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The Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks for Walesquarterly newsletter for community food and physical activity initiatives in Wales Bitesize
November 2012 | Issue 37
Support for community weight management groups
Cwm Taf Public Health Team’s work to support self-help community weight management groups has recently been recognised as ‘Promising Practice’ through the Public Health Wales Good Practice Scheme.The Public Health Wales Good Practice Scheme is in its second year and was established by the public health networks to provide a systematic approach to identifying, supporting and sharing good practice in health promotion practice.
Cwm Taf Public Health Team has established a number of self-help community weight management groups across both Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil following the expressed needs of communities for a low cost
local alternative to commercial slimming groups. Led by community workers and volunteers, local groups provide members with an opportunity to learn about nutrition, participate in physical activity, and practice new recipes in a supportive environment. They aim to support group members to identify and make realistic lifestyle changes and manage their weight.
Work undertaken by the team to support leaders of local groups has aimed to develop a co-ordinated approach to delivery across Cwm Taf. This has been achieved through providing group leaders with support, training and guidance, and equipping them with the knowledge, resources and skills necessary to enable them to confidently and effectively lead weight management groups in their community.
In conjunction with group leaders, a local community weight management resource and support pack was developed outlining best practice guidelines for weight management groups as well as a range of activity ideas and sample monitoring and evaluation tools to support delivery. Group leaders have also been offered a package of training including an introductory workshop, behaviour change training and a practical cookery workshop which has been welcomed by community workers and volunteers.
One of the groups supported by Cwm Taf Public Health Team is Rhydyfelin Community Weight Management Group, who launched in May 2012 following their participation in the project and has met every week since.
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Hot Physical Activity and Nutrition Local Initiatives
An opportunity to help identify success factors for obesity prevention
Food and nutrition forum established in Gwynedd
Are you working on an obesity prevention project for adults in the community, a leisure centre or workplace? Have you ever wondered why similar projects are more successful than others? Researchers at Oxford University are working on an EU funded research programme called Spotlight and would like to work with a project in South Wales to pilot some tools which may help future projects. Taking part in the pilot may help you as well, by encouraging you and the people you work with to reflect on your own project.
The programme brings together a multidisciplinary consortium of 13 organisations in 8 European countries to define the factors necessary for establishing effective and sustainable health promotion approaches for
tackling obesity. The project is looking at interventions which operate at more than one level, for example individual and changes in the workplace/community/other settings, but not those which focus specifically on children.
The work at Oxford aims to develop approaches to identifying which factors help projects succeed, and those which hinder them. Over the next few months they would like to trial the methods in a pilot site, and are looking for any active or recently completed projects which might be interested in being involved.
If you are interested or just want to know more, contact either [email protected] or [email protected] or access the website www.spotlightproject.eu
Partners involved in food and nutrition work around Gwynedd have joined forces to establish a Food and Nutrition Forum for the county, aimed at increased partnership working and a sharing of knowledge.
Aled Hughes, Senior Public Health Specialist for Public Health Wales explained “We felt that there was a lot of exciting and innovative work happening in Gwynedd around food and nutrition and we wanted to bring everybody together to share good practice and to explore how we could better work together on projects to increase sustainability”. Here are examples of some of the projects happening in Gwynedd:
The Green Town Project in Blaenau Ffestiniog - encouraging residents of the area to go about creating treats with ingredients that grow wild around them, such as dandelion marmalade. This scheme is an extension of the ‘Plate From Slate’ scheme that supports the local Allotment Association to grow wholesome vegetables on derelict land.
Deudraeth Cyf – this community development and regeneration enterprise was set up to promote local economy, environment, Welsh language and culture and increase the standard of life for local communities. They are currently developing an exciting project; Deudraeth Community Garden, to be established at Portmeirion Nursery Gardens that will enable them to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers.
An exciting new project is also in progress at Glaslyn Leisure Centre, Porthmadog; using the green space around the centre to develop a community fruit and vegetable garden. The project is part of the National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) which helps people with different medical conditions to take up exercise to benefit their health and fitness.
