Activate events
To find out more about any of the activities listed below, please email:well.being@peabody.org.uk or freephone 0800 587 8215.
Annual Mental Health Day
Three one-day Conferences held annually at a central London location, designed by residents involved in running Mental Health Week to ensure issues raised during the week are addressed by a range of speakers. Workshops and activities will raise awareness of London wide initiatives and techniques to alleviate common emotional problems.
Ask Peabody
The project will develop a website to signpost beneficiaries directly to approved sites covering healthy eating, cooking healthy food, affordable opportunities across London to engage in physical activities or sport and advice on mental and emotional wellbeing.
Back in Action
The project provides gentle, structured exercise sessions to help sedentary elderly and disabled people improve their physical fitness and reduce the likelihood of becoming disabled in the future. It will involve movement to music, slow dance, chair exercises and gentle stretching movements as well as providing an opportunity to socialise.
Bees Knees
The project involves running a “quilting bee” for women of various ages and nationalities. The women will be taught how to design and sew professionally and how to sell their work at local markets or over the Internet. The project is designed to alleviate depression caused by isolation and enable women to express their artistic capabilities and increase their feeling of self worth.
BFit4Fun
The project involves running a variety of activities to older people living in retirement accommodation. Activities will be delivered in communal rooms in supported housing projects, and will include line dancing, low impact aerobics and sessions on cooking on a tight budget, along with exercises for the mind, such as quizzes.
Care 'N' Share
The project will be delivered in Sutton by the New Possibility Committee who will organise a monthly, organic food co-operative, where local residents can order organic fruit and vegetables, groceries and fair trade produce which will be delivered in bulk to the community centre where volunteers will pack the individual
orders for collection.
Challenge Peabody
Families from clusters of social housing estates across London will competing in a series of inter-estate traditional sports days during the summer, with old-fashioned activities such as 3-legged race, egg and spoon race, sack race, long-jump, skipping race, relay races. There will also be entertainment - aerobics to music, live music and circus performers wandering through the crowd encouraging people to try juggling, walking on stilts etc. There wlil be prizes and winning teams will compete against each other with a trophy going to the winning Housing Association.
Cockney sparrow
The ‘Cockney Sparrow’, the once ubiquitous London bird, is fast becoming a rare sight in central and inner city London. The project encourages families to get out of their homes and engage in activities through social groups. Taking advice from wildlife organisations and visiting a wildlife sanctuary to learn more about bird habitats, residents then build bird tables, feeders, nesting boxes etc and install them on their estates together with planters sown with wild flowers and shrubs to attract birds.
Elvis' Kitchen
Elvis’ Kitchen focuses on affordable, healthy eating. It borrows from the format of popular cookery TV to give participants easy-to-follow instructions for preparing delicious meals. The series of 12 programmes will be recorded in front of an audience of Peabody residents and then broadcast online.
Eat Wise, Eat Well
The project aims to demystify the plethora of information on nutritional values and guideline daily amounts (GDA). It consists of half day sessions run in community centres or tenants' halls on preparation of healthy food by cutting down on unhealthy additives and enhancing flavour through condiments or cooking methods. Dishes will be available to taste, and actual samples of daily recommended amounts of fat and salt etc., will be on show. Residents can pick up a leaflet with clear pictures written in simple, understandable language so they can calculate their own daily amounts consumed.
Feelgood Friday
A programme of activities on the last Friday of the month to make people feel more positive about themselves through a range of therapeutic activities such as aromatherapy, Indian head massage, Shiatsu, Reiki, Yoga, Pranayama (breathing techniques), meditation, reflexology. Refreshments consisting of trays of sliced fresh fruit will be available, along with leaflets detailing the nutritional values of each fruit on offer.
Fifty-Five Alive Club
The project develops social activities for older people in an area where there are none – and most importantly trains them to do this themselves. A project co-ordinator will initially recruit older people as a management committee and teach them the skills needed to run the project. At the start, activities will be funded to engage more members for the club, eg tea dances, art and craft classes until membership grows and the committee becomes more successful at fundfaising.
Fisher Foods
The project will be based on the John Fisher St estate in Tower Hamlets. The project complements the “Gardening School” project (see below), with a weekly market selling fruit and vegetables harvested from the garden at affordable prices, the income being used to purchase new seeds, plants, compost etc. There will also be monthly classes on hygienic storage, advice on nutrition, leaflets published in languages reflecting the ethnicity of local residents, demos on the hygienic preparation of healthy foods and translations of guidelines on daily, adult nutritional requirements.
