BHC WW: August 2013

Saturday 24 August 2013

PARKFEST Agnew Park Stranraer

A good turnout was seen at this years' “Parkfest” at Agnew Park with plenty of entertainment for the young and elderly in the community. Building Healthy Communities, in Partnership with Community Learning and Development Stranraer, shared a community tent providing information to the public on our projects and initiatives being delivered in West Wigtownshire.

BHC Volunteers ,Kirsten Barr, Peter Ross and Phil Heron carried out some Participatory appraisal (PA) on behalf of the Stranraer ARC, consulting with the public on their views with regard to a proposed Garden Skill Centre for disabled and vulnerable people in the community.

A good day was had with new identified service users registering their interests in attending BHC Tai Chi for Health and other projects.

West Wigtownshire, with a population of approximately 18000, was chosen as one of the four areas to be part of the Building Healthy Communities project in Dumfries and Galloway. It was widely recognised as an area experiencing some of the worst levels of health inequalities and deprivation across Dumfries and Galloway. This relates to the young, lone parents, unemployed, rurally isolated and elderly. Its remoteness from services and jobs, coupled with the sparseness of the population means that higher costs are incurred in the delivery of local services which includes healthcare and education.

The West Wigtownshire Area Partnership brings together Statutory, Private and 3rd Sector organisations with local people to identify and tackle community health issues. This may involve the development and delivery of relevant activities. Volunteers play a large part in all aspects of the programme and are supported throughout, in order to bring out the best in the individual CHV themselves and their respective communities.

To view our timetable of current groups and initiatives, please click here