Knowsley Online

Mental health awareness

With World Mental Health Day taking place on 10 October, Knowsley’s Public health team is advising people of simple steps they can take to promote positive mental wellbeing.

A national review of the latest mental health evidence has led to the development of the ‘five ways to wellbeing’, small steps that can lead to improvements in people’s mental health.  The five ways are summarised below:-

• Connecting with the people around you – family, friends, colleagues and neighbours – which can make a big difference. Building and developing positive relationships with people can help to enrich you each day.
• Get active - exercise not only increases your physical strength, it also plays a crucial role in positive mental health. Whether it’s going for a walk, jog or playing a sport you enjoy, any type of physical activity releases chemicals in the brain that make you feel good and lift your mood.
• Taking more notice of your surroundings is a further way of strengthening mental health. Whether it’s the beauty in nature, the pleasant breeze of fresh air or the joy in music – being curious and savouring the moment can help you think of things in a more positive light.
• Keep learning -perhaps you’ve always wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument, sign up to a computer course or rediscover an old hobby. Trying something new can help you become more confident whilst having fun.
• Give something back - tell someone how much you appreciate them, join a voluntary group or do something nice for a friend. This can be incredibly rewarding and will help you feel more positive as you make a difference to others.

As well as promoting the five ways to wellbeing, Knowsley’s Public Health team is working with the National Wildflower Centre to deliver a wellbeing project to encourage positive mental health and wellbeing.

The Great Outdoors programme focuses on nature and physical activity through encouraging people to help improve local green spaces and going on regular walks through the countryside. Residents can also develop new skills, learn about healthy eating and take part in creative nature activities through the programme. The organisers also run family-focused events during the school holidays including bushcraft, archery, crafts and gardening.For more information on the programme, please contact Annick on 0151 738 1913 or email [email protected]

Matthew Ashton, Director of Public Health in Knowsley, said, “Raising awareness of mental health issues and helping our residents to access the support available is a key priority for us.  We are addressing this through a number of initiatives, including supporting World Mental Health Day. I would encourage our residents to follow the five ways to wellbeing, and to take advantage of programmes like The Great Outdoors.”

Kind Huyton Students up for national award

Kind hearted pupils from a Knowsley school have won an award for helping their neighbours fight crime and their fear of crime.

Anti social behaviour was causing some problems for residents of a sheltered housing scheme near Huyton Arts and Sports Centre for Learning.

Some pupils had been using Marshfield Close as a short cut to and from school and this had caused some damage and made the residents anxious.

The students realised that fear of crime had become the problem and this  stemmed from a lack of any relationship between the two groups.

They set up a project to promote a positive image of young people and invited the residents to come to some of the after school activities.

The residents held sessions to teach the young people how to knit and the students entertained them with acting, singing and bingo.

Everton Football Star visits Arncliffe

Everton Star Tim Cahill recently visited local young people from Knowsley at the Arncliffe Centre in Halewood.

Local children from Holy Family RC School were invited to a training session led by Tim Cahill and the Sports Development Team where they were given the opportunity to show off their football skills and enjoy a friendly game of football. The session was then followed up with a question and answer session were the children got to grill Tim about his football career!

The star visit was a celebration of the excellent football development in place at the centre, highlighting the strong partnership approach between Barclays’ Space for Sports, Halewood Town Council and Knowsley Sport Development.

There are a range of football opportunities in place at Arncliffe Centre for various age groups to enjoy. An extremely popular club at the centre is the Halewood Tae Kwon Do Club; the newly established club supported by Sport Development has recently gone from strength to strength working towards Kitemark Accreditation. The club now boasts not one but three new world champions, having collected a 22 medal haul at a recent world championship.

Councillor Eddie Connor, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Community and Culture said “The recent achievements from local community clubs are a great example of the outstanding work that local volunteers make within Knowsley, with the support and guidance from Leisure and Culture officers it’s clearly making an impact to improve people lives”

Children at a primary school in Halewood have been sharing their goodies with others who are less fortunate.

Pupils at Greengates School in Leathers Lane brought in tinned and packet food for their first ever harvest festival held in the local St Mary’s Church.

After the songs and the prayers, six boxes of food were taken to South Liverpool Foodbank – a charity that provides emergency food boxes to local families in crisis.

“This was a great way for the children to help others in a worse situation,” said the executive head of Greengates, Neil Dixon.

“The theme for our festival was The Global Harvest and, although the food went to help others in the area, it still showed the children how we need to spread what we have around.

“The result was a splendid effort by the children, their parents and the staff.”

The festival was attended by parents, carers and children and was led by the Reverend Alan Jewell.

Children from Greengates primary with their harvest festival food

Students make a difference to African orphans

Schoolgirls from Halewood have been helping make a difference to the lives of African orphans.

Friends Cheryl Gibb, Alex Quigley, Becky Thorpe and Angela Dempsey, all pupils of Halewood Centre for Learning, travelled to volunteer at the Christian Refuge Orphanage Centre in the town of Awutu Bawjiase, central Ghana.

Their trip was made possible thanks to a £5,500 grant from Knowsley Housing Trust (KHT) as well as fundraising by the girls who managed to raise enough to give the orphanage £2,000.

“What these girls have achieved is incredible and we are very proud to have been a part of making it happen,” said Jenny O’Brien, Head of Customer Engagement and Response at KHT.

“That they have worked so hard to help children less fortunate shows the dedication and enthusiasm of the young people in our communities.”

The friends spent two weeks at the orphanage helping to teach and look after 30 children.

Alex, 16, is planning to return with Becky next summer to offer more help.

