principle ten
Health and Happiness Encouraging active, sociable, meaningful lives to promote good health and well-being.
Natural Play at Middlesbrough Environment City Middlesbrough Environment City continued to undertake innovative work around natural and outdoor play, through the Healthy Town programme. This supported work to engage families in outdoor play, including the provision of play skills training for parents, and Big Lottery Fund supported work to encourage more people to use Fairy Dell for recreation and play. The programme also included running a trial of the Forest Schools Programme in Middlesbrough, which uses practical skills in outdoor environments to promote learning amongst children. The Natural Play projects addressed parents' concerns about safety of outdoor play by running supervised sessions in natural play spaces to introduce families to these areas and address misconceptions regarding their safety and suitability as play spaces. The projects worked with over 2,200 children in activities held in parks, green spaces, school grounds, children's centres and community outdoor areas. Groups involved in the project included a
mixture of primary school after school clubs and lunch time playgroups. Activities included mini-beast hunts, nature trails, wildlife spotting, making natural art, den building, and lots of other exciting activities to encourage everyone to engage with nature. 112 parents and carers were
trained in outdoor play skills, greatly improving the quality and diversity of their play time with their children. The projects also assisted with the development of seven new natural play areas across the town. Brian Simpson (MEC)
Warmer Homes Middlesbrough Environment City undertook the Warmer Homes project funded by the Joint Investment Programme, managed by NHS Middlesbrough and Middlesbrough Council. The project aimed to address fuel poverty in Middlesbrough through activities including supporting vulnerable people to access home energy efficiency measures and training local residents in giving energy efficiency advice to their neighbours. The project supported the installation of 96 measures, including cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and central heating systems. It also trained 38 people as energy champions, enabling them to give advice on basic energy efficiency to their neighbours and identify residents at risk of cold damp related illness. Denis Reeves (MEC)
One Planet - One Middlesbrough | Community Update Report 2010/11
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