Groundwork North Wales are currently working alongside GISDA, a charity that supports homeless young people in Gwynedd. Sessions are held in their hostel in Caernarfon so they can grow their own vegetables and start a food co-op. Llanberis Community Garden is another project established by Groundwork, who are working in partnership with the surgery and the dietetics department at Ysbyty Gwynedd to develop community garden groups and hold functions and events to support recovery and treatment.
Gwynedd Food Charter – the Charter was launched at the Urdd Eisteddfod in 2012 and is now entering its next phase of development, which includes marketing and promoting the Charter to local businesses and organisations. The Charter is an example of joint partnership working between public organisations, the third sector and local businesses, to promote the uptake of fresh fruit and vegetables in the county.
Healthy Vending – as part of its ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ commitment, Gwynedd Council are undergoing the process of changing the contents of its vending machines within leisure centre’s to healthier vending, as well as changing the food served within leisure centre cafes to healthier options.
Recently, the Porthmadog allotment group, Cae Pawb, donated their glut produce to Sustainable Gwynedd Gynaladwy to sell at the Porthmadog Local Produce Market, with the sum of nearly £90 raised for the Air Ambulance. Last year in a similar event £250 was raised. The local produce market is held in the Ganolfan Harbourside, Porthmadog on the last Saturday of every month (except 15 December) between 9.30am and 2.00pm.
As well as the projects mentioned above, the Dietetic Capacity Grant continues to run successfully in the county, with training delivered in various locations and to different groups. The Healthy Schools Scheme encourage schools to look at their food provision throughout the day as a whole school approach, as well as including food and nutrition as part of the curriculum and through extracurricular activities, such as school gardens.
For further information on any of these projects contact [email protected]
Since its launch, the collective weight of the members of Rhydyfelin Community Weight Management group has seen a downward trend and consistent behaviour changes such as drinking more water, eating breakfast, reducing fizzy drinks and achieving a better balance between home cooked and ready prepared meals have been made.
Bill Turner, Community Development Officer for Hafod Housing who supports the group described the initial three days training; “The training was invaluable as it brought several new groups and volunteers together, making them feel part of a bigger project and enabling everyone to share ideas and gain from others experiences. The resource pack provides all that is necessary to set up a new group, develop a range of themed sessions and quite uniquely, a framework to evaluate.”
Commenting on the team’s award, Malcolm Ward, Principal Public Health Promotion Specialist said “It has been recognised that this project has excelled in both its planning and delivery stages.
The project is still in its development and therefore has not been able to complete the range of requirements
necessary to achieve the full national good practice award but we were very impressed and look forward to seeing the project develop further.”
For more information about the project please contact Julie McDonald from Cwm Taf Public Health Team on 01443 744900.
Further information about how to participate in the Public Health Wales Good Practice Scheme and details of projects that have already submitted to the scheme are available from the Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks Wales website.
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Ysgol Maes Hyfryd A food co-op has been set up in Ysgol Maes Hyfryd, a specialist high school which caters for students with learning difficulties and situated in a Communities First area. It is run by a number of volunteers including
11 students with learning difficulties. The food co-op is going from strength to strength and the students have thoroughly enjoyed the programme, developing many skills along the way.
The programme aims to increase people’s access to, and consumption of, fresh fruit and vegetables and to support local Welsh suppliers.
The Rural Regeneration Unit manages the programme which is funded by the Welsh Government. The programme currently supports over 350 food co-ops across Wales. Further information about the Community Food Co-operative programme can be found on the website www.ruralregeneration.org.uk
Community Food Co-operative Programme
If you would like further information on opening or finding a food co-op, please contact your local Food Development Worker:
June Jones (North Wales) 01766 890637 / 07717 202215
Natalie Edwards (North-East Wales) 07772 109695
Karen Robertson (North-East Wales) 07879 611670
Hannah James (South-Central Wales) 029 2023 2943 / 07717 205438
Richard Reast (South-West Wales) 01443 402317 / 07918 715718
Abigail Morrison (West Wales) 07875 224718
Rebecca May (South-East Wales) 07891 883569
Morfa get moving thanks to postcode lottery grantMorfa Family Centre enjoyed a packed summer of sporting activities and outings thanks to funding from the People’s Postcode trust. Move it in Morfa Mini Games (MIIMMG) was a project put together to encourage parents and their children to engage in a three week programme of activities, sporting events and family fun based days. The aim was to have the programme run in parallel with the London 2012 games and to compliment the sports taking place despite being over 200 miles away. Alongside the sporting activities the main ethos and focus of MIIMMG project was to promote family and community cohesion; physical exercise, improved health and positives changes to healthier lifestyles. The MIIMMG
project kicked off on the 25 July with a week of races, long jumps, high jumps and target practice before getting to grips with a circus skill workshop, football skills training, a pony ride trek and swimming sessions.
