Jan 13, 2021 | ActivGardens, ActivHubs, ActivLives, ActivSinging, ActivSports
Due to the latest Government announcement and lockdown restrictions, ActivLives had to close all of our activity sessions again, including ActivSheds, the Sudbury project and limit the access to our two community gardens in Ipswich.
Staff are still able to access the office at Brightspace.
What are we doing during the Lockdown?
- We are monitoring the Covid-19 situation and Government announcements very closely and following strict guidance on hygiene / cleaning, social distancing and the wearing of face masks.
- The ActivOut and About Project continues to support people on a one to one basis who live on their own, are vulnerable or need some social contact and exercise to help with their physical / mental health. The walk may just be around the streets or in a park or green space. We are very grateful to Active Suffolk and Sport England for their support with this initiative. All our other ActivSports sessions are closed at the moment.
- Having been able to re-start our Step by Step (falls prevention) and ActivSteps sessions in Ipswich, Felixstowe, Woodbridge and Leiston, we have now had to close them all again. However, we are providing Better Balance sessions through live streaming on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning. If you would like to join one of the sessions with our OTAGO Instructors Del Keeble and Jo Powley contact Clare Macdonald at the main office on 01473 345350 for more information. We will restart face to face sessions, as soon as we are able. The Step by Step (Falls Prevention) programme is funded by Ipswich & East Suffolk CCG. We are still accepting referrals from health professionals, Social Prescribing Link workers and self-referral.
- It is very important that through the lockdowns or if you are shielding that you try and keep active. If you are not into live zooming, then why not visit our Activ@Home page on our website where you can find seated exercise videos with Jo. Please visit: https://activlives.org.uk/activhome/. You will also find quizzes, singing videos and lots more….
- Our Carers Elderflower Hub, Friday Friends Hub and our ActivSingers community singing groups remain closed, but we are keeping in contact with members and volunteers through regular welfare calls, WhatsApp groups and zoom singing sessions and socials.
- We are still working on the Bridging the Gap Project in partnership with NSFT / Willows Unit and the Recovery College and are currently working on a new ‘Connecting with Nature’ Webinar, which should be available in March.
- Our two lunch clubs at St Mary at Stoke Church & the Ipswich International Church remain closed but we are keeping in touch with members and volunteers. Hopefully, they will reopen again later in the year.
- Our Befriending / Welfare calls, shopping / food parcel delivery and medication collection will also continue, with our most vulnerable members / carers to help reduce their anxiety, loneliness and social isolation caused by the lockdown.
- ActivGardens – Our two Community Gardens in Ipswich are temporarily closed due to the current lockdown. Our provisional re-opening date is Monday 1st March. This also includes ActivSheds and ‘Grow Your Community’ in Sudbury’s park.
Essential work at the gardens and community apiary will continue with key volunteers and some placements will be able to continue to attend their programmes – by prior arrangement with staff.
- Please do keep in touch with all the activities at ActivGardens via the ActivLives website and social media, and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need more information. Please visit: activlives.org.uk
We are obviously following Government COVID-19 Guidance to ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers and members. We will reopen our activity sessions when it is safe to do so, but in the meantime, we will keep in touch with our members / volunteers to make sure they are OK and inform them of any developments with our activity and social programme.
A big thank you to all our funders and the amazing donations we have received to help the organisation through these unprecedented times and to the staff
and volunteers who have gone that extra mile to support our services and each other during the lockdowns. If you require any further information, please contact us on 01473 345350.
Please stay safe.
Regards
Julie Stokes CEO
Make sure you follow us on Facebook to keep up with everything – www.facebook.com/activlives
Nov 27, 2020 | ActivGardens, ActivHubs, ActivLives, ActivSinging, ActivSports
Just to let everyone know how ActivLives is managing the lockdowns and Government and Sport’s Bodies restrictions and how we are continuing to support our members and volunteers.
We have been able to keep our Community Gardens in Ipswich and our Sudbury Garden project open safely, with the support of our dedicated teams of volunteers who are helping to maintain the gardens and grow plants and produce for the local community. The volunteers in Sudbury have been working hard to keep Belle Vue Park looking lovely and keeping on top of the weeding and tidying in preparation for the winter months.
The staff and volunteers are also working hard to prepare all sorts of jams, pickles, Honey, fresh produce, bird boxes, garden items, crafts and lots more for the Christmas Market on December 4th at the People’s Community Garden, Halifax Rd from 10am – 1pm. Please come along…
We have also been able to keep various projects running such as ‘Grow Your Future’ which is giving people skills, work experience and support in finding employment as well as building confidence, self-esteem and helping people with anxiety and depression cope through the lockdowns and the pandemic.
