Community Trust wins funding to help get MENACTIVE!

A pioneering project by Fleetwood Town Community Trust to help local people on a low income become more active and healthier has won backing from Sport England.

Fleetwood Town Community Trust (FTCT) is a vibrant and active charity that aims to improve health and well being of children, young people and adults through sports participation and to raise the aspirations and skills of people for a better life through our learning and programmes has been awarded £9,731 funding as part of Sport England’s strategy to improve people’s health and mental wellbeing through sport and activity.

Sport England is funding a wide range of projects around the country, using varying approaches to help people to feel healthier, happier, more confident and able to cope with life’s pressures, or more connected to their families and communities.

Sport England research shows that a third of people on low incomes are inactive, meaning they do less than 30 minutes of exercise that gets them slightly out of breath each week. And inactivity in people on a low income is twice that of people on a high income.

The MENACTIVE project will involve a rolling 12 week physical activity programme which will be delivered 4 times per annum from Poolfoot Farm Sports & Leisure Complex and this will be complemented by an additional weekend programme to maintain continuity and sustainability. This project will tackle issues such as poor diet, obesity, heart disease, cancer prevention as well as addressing men’s mental health.

Fleetwood Town Community Director, Matt Hilton,  said: “Men with healthy lifestyles are stronger, more energized, happier, more motivated, loyal and committed to their families and their work. Therefore this project will create an opportunity for men to shift their relationship with health from something they think about to something they practice daily through lifestyle habits. Consequently, this project will tackle issues such as poor diet, obesity, heart disease, low physical activity levels and cancer prevention as well as addressing men’s mental health through the delivery of an innovative outreach physical activity programme which will be located within one of the most deprived areas of our community”.

Sport England Executive Director, Mike Diaper, said: “ Fleetwood Town Community Trust has a strong track record of working with their local community and we’re very excited by how their project could make such a positive difference to people’s lives.

“We know that people on a low income can face many pressures that make it difficult for them to be as active as they would like to be. So we’re working with community-focused organisations across the country to find ways to help people fit physical activity into their lives in ways that work for them. The lessons we learn from this local project will really help to shape our work with similar groups across the country.”

For further information, please contact Rob Larcombe on 07791 909911  Rob.Larcombe@fleetwoodtownfc.com