Gardening School
The project will be run in a school close beside Peabody's John Fisher St estate in Tower Hamlets. Local families and teachers will cultivate the land and plant vegetables and fruit ,helped by a group of volunteers comprising older residents with experience of gardening, headed up by a senior member of Peabody's gardening staff. There will also be sessions on how to prepare what is harvested and on the health benefits of consuming the produce.
George Peabody’s London
The Project consists of an annual history trail competition run over the summer. Groups of families from Peabody estates will spend a Sunday working their way through a list of clues and finding buildings or areas that were a key feature in George Peabody’s life. They will be provided with a disposable camera to take pictures of where they've been and the trail will end with teams getting together for a healthy picnic.
Global Grub
The project involves Family Mosaic Housing Association working in partnership with Waltham Forrest EBP (spell out) and Waltham Forest College to produce a 48-page recipe book that offers healthy eating recipes from lesser known countries in the 5 continents involved in the Olympic games. All of the recipes will be researched by primary school students and then cooked by the children helped by students of Waltham Forest College Cookery School. Students from a local secondary school will then take photographs of the food, with support from a local photographer and work on the design of the book.
Goldsmith’s Greenhouse
The Tenants Association for Peabody's Goldsmith and Prideaux Place estates want to build compost boxes and a greenhouse to grow more exotic fruit and vegetables for the many families on the estate from BAME groups who are unable to locally source produce from their homelands. They also want to build rainwater barrels to conserve water and tackle the problem of future water shortages.
Green Fingers, Healthy Food
The project identifies land owned by the RSL which can be turned over to resident volunteers who will turn the land into a market garden, growing vegetables and a variety of fruit such as raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb and contain a greenhouse growing tropical fruit. Food will be harvested regularly and shared out among the families taking part in the project, charged a nominal sum to be used to purchase more seeds etc.
Healthy, Happy Families
The project provides a free service to all schools in the London Borough of Bromley area and will be delivered in partnership with Bromley Education Authority and Bromley Health Improvement. It will involve an evening event run parallel with the school parents evening that will offer workshops and presentations to parents covering topics such as the effect of healthy eating and exercise on positive mental health for families and children, troubleshooting to catch eating disorders early, tackling childhood obesity and the importance of adult role models. 15 schools a year would run this event.
High Rise Garden
The project offers the opportunity to those without gardens to grow their own fresh produce. In first year of the project skilled gardeners will run outreach training sessions on different estates to show residents how to use grow bags, containers and even hanging baskets to grow a wide variety of vegetables and fruit, on balconies or walkways in multi storey flats. Regular support sessions will be offered to provide encouragement and a place for growers to exchange tips, advice and even trade produce.
In my Prime League
The project involves setting up and running a friendly competition network for older people living on social housing estates to compete in board games and light to moderate indoor sports such as indoor bowls with annual Championship events. Sessions will be hosted in community facilities or communal areas on different estates so beneficiaries get out of their homes more often and experience regular activity.
Intercultural Food Day
The project will be delivered on estates with residents from greatly diverse cultures and backgrounds. Supervised by staff, it will involve a local group of volunteers organising a monthly buffet in the community centre. Residents will cook meals from their country of origin and bring them to the centre to share over friendly discussions, each session would involve a presentation on healthy eating, cooking healthy food on a budget, weight management for families etc. The sessions will take place at weekends so working parents and school children can attend giving a family atmosphere.
Ladies who Lunch
The project recruits and trains women of all ages and cultures to set up a monthly ladies lunch club on their estate. Members, many from BME groups, will cook their favourite dishes for a buffet style lunch with a small cover charge. Sessions will be held during school hours and a crèche will be available. The events will include speakers eg practitioners talking about childhood obesity, healthy eating or holistic treatments. A management committee will be recruited and trained, with members fundraising for and running other activities on the estate.
Makeover Monday
The project will run on the first Monday of each month over a 3 year period. It will involve a range of therapeutic sessions designed to relieve stress, alleviate simple depression and encourage a feeling of self worth. It will be aimed at women of all ages who have unhealthy lifestyles resulting in a negative body image. Sessions will include advice on skin and hair care (including healthy diet advice) aerobics, advice on dressing well on a budget, psychology of colour and its effect on moods and assessment of eating habits to identify those verging on eating disorders. Free healthy snacks (fruit, nuts, crudités) will be available.
Mental Health Week
A week long series of informal activities delivered in spring half term to coincide with Mental Health Action Week. Tenants groups will plan and run the events with support from a co-ordinator. Workshops led by practitioners will cover positive ways of dealing with emotional problems and the positive effect of healthy food and activity on mental health. Entertainment will be provided throughout the day and a juice bar will give out free smoothies.