ActivSheds has been able to keep open with a limited number of volunteers and with the new outside cover funded by SW Ipswich Area Committee, we now have more space for people to enjoy the Shed and keep socially distanced.
Unfortunately, the Better Balance sessions that we managed to get up and running after the first lockdown had to close again, but for those that could access the internet the instructors have been running live zoom exercise sessions and seated dance and chair-based exercise to keep people moving and connected.
We have established WhatsApp Groups, run zoom socials and sing-a-longs, including our Friday Friends Hub and kept in touch with our members from all our different activities with the Befriending / Welfare calls to help get people through this very difficult and anxious time.
During lockdown 2 our ActivOut and About Project returned to 1-1 ‘walks and talks’, encouraging people living alone to have a walk in the fresh air to help with their physical and mental health.
Check out our Activ@Home page on our Website for exercise / singing videos, quizzes and our themed reminiscence project ‘That Reminds Me’ for things to do at home.
We are now planning to re-open safely again on the 2nd December, so that some of our Better Balance, Inclusive Sports groups and Carers Hubs can meet again before the Christmas and New Year holiday. We hope to get more of our sessions running in the New Year, if we can.
A big thank you again goes out to all our funders who have helped to keep the organisation going through 2020 and the generous donations that people have sent in, even people who don’t use our services – thank you.
Thank you to all the staff, freelance staff and volunteers for your patience, flexibility, creativity and dedication in supporting ActivLives and keeping things going through the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Let’s hope 2021 is a better year for all of us.
For any information about any of our services or activities please contact the office on – 01473 345350 or visit www.activlives.org.uk
Oct 2, 2020 | ActivGardens, ActivHubs, ActivLives, ActivSinging, ActivSports
On Monday 23rd March 2020, due to the Covid-19 virus and Government lockdown ActivLives had to close all of our activity sessions, the Sudbury project and limit access to our two community gardens in Ipswich. The office closed at Brightspace and staff worked remotely, attended the gardens and two staff were furloughed for 2 months.
What we achieved through lockdown?
- We contacted 300 of our more vulnerable members and volunteers through regular befriending and welfare calls.
- We developed Activ@Home on our website/Facebook page with exercise videos, weekly quizzes, singing videos and launched our ‘That Reminds Me’ reminiscence, arts and photography project.
- We set up WhatsApp groups, so that our members could keep in touch with each other.
- We held regular zoom social and ActivSinging sessions and organised singing sessions outdoors in people’s gardens and in parks.
- Our two Community Gardens the People’s Community Garden at Maidenhall and Chantry Walled Garden at Chantry Park were closed to the general public, but were maintained by a skeleton team of staff and dedicated volunteers who followed strict social distancing and hygiene guidelines.
- We received thousands of plugs / plants for the IBC parks and our plant sales, which were nurtured by a small team of dedicated volunteers.
- We set up our plant on-line sales and delivery service to enable people to access plants during lockdown and to link with people in the community.
- A dedicated team of volunteers looked after our Bee Hives to ensure our bees survived through lockdown.
- We were able to continue providing healthy fresh produce and flowers for the local community at the People’s Community Garden, to help people through lockdown and keeping in touch with the community.
- The Staff and Trustees met regularly via Zoom sessions and this will continue for the foreseeable future.
- We continued to work on the Bridging the Gap project funded by Ipswich & East Suffolk CCG / Suffolk Community Foundation in partnership with NSFT / Willows Unit and the Recovery College holding regular zoom meetings and working on learning plans for Inclusive sport and Connecting with Nature.
- For those people who didn’t have access to the internet we printed hard copy exercise sheets, quiz booklets, produced a CD and hard copy songbooks which were distributed to members to try and keep them connected.
- We would like to thank all our funders for being very supportive and understanding through this very difficult time particularly the National Lottery, Suffolk Community Foundation, County, Borough, District & Town Councils and Councillors.
Where we are now?
- We are monitoring the Covid-19 situation and Government announcements very closely and following strict guidance on hygiene / cleaning, social distancing and the wearing of face masks.
- We have been working closely with venues on risk assessments to ensure that our members, volunteers and staff are safe and to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
- We have been working on our re-start plan to gradually re-introduce some activity sessions again to help our members improve their physical and mental health and build their confidence, after many of them have had to shield during lockdown.
- The ActivOut and About Project has been operating since July and has focussed on offering Covid-19 compliant outdoor exercise opportunities including chair-based exercise in people’s gardens, walks in local green spaces and badminton and boccia in the park. We are very grateful to Active Suffolk and Sport England for their support for this initiative.
