Low Budget Healthy Eating, Exercise Education & Arts Programs.
Aims:
Healthy Eating
Grants have been awarded to several schools for the setting up of Breakfast Clubs, which are proven to help children start the day with a healthy meal and ensure that they get to school on time. Recently these have been evaluated and have proven that they provide not only children with much needed nutritional and social awareness skills but also child care for working parents.
The East Kent Community Trust Health Promotion Service has helped to deliver parent workshops to teach parents how to prepare a healthy lunch box for their children, looking at healthy alternatives and basic food hygiene.
Staff from the East Kent Community Trust Health Promotion Service have also been delivering healthy cooking classes such as the Deal Cook and Eat project held in the Trinity Church Hall in Deal. This shows families how to prepare healthy meals on a low budget. Many families believe that convenience food is cheaper than home prepared meals. Although there are now more healthy alternatives, this course demonstrates the economic and health value of traditional home cooked/prepared meals.
If you are interested in taking part in any of these activities please contact Health Promotion on 01304 828700.
Aylesham Neighbourhood Project is also helping to deliver cook and eat courses and has developed a new course which is especially for men. All courses are taking place at the Neighbourhood Project.
If you are interested in taking part in any of these activities please contact Sam Bennett on 01304 840134.
Whole School Meals are currently running two types of training 1) class room style 2) on line training. One of the main causes of food poisoning is poor food hygiene. The Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene is available to individuals in the Deal DELTA area. This not only enhances skills and aims to reduce food poisoning but also helps to increase a person’s self-esteem on gaining this recognised qualification.
If you are interested doing this one day course please contact Stephanie Hayman on 01304 611010.
It has been proven that exercise is an important factor to enable healthy lifestyles. However, it is often perceived to be an expensive activity with gym fees, designer labelled fitness clothes and travel costs but it doesn’t have to cost very much at all. DELTA has commissioned Vista Leisure to provide outreach community exercise opportunities that the whole family can benefit from, from exercise classes at the local school to walking projects, and coaching sessions to name but a few. Many of the activities have been provided to school age children as after-school activities but it’s possible to deliver them in a church hall, community centre, youth centre or anywhere that can be assessed for health and safety.
If you want to know more please contact Dave Harcourt on 01304 201145 or speak to the staff at Tides Leisure Centre.
DELTA is currently working with existing community groups to ensure that allotments and communal areas can be used to grow healthy vegetables which can either be used for the healthy cooking projects or to be sold within the community, thus creating sustainability. The whole community can get involved and it doesn’t have to cost anything other than time and patience and a bit of hard work. DELTA can help purchase the necessary equipment to get started. You may know of families or groups of young people who could benefit from this initiative. It’s also a very valid form of exercise and burns off many calories!
These areas of work promise to be fun and enjoyable times. As part of the Bien Etre project Melbourne and Priory Fields were awarded a small grant to engage the children in a variety of Arts and music activities. This included the Apple festival and a very impressive art gallery. The Silver Song Club, for the more mature of us but providing intergenerational links, is delivered in Age Concern centres, Eastry Court and Aylesham Primary School. Music sessions delivered by the Pie Factory to schools and community groups help parents with very young children to enjoy music and singing and also helps with behavioural difficulties. And it’s all for free!
Contact Community Development:
Tel: 01304 872061
Email: communitydevelopment@dover.gov.uk