On your Bike!
Many social housing residents have bicycles, many of them second hand, but lack the finances to keep them serviced and maintained in good running order. The project will run regular training sessions in community centres around London aimed at teaching bike owners how to carry out repairs from a flat tyre and dislocated chain to wheel alignment and fixing gears.
Project Paws
The Project recruits volunteers with well behaved puppies and dogs, assesses the dogs for temperament, health and trustworthyness, then matches volunteers with nearby sheltered accommodation whose residents have asked for regular visits from pets. Staff will recruit and manage a team of volunteers and supervise initial visits to ensure volunteer and dog have a rewarding experience as well as those being visited.
Pukka Tukka
The project targets young people, in particular young men, with poor family relationships or estranged from their families, who spend most of their limited financial resources on take away meals and processed food. It will teach them how to shop, cook and eat healthily on a budget. At the end of the project, they will cook and serve a three course meal to invited guests, including local pensioners and lone parent families.
Shoots and Spices
This project teaches people to grow their own herbs and spices and use them to reduce fat, sugar and sodium in their meals and to save money by adding taste to inexpensive foods. Residents without gardens will be provided with window boxes, or growbags for balconies, plus the necessary soil, seeds and seedlings. A professional gardener will run sessions on how best to grow a wide range of herbs and spices - from basil and bay leaves to chillies and garlic - and train volunteers to train others.
Smoothie Saturdays
Once a month Saturday sessions in youth clubs, teaching children to make and enjoy healthy snacks and drinks, and to make smoothies and juices by experimenting with different fruits, vegetables and flavours. During the session, youth workers will give informal information on the positive effects of healthy food such as what popular athletes eat and drink.
Street Cuisine
The project targets young former rough sleepers who live in hostel accommodation, teaching them how to shop, cook and eat healthily on a budget. Tutors will take them to local shops, demonstrate hygienic food preparation and basic cooking and supervise as they cook meals for themselves and fellow residents.
Tennis for Tots
This project is aimed at families with young children and will run a series of lively, fun sports sessions aimed at children of different ages and tailored to different age groups. Sessions will provide the foundation skills that a child needs to develop as an athlete and will enable children to discover and develop their abilities through play.
The Good Neighbour
Volunteers are recruited and trained to befriend and support vulnerable neighbours, such as older people living on their own, disabled people or former young rough sleepers living in their first home. It involves taking on a small caseload of several neighbours or families, who have been identified as in need of and welcoming this type of support. The Good Neighbour will check on their “clients” on a regular basis, either popping in for a cup of tea and chat, shopping for them or just checking that they are OK.
Wellbeing Hub
Located in the Ada Marion centre in Bethnal Green, the Hub will act as a one-stop centre, delivering a wide range of activities from diet and nutrition surgeries to physical fitness, from aerobics to 'Bollywood' dance classes. There will also be sessions on preventative measures to avoid common mental health problems.
Wellbeing Wagon
The Wellbeing Wagon – a custom-built mobile classroom with 10 ICT workstations and internet access via satellite – will host a range of activities, mainly using video conferencing links with Wellbeing Centres to beam live sessions such as cookery demonstrations and nutritional advice to a Smart Board and PC screens in the Wagon. Residents will also be able to use the internet to access “Ask Peabody” - a data base with information on all local Wellbeing services and activities. Staff will help people to explore the internet for the many healthy living websites world-wide for information on recipes, exercise, and alleviating stress.
Walking Fit
This project aims to get more people walking. Local volunteers will be trained to lead weekly walks in their communities, designed for people who haven’t been active for a while, and will gradually build fitness over a 12 week programme. Participants will receive a ‘walking fit card’ to record progress made, which can also be used, for those participants with health difficulties, as an exercise record for their health care professionals.
Walking the Past
Much of George Peabody’s legacy consists of homes built in the Victorian and Edwardian eras in areas rich in history from the Roman occupation to the haunts of Jack the Ripper. Based at the Peabody Wellbeing Centre on the John Fisher St estate by Tower Bridge. Local volunteers, whose families have lived on the estate for generations, will lead history walking tours starting with more recent history - the battle of Cable St, blitz sites - through the centuries finishing at the Roman cemetery in E1. Families from immigrant and new communities will be encouraged to join the tours both to improve physical activities and to learn more about the community they have chosen to live in.
Wellbeing Pack
A pack for people taking part in the projects, consisting of a pedometer, a blood pressure monitor, a food calculation wheel, a measuring tape and BMI calculator and a selection of menu cards and leaflets on healthy eating, physical activity and emotional wellbeing.
In this article
