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Kensington & Chelsea (Phase 1 - Completed)

The following Well London activities took place in the Notting Barns target area.

Themed Projects

Be Creative, Be Well

HISTORYtalk; A series of reminiscence workshops with local older people on food rationing, which was then taken into local schools.
‘While you were out'; A community engagement project focused around the consultation, design and art work for a large bricked wall located within the Lancaster West estate.

Eatwell

Community Feasts were delivered in Summer and Autumn 2010.

DIY Happiness

Eight DIY Happiness sessions. Dare to Dream ideas that were developed included:

Trip to stitch and craft show
Craft workshops
Trip to Hampton Court

Fab course and I loved all the things I learned about looking after my well-being
DIY Happiness participant

Mental Wellbeing impact assessment (MWIA)

MWIAs took place on

a food growing project
clinical exercise group.

Changing Minds

Mental health awareness sessions took place on a variety of subjects including:

How to manage your mental wellbeing.
Managing stress and worry.
Managing anger.
Building confidence and assertiveness.
Surviving working life.

Healthy Spaces

The Kitchen Gardens
Cook & Eat Sessions at Latymer Christian Centre

I like it here, it’s wonderful. You see it’s what I always wanted to do. This is the best one I can think of; it’s organised. The chef gives us clear instructions. I like to use my imagination when cooking. I look forward to coming; it's funny and educational.
Cook & Eat Participant

Activate London

Gym training course for two young people
Links with QPR football club.

Heart of the Community Projects

Training communities

This project provided training for the following Well London groups:

WLDT members
Well London Activators
MWIA facilitators
Young Ambassador

Training Communities also offered Personal support packages (PSPs). Examples of training people chose included the following:

Herbs for everyday living.
TESOL.
Mentoring and coaching.

Youth.com

Provision of drop in studio sessions.

Participant Data

Total participants; 322

242 people reported an increase in healthier eating.
234 people reported increased access to affordable healthy food.
267 people reported an increase in levels of physical activity.
278 people reported that they felt more or much more positive.

Lancaster Voices choir, Be Creative Be Well

Of all the sounds you might expect to hear emanating from the centre of a large west London social housing estate, close-part harmony is probably a long way down the list.

Lancaster Voices, a choir formed of around a dozen regulars, all residents on the Lancaster estate in north Kensington, meets every Monday evening in a small community hall. Its founder and conductor is Biddy Partridge-Samuels. Funding from Well London's Be Creative, Be Well programme has enabled her to keep the choir going.

‘I had been running a choir for which people had to pay, and I didn’t know how it was going to carry on because there were problems about finding a venue,’ she explains. ‘I used to collect the money from people, and if numbers were down too much I couldn’t afford to pay for the venue, and I couldn’t afford to pay myself. In this climate, I can’t afford to work for free - I’m a music teacher.

"Then I saw about Well London and I applied. The funding has made it possible."

That will cease in March this year. Ms Partridge-Samuels says she has secured funding until the end of the year, ‘and after that we will keep on trying’.

The members of her choir hope that she is successful. Chorister Christine Wise, who lost her husband in the 2005 London bombings, is full of praise for how singing has helped her state of mind: "It’s very therapeutic," she says. "This has been better for me than any pills."

"People know they feel much better after singing, but it’s now scientifically well-supported that singing is good for mental well-being," says Ms Partridge-Samuels. "There are the social implications as well - people feel much better about their neighbourhoods after they have been meeting and singing for a couple of hours each week."

Chorister Rosalyn Sylvester agrees. "I like singing with other people. It lifts my spirits and makes me feel good. You widen your friendships as well. We’re not strangers anymore."

March 2011

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