours last night putting some accounts info in. I think I probably have another ten to fifteen hours to get up to date. That's because I am ensuring I have printed off invoices for all payments on the bank statements, as well as any paperwork for the incoming money - just in case anyone wants to look at it. I have several months to get the accounts in - but the quicker I do it, the quicker I can get on with proper work.  Sage is slightly more expensive than Quickbooks, but at least I know it well and can just get on and input.

We also had to do our "Confirmation Statement" with Companies House - a once a year necessity for all companies - just confirming all our details, our directors, etc. It costs £13, so not a lot of money. It means anyone can look up our details on the website.

Another basic bit of foundation is ensuring we have our domains up to date. We are with 123-reg and have both hmhb2016.org.uk and hmhb2016.org registered to us. I knew they were coming up for renewal so I made sure that automatically happens - as that would have affected out website.  I have also discussed with Kacper (our internet expert) about getting Izzwalkz domains and setting up a separate website - as if we expand it would be good to have pages for each walk as well as gallery, news, etc. Exciting times ahead I feel. I know the council are interested in expanding the walks. And they indicated there could be small funding available.

We have applied to the council for Great Get Together funding - to work a picnic with Highbury Grange Estate. Ironically there are three estates quite close together and Luke managed to chat with the lady in charge of the small community centre of one of those - a lovely lady called Laurette. I met her this week and we said if we got the funding we could run the picnic there - they have an indoor and outdoor area - and there is space for games and fun too. So keeping fingers crossed for that.  We would supply all the food and drink from the funding, plus volunteers and some games.

Sunday 20th May 2018 - Organisinng Calendars

Posted 1:45pm

It is very easy to allow information to overwhelm you - so good organisation is key when delivering a programme. With that in mind, especially with two up coming Ajani programmes coming up that will overrun each other, making sure we do not double book any days is vital.

With that in mind, I have just spent over two hours completing three up to date diaries.

Firstly we have our own ongoing HMHB diary - which is both on my phone and my laptop (just in case). Full of events, meetings, programmes etc. it enables me to keep on top of all HMHB stuff.

But we also need to make sure each individual HMHB Ajani programme has its own diary too. We have personal training sessions, days out, special speakers, walks etc, as well as the delivery course itself. It can add up to over 25 different events over a seven session course - so vital to make sure nothing overlaps.

Ironically, in June we do actually have one day where we need to be careful. Thursday 21st June is going to be a day where we need to have careful organisation. We have our regular Izzwalkz, we have our Ajani programme with SHP (both of these are in the morning), and in the afternoon we have aa day out at the Islington Museum for both our SHP and HGMP Ajani users combined - as well as any walkers that may want to attend. The poor museum will not know what has hit them. But we need to ensure we have staff for all groups. Coordination required. It could easily have been missed if I had not kept good diary records though.

This is good practice for us. In July and August we propose to run four Ajani programs at the same time - using the funding from the Awards For All Lottery. It will last us for two months, so we need to ensure we get the best possible value and outcomes from it.

That to-do list is scary!!!!

Friday 18th May 2018 - SHP, Ajani, Council, Amazon, Clissold Izzwalkz treat

Clissold Park Izzwalkz House Tour

Thursday 17th May 2018

Posted 1:30pm

Hope people will plod through this entry - as I think it is going to be a long one. And we have done so much work in the last three days - extraordinary.

Had a cracking meeting with Joe from SHP on Tuesday - we want to join up with them on the Dynamic Purchasing System used by Job Centres to tender our for work with them. I feel we can run some excellent joint courses. There is quite a lot of online applicating. But can get us noticed.

We have been organising our "extras" for out Ajani programs - it is all part of our USP. We hope to get the Oral Health Team in again - it is a fascinating presentation, and shows the huge benefits to looking after your teeth, and repercussions if you do not.  We have also contacted the Smoking people, and put emphasis we want to see people sign up to actually do something about their habits.

We have asked the Red Cross to do a first aid course for our Medical Centre Ajani - the SHP one is being run over a shorter time and we cannot fit it in on that one.  We have also asked Arsenal for a tour for the Medical Centre group too.  We aim to do the Islington Museum and Docklands Museum as our other trips.  I now need to update our programme diaries for the courses, as well as the HMHB diary. It is very easy to get dates mixed up - and with all this organisation we must be careful not to double book.

The exercise part of things is very important, and we will be welcoming PT Darren into our ranks, as PT Dean can only do a certain number of dates. We have never worked with Darren before, so part of his input will be voluntary, and part paid, but there are further opportunities ahead. We had bought some extra fitness equipment from Amazon - but even after six weeks it had not been delivered. We currently have 6 sets of boxing gloves, but only 2 sets of pads.  The four extra we ordered we have not got a refund for, and have ordered again - as we will need for both courses in June, as well as using on our Izzwalkz.  We are also waiting for our mats to be delivered - we are expecting 12 to come by the end of May.

The photo at the top was taken yesterday - when Ken (standing at the front) who is the Honorary Chair of the Clissold Park Users group - gave us a fantastic tour of Clissold House, and talked about its fascinating history. I know we were all very appreciative for his efforts, and it was great to have Luke and Dean join us - I know the group enjoyed the experience very much.  Next week is our British Library tour. Yay!!

Finally, we had an interesting discussion with the Council around our Estates proposal - getting people more active, providing opportunities to have a better and more healthy life.  Did not go exactly the way we were hoping. Budgets are very tight, and they would also like to take things a but slower. We understand their position very well. Just frustrating as we wanting to build on our recent good news and development.  I think there are still chances ahead.

Tuesday 15th May 2018 - website updates, funding thoughts, councillor

Posted 2:25pm

Very lucky with the weather lately, and we are feeling that luck at the moment. Following our great news from the lottery, we are sitting down working out the nitty gritty of the four programmes we are going to run, and getting the best possible value from the funds we will be receiving. It's an amazing opportunity to prove our trust, outcomes, and show that we are responsible, dedicated and focused on delivering quality.

With that in mind, it is very important to keep our social media fully up to date - and I have been working on the website for the last couple of hours - adding news to the feed - as well as putting on photos to our gallery page for 2018 - in fact I realised that I had not put on any at all - fully remedied.

We had a terrific chat last night with Osh Gantly and Sue Lukes at the Town Hall - two of my Highbury East councillors, and they are very supportive to the work we would like to do with the council on estates. A lot of chatting to do.  We sent off the drafted Powerpoint yesterday to several people to look at - before it is tweaked - and happy to report I am meeting with James on Thursday.

This afternoon I am meeting Joe at SHP to talk about the upcoming June program, as well as the DPS system for Job Centre commissioning.

 Yay!!!