- Inclusive Badminton, Boccia and Badminton sessions are planning to re-start in October / November 20. We are taking a gradual approach to re-opening these sessions, taking into account the myriad of Covid-19 regulations from the venues, sports governing bodies, Sport England and the DCMS.
- We have re-started some of our Step by Step falls prevention and ActivSteps sessions in Ipswich and Felixstowe, with others planned to open in October if we can. A new member of staff has been recruited to develop the Step by Step Falls Prevention projected, funded by Ipswich & East Suffolk CCG and she will be joining us in November.
- The People’s Community Garden, Chantry Walled Garden and the Sudbury Project have welcomed back existing volunteers and new volunteers to all the different projects currently underway at ActivGardens and Chantry Walled Garden is now open to the general public on Thursdays from 10am – 3pm.
- ActivSheds has re-opened on Fridays with a limited number of volunteers at each session and a new specialist session has opened on Thursdays for people with a disability or people living with Dementia and their Carers, which can offer more 1-1 support.
- The Elderflower Carers Hub has re-started at the CRESS Pavilion off Halifax Road with a new rota in place for members and volunteers, so that members, volunteers and staff can have an enjoyable session, whilst being socially distanced and keep people safe in the venue.
- WhatsApp groups, Zoom social and singing sessions will continue so that we can keep in touch with members across Ipswich and East Suffolk.
- We are continuing to develop the Bridging the Gap Project in partnership with NSFT / Willows Unit and the Recovery College and have through September been able to go back on the wards with table top gardening. Hopefully, our Boccia sessions will be able to re-start again soon.
- The Friday Friends Hub at Whitehouse and funded by the North West Ipswich Big Local Trust will hopefully re-start in October / November time. It will be a slightly shorter session with a rota in place for members, Carers and volunteers. We are currently working with the Church to ensure it is a Covid-secure venue and session. The Friday Friends zoom social sessions will continue to ensure we support our members living with Dementia and their carers.
- With the current Government announcements our two lunch clubs at St Mary at Stoke Church & the Ipswich International Church may not open until next year. However, we will be monitoring the guidance carefully and if we can open sooner we certainly will.
- Our Befriending / Welfare calls will also continue with our most vulnerable members to help reduce their anxiety, loneliness and social isolation caused by the lockdown.
We are taking things very slowly to ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers and members. We will continue to open sessions where and when we can and keep in touch with our members to make sure they are OK and inform them of any developments with our activity and social programme.
A big thank you to all our funders and the amazing donations we have received to help the organisation through these unprecedented times and to the staff and volunteers who have gone that extra mile to support our services and each other during lockdown. If you require any further information, please contact us on 01473 345350.
– Julie Stokes CEO
May 22, 2020 | ActivGardens, ActivHubs, ActivLives, ActivSinging, ActivSports
The UK Government have recently published their Covid-19 Recovery Strategy, which includes a provisional timetable for changes to the restrictions that we are all experiencing.
You may be wondering what these changes have meant for our services and activities at ActivLives?
The changes that were implemented from 13th May (Step One), have made very little difference to what ActivLives are able to provide on a face to face basis. Although individually, we are now able to leave our home to exercise more often, drive further and even play some sports (such as golf), none of this changes are what ActivLives are able to provide in terms of projects and groups at this moment in time. This is due to the continued implementation of the social distancing rules and the restrictions on permitted social contact.
ActivGardens continue to be closed to the public, although a small team of staff and brilliant volunteers are still working to carry out essential work. We have however, taken this opportunity to launch our new on-line plant and produce sales with ‘ActivGardens Online’ https://activlives.org.uk/activgardens/online/
All other ActivLives projects continue to be suspended until further notice; these include all of our lunch clubs, exercise classes, inclusive sports groups and singing projects.
The next round of proposed changes (Step Two), are due to be implemented on the 1st June, these are also unlikely to change anything that we at ActivLives, are able to provide in terms of face to face services.
We are continuing to develop our on-line services including seated exercise routines, quizzes, a reminiscing project and sing-along sessions, which can all be found on our website at https://activlives.org.uk/activhome/
Be assured that we do plan to return to full operation, just as soon as we are permitted and of course, when it is safe to do so!
We will be working on our own ‘road map’ of how we can re-introduce sessions, in a safe and phased approach, when it is safe for us to do so. So please be patient and keep safe – We will meet again!
ActivLives Trustees
Julie Stokes – ActivLives CEO
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-plan-to-rebuild-the-uk-governments-covid-19-recovery-strategy/our-plan-to-rebuild-the-uk-governments-covid-19-recovery-strategy