If you would like further information, please contact [email protected]
Llantwit Major Food Co-op This food co-op was launched on the 18 May 2012 and is held in Bethel Baptist Church every Friday. In its first week alone, the food co-op had over 90 bags of produce and has recently expanded into bread. The bread is supplied by a local bakery and includes ranges such as whole meal, rye and spelt which have all gone down well. The picture shows some of the volunteers with the produce.
Alun school food ambassadorsFood ambassadors in Alun High School, Flintshire have introduced a system where a number of students take on the responsibility of peer education during registration.
Food ambassadors were introduced following the implementation of SNAG (School Nutrition Action Groups) by Flintshire County Council with the intention of having a number of trained students to carry out peer education on healthy eating and to provide awareness of the ‘Appetite for Life’ action plan and to also tackle other food related matters within the school.
Students liaised with the canteen staff trialing and promoting newly developed foods which involved a great deal of interaction amongst the young adults encouraging the development of key skills such as communication, leadership and enabling them to increase their nutrition knowledge.
The Alun school food ambassadors were asked to present their work to both primary and secondary schools in Flintshire during the celebration of the Healthy Schools Event in May 2012. Senior food ambassadors attended, presenting a summary of the work they had carried out and including some interactive food games involving the audience. Prior to the event, the students developed a Food Ambassador logo with the intention that it would be rolled out across Flintshire in the future. The next goal is to have morning peer education sessions across all secondary schools to support the PSE module.
Flintshire County Council hope to work closely with more schools to develop their food ambassadors over the next school year. They aim to help support the transition to healthier school meal provision via Appetite for Life, and to promote and peer educate their colleagues on the importance of healthy eating and a balanced diet.
If you would like further information, please contact the Appetite for Life lead: Ruth_O’[email protected]
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Volunteers recognised for their contribution to the Community Food Cooperative ProgrammeA mum of two, who volunteers at Barnardo’s Cymru Caban Bach Family Centre in Blaenau Ffestiniog, has been presented with an Outstanding Contribution Certificate for helping pack bags of fruit, vegetables and salads which have been ordered by young families that use the Centre. Charlotte Horner was presented with the certificate recently by Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas AM.
Llinos Rowlands, Caban Bach Manager, explains:
“As part of our work supporting vulnerable families we offer a food co-op facility where parents are able to order a bag of fruit, vegetables or salad for the sum of three pounds. Our food co-op is one strand of a range of opportunities we offer the community to try and promote a healthy lifestyle. It forms part of the Rural Regeneration Unit’s Community Food Programme.
For the past two years, Charlotte has volunteered to look after the fruit and vegetables delivered every Thursday and makes up the orders of individual bags which are then collected on Friday. Charlotte carries out her task in a small garden shed and irrespective of the weather Charlotte is there every Friday morning making up the orders.
It takes individuals like Charlotte and her commitment to the food co-op to turn the project into a working success. Barnardo’s is extremely grateful for volunteers like her for their help and support.”
Pupils from Ysgol Friars, Bangor have volunteered with the food co-op over the last year and have been presented with an Outstanding Contribution Certificate for their volunteering efforts. They give up their lunch hour every Wednesday to help with the food co-op and deserve a big thank you.
Congratulations to volunteers from the Corny Carrot Food Co-op that operate every Friday from Deri View Primary School, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire who recently won a volunteering award for their hard work. It was presented by GAVO (Gwent Association for Voluntary Organisations).
