Mytime Active shortlisted in Royal Society of Public Health awards 2017

Mytime Active were finalists in the prestigious Royal Society of Public Health awards 2017 for the category of Community Health Development, putting us in the top 3% of 500 applicants.

The project nominated, Active Local Links, has been led by Cheryl Gill in the London Child Weight Management team.

Active Local Links addresses heath inequalities by tackling the obesity issue in the Cubitt Town community in the Isle of Dogs. This project played a significant part in the tender and subsequent award for the new Healthy Communities contract in Tower Hamlets.

Active Local Links lets people speak up about health and wellbeing in their community, and helps them find solutions using their own skills and local assets. We coach and train key local champions so they can continue the work Active Local Links starts.

For example, after working with the parents at Cubitt Town School on the Isle of Dogs, Active Local Links discovered Angela, a mum who had been unable to find a women’s only fitness club and so started her own group in the community centre.

Active Local Links paired Angela with a Mytime Active fitness leader for six weeks' training, and paid for her fitness qualification. 16 mums now attend the weekly group, which has been running since January. In addition, as Angela is a parent at Cubitt Town School, the school supports Angela with equipment and covers venue costs, ensuring its sustainability.

Jacqui Jenkins (far left in picture) is the lead parent liaison officer at Cubitt Town School and an Active Local Links community activator. Through Jacqui’s partnership, the project has been able to:

• Identify the need for a female only swimming group, pair the school with Tiller Leisure Centre to put on the swimming classes and pay for membership through London Sport funding
• Discover local unused tennis courts, create a partnership with the tennis provider and find funding to cover the membership of 15 parents
• Deliver CV workshops by paring the school with GfK, a research company based in Canary Wharf, which has started to see success stories such as Emma who after attending a CV workshop found employment 2 weeks later!

We hope that through the achievement of the Healthy Communities contract in Tower Hamlets, Mytime Active can continue the work of Active Local Links.