The St Peter’s Exercise Group is helping local residents have fun, get fit and connect with neighbours their local area. Having identified a need in the area for social and exercise clubs and their previous venue closed for refurbishment, exercise instructor Elaine was struggling to find a suitable venue. Elaine was introduced to her namesake Elaine Halford-Bishop, a local community builder. As a Community Builder Elaine helped connect her with St Peter’s church who were looking to make their hall available for community use. In addition to helping Elaine plan & market her new free exercise group and connect with local residents interested in attending.
The video below tells the story of how the two Elaine’s were connected through their community connections to help bring about a much-needed community exercise and social activity, free of charge.
You will also hear Sam’s journey, a brave local resident who has had many health barriers but is helping to overcome these through the help of Elaine and the group.
You can view the film on our Worcestershire County Council YouTube.
Due to the success of the group at St Peter’s Church, with the instructor’s agreement and the support of the Community Builder the classes were expanded to an additional location at Holy Innocents Church.
Attendee and local resident Jane said: “Really enjoyed today, I don’t think you realise how much pleasure you bring to people, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have tried all these new things. And I would still be worried about going out”
Another keen attendee Anne said: “The class provides me with emotional & physical enrichment. They encourage me to do exercise, which I probably wouldn’t do on my own. The classes give me the confidence to go out, meet other & chat”
A regular attendee Sam also added: “Fitness, fun and friendship. Thank you, Elaine and St Peter’s, and everyone for their company”
As well as improving physical wellbeing, exercise groups can also help with mental wellbeing by providing an opportunity to socialise with other residents.
The group were also able to access free resistance bands from Worcestershire County Council to help with their strength and balance training at home. Further information is available here: What are resistance bands? | Worcestershire County Council
Currently funded by Public Health at Worcestershire County Council, in collaboration with District Councils across Worcestershire. Community Builders work in localities across the County to support groups and local people to connect to each other, support their ideas and help with tools to make projects come to life
To see if there is a community builder in your locality area you can search here: Community projects and funding | Worcestershire County Council }