Ysgol Borthyn in Ruthin, Denbighshire has recently celebrated running their own food co-op for three years. Supplied by John Jones & Son of Clwyd Street, Ruthin, (a family run business since 1860) the school offers a simple system through which the community can buy quality, affordable, fresh fruit, vegetables, salad and meat on a weekly basis.
As one of the most successful food co-ops in the area, organiser Mrs Ceri Lewis-Jones was presented a Volunteer’s Award for Conwy and Denbighshire in recognition of all of the work she has done.
Nominated by the Rural Regeneration Unit, Mrs Ceri Lewis-Jones was presented the certificate by Food Development Worker Karen Robertson and accepted it on behalf of all the parents, pupils and staff who have given so much support to the scheme.
The UK-wide Chief Medical Officers report presents physical activity guidelines for all four UK home countries, covering early years, children and young people, adults and older adults.
This is the first time UK-wide physical activity guidelines have been produced and will help to ensure consistent messaging across the four countries. This report also represents the first time guidelines have been produced in the UK for early years (under fives) as well as sedentary behaviour, for which there is now evidence that this is an independent risk factor for ill health.
These scientifically informed guidelines will help policy makers and health professionals, as well as individuals themselves to understand how to reduce the risk of ill health associated with inactivity and sedentary behaviours.
www.wales.gov.uk/topics/health/ocmo/publications/annual/start/?lang=en
Thanks to funding from the Welsh Government, Learning Disability Wales has worked in partnership with other voluntary sector organisations in Wales to develop a website. The website will enable people with learning disabilities and their families to find accessible information about health and wellbeing.
The website is called Easy Read Health Wales and has been rigorously tested by the Digital Accessibility Centre to
ensure that it is as accessible as possible for anyone with a disability. People with learning disabilities have poorer health outcomes than the general population and having access to information in a format that they can understand is an important step towards improving this situation.
It is particularly important that people with learning disabilities have access to Easy Read information about healthy living including the importance of exercise and healthy eating both of which are covered on the website.
www.easyreadhealthwales.org.uk
Health and safety laws and regulations are sometimes presented as a reason why certain play and leisure activities undertaken by children and young people should be discouraged. Such decisions are often based on misunderstandings about what the law requires.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has worked with the Play Safety Forum to produce a joint high-level statement that gives clear messages tackling these misunderstandings. The statement is accessible via the HSE website:
www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/childs-play-statement.htm
UK wide physical activity guidelines
Easy Read Health Wales
Childrens play and leisure: promoting a balanced approach
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Events
8th Annual Meeting and Symposium of HEPA EuropeThe Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks for Wales hosted the 8th annual meeting and symposium of the European Network for the Promotion of Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA Europe) on the 26 and
27 September 2012. The main theme of the event was:
“Getting to the grassroots: Using the ‘green’ environment to promote physical activity”.
The symposium featured a welcome address by the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Ruth Hussey and a key note lecture by Dr William Bird MBE. The annual meeting of HEPA Europe included parallel sessions of its working groups and the plenary annual meeting of the network. The event also included a mayoral reception, a conference dinner and a range of activities including a cycle tour of Cardiff and a Nordic walking taster session.
Further information about the symposium along with the evaluation report and the presentation delivered by Dr William Bird is available on the website: www.wales.nhs.uk/hepaeurope2012
Awards for All Wales is a simple small grants scheme making awards of between £500 and £5,000.The Awards for All programme aims to help improve local communities and the lives of people most in need. It aims to fund projects that:
• Support community activity – by helping communities to meet their needs through voluntary action, self-help projects, local facilities or events.
• Extend access and participation – by encouraging more people to become actively involved in local groups and
projects, and by supporting activities that aim to be open and accessible to everyone who wishes to take part.
• Increase skill and creativity – by supporting activities which help to develop people and organisations, improve skills and raise standards.
• Improve the quality of life – by supporting local projects that improve people’s opportunities, health, welfare, environment or local facilities, especially those most disadvantaged in society.
Application forms are available to download from www.awardsforall.org.uk or by phone on 0845 4 10 20 30.
The Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) have an online funding portal to provide a one-stop shop for funding advice and opportunities.The funding portal is an online information service for third sector organisations in Wales, jointly developed by
WCVA and the Welsh Government. The funding portal provides access to a searchable database of UK funding opportunities, advice and support on raising funds and signposting to useful resources on funding. www.sustainablefundingcymru.org.uk
Noticeboard
Awards for all
The Wales Council for Voluntary Action funding portal
Standard Evaluation Framework for Physical Activity Interventions
The National Obesity Observatory (NOO) has published this new resource, aimed at practitioners, commissioners and managers of physical activity interventions and projects.
The resource builds on the Standard Evaluation Framework (SEF) for weight management interventions, published by NOO in 2009.
It takes the principles described in the original SEF and applies them to physical activity interventions.
www.noo.org.uk/core/frameworks/SEF_PA
Physical Activity Statistics 2012
The British Heart Foundation has published this supplement which is the first to focus solely on physical activity statistics. It provides statistics on the levels, types and reasons for physical activity in the UK.
www.bhfactive.org.uk/homepage-resources-and-publications-item/339/index.html
Sedentary Behaviour Factsheets
These new fact sheets provide practitioners with an overview of the evidence on sedentary behaviours. They provide the facts and figures on this relatively new area of research in easy to use sections:
• What is sedentary behaviour
• Current levels of sedentary behaviour
• Factors influencing sedentary bahaviours
www.bhfactive.org.uk/research-and-evaluation-resources-and-publications-item/335/index.html
Interpreting physical activity guidelines for older adults
The British Heart Foundation National Centre (BHFNC) has produced a series of three booklets designed to assist those who work with older people to interpret the UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines which were introduced in July 2011. The guidelines were designed for use by practitioners so these interpretation booklets
have been designed to help translate these into messages appropriate for older people.
www.bhfactive.org.uk/olderadultsguidelines/index.html
Resources
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Public Health Wales is responsible for producing and distributing the Bitesize newsletter but has outsourced the distribution of the Newsletter to RMG: Research and Marketing Group. If you are not happy for your contact details to be passed on to Research and Marketing Limited for the distribution of the Bitesize newsletter please contact Public Health Wales at 14 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ or telephone 029 2022 7744. November 2012 © Crown Copyright
About Us
Bitesize is the hard copy newsletter of the Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks for Wales aimed at community food and physical activity initiatives.
Please send your contributions for future issues of Bitesize to Catherine Evans at Public Health Wales, 14 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9LJ or email [email protected]. The deadline for submissions for the next issue is 23rd January 2013.
The website www.physicalactivityandnutrition wales.org.uk contains a wide range of information about
nutrition and physical activity in Wales. Visit the website to register as a member of the Networks.
An advisory board guides and oversees the work of the Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks for Wales. If you would like to input or feedback into the work of the Networks please contact 029 2022 7744 or visit the About Us section of the Physical Activity and Nutrition Networks Wales website.
20 Public Health in Troubled Times – Wellbeing and Food Poverty, 14 Cathedral Road, Cardiff www.physicalactivityandnutritionwales.org.uk/events.cfm?orgid=740&id=6504
21 Caroline Walker Trust Lecture, Kensington Town Hall, Londonwww.cwt.org.uk/events_2012.html
22 Innovate to Activate: new ways to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour, East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottinghamwww.equity-events.co.uk/bhfnc12
27 Results Based Accountability, Glyndwr Universitywww.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/49068
30 An introduction to evaluation for healthy lifestyle initiatives, University of Glamorgan www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/49068
5 Health Impact Assessment, Old Colwyn Baywww.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/49068
5-6 Baby Friendly Initiative Annual Conference, Cardiffwww.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/Health-Professionals/Conferences/This-years-conference/
March European Healthy Stadia Conference, Manchesterwww.regonline.co.uk/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1077489
June 18th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, Spainwww.ecss-congress.eu/2013/13/
October 9th Annual Meeting and 4th Conference of HEPA Europe, Finland
www.hepaeurope2013.fi
November December
2013