“We are still in touch with the orphanage and are definitely planning to go back next year,” she said. “I have learned so much from the experience.”

  The orphanage was started in 2007 with five children sleeping on one mat. The founder, Pastor Elisha, started farming yam and corn to feed them.
With the help of local and international volunteers, the children now sleep in beds and on mattresses.

But there are still many improvements needed. There is no running water and the children are bathed outside. They sleep in two crowded rooms and there is no kitchen.

“I have definitely matured and it has made me more responsible. Things like new clothes don’t seem as important now,” said Alex.

“There was a one-year-old girl called Leah who I looked after, whose parents had abandoned her when she was four-weeks-old. A lot of the children had lost their parents in floods.

“They had such terrible experiences, but they were all so lively and enthusiastic.
“The children over there are happy to play with a stick or a spoon – it just shows that money doesn’t matter.”
Each day during their stay, the girls were up at 6.30am to wash and dress the children and prepare breakfast before sending the older children off to school.

Their days were spent playing with the younger children, teaching them English and doing chores before helping to wash and put them all to bed in the evenings.

They took the children on trips to the beach and organised craft activities and football tournaments with equipment from the UK.

Jennie Ku, deputy curriculum leader in maths at Halewood Centre for Learning, helped the girls organise and fundraise for their trip.

She arranged for the girls to accompany her sister, who had already made several visits to the orphanage, on her next trip.

“The trip cost around £1,000 per person and without the donation from KHT, they would not have been able to go,” said Jennie.

“They wanted to make a change, but now I think it has changed their lives.”

Youths Aspire to good behaviour

Youngsters will be flying high this autumn if they complete a new course aimed at tackling anti social behaviour.

Police officers in Halewood are organising a young persons’ Aspire project, which will culminate in a trip to a high wire adventure park as an incentive for completing the programme.

A group of 10 teenagers aged 13 to 17, who have been identified as at risk of committing anti social behaviour, have been picked to take part in the week-long course in October half term.

The trip to the high wire park has been funded by Knowsley Housing Trust through its area board grants.

Steve Hughes, KHT Neighbourhood Manager, said: “This is a great scheme that will specifically work with those young people vulnerable to falling into crime and anti social behaviour.

“If we can reach them at this stage, hopefully we can steer them away from that path and onto a more positive one that will make our communities a safer place to live.”

Youths Aspire to good behaviour

Youngsters will be flying high this autumn if they complete a new course aimed at tackling anti social behaviour.

Police officers in Halewood are organising a young persons’ Aspire project, which will culminate in a trip to a high wire adventure park as an incentive for completing the programme.

A group of 10 teenagers aged 13 to 17, who have been identified as at risk of committing anti social behaviour, have been picked to take part in the week-long course in October half term.

The trip to the high wire park has been funded by Knowsley Housing Trust through its area board grants.

Steve Hughes, KHT Neighbourhood Manager, said: “This is a great scheme that will specifically work with those young people vulnerable to falling into crime and anti social behaviour.

Community heroes honoured at awards

Community heroes have been honoured at Knowsley Housing Trust’s Impact Awards.

The awards, now in their fourth year, celebrate the work of KHT customers and staff in making Knowsley a place where people are proud to live and work.

The event at Aintree Racecourse on Tuesday, September 21, was compered by Big Brother winner and television presenter Craig Phillips, with performances from X Factor finalist Laura White.

Among the winners was 14-year-old Tony See, who was named Young Citizen of the Year.

While most teenage boys are thinking about video games and football, Tony organises weekly community bingo nights, running the whole event and making tea and coffee for the residents.

He has been volunteering at Torrington Drive Community Association for the past two years, helping to organise community clean ups, fun days and car boot sales to raise money for local causes.

The Halewood Centre for Learning pupil, who lives on the Torrington Drive estate in Halewood, was presented with a £250 prize, which he will donate to the community association.

He said: “I am very pleased to win. I do these things because I like helping other people.”

Tony’s family has been involved with the community association for many years.

His brother Gary, 24, started helping out when he was 12 and is now the association secretary.

New support groups for Heart Disease and Stroke

Knowsley people who have suffered, or care for someone who has, Heart Disease or a Stroke, can join the new community – run support groups operating across the borough.

Knowsley Chest, Heart and Stroke Support Groups (CHASS) enhance current support services available in the borough and were created following requests to Knowsley Health & Wellbeing from local people.

The support groups hold regular meetings with a range of activities, giving people the chance to socialise with others with similar experiences.

People are welcome to attend the following support groups:

Prescot: Every Wednesday, 2pm – 4pm at Greenwood Close Community Hall, Greenwood Close, Prescot, L34 2SL. For more information contact Jimmy Jordan on ph: 0151 289 5703.

Huyton: First and third Thursday of the month, 7pm – 9pm, Connaughton Resource Centre, Tarbock Road, Huyton, L36 5XW.  For more information contact Isobel McBain on ph: 0151 449 1702.
 
Halewood: Second and fourth Thursday of the month, 7.30pm – 9.30pm, St Mary’s Church Care Centre, Hillingden Avenue, Halewood, Liverpool L26 9TZ.  For more information contact Pauline Dooley on ph: 0151 486 1213.

Kirkby: Every Friday, 2pm – 4pm, YWCA, Cherryfield Drive, Kirkby, L32 8SA. For more information contact Jimmy Jordan on ph: 0151 289 5703

If you are interested in volunteering your time at one of the groups, please contact Jimmy Jordan on 0151 289 5703.

Officers get on their bikes

POLICE officers in Halewood are hitting the beat on new bicycles.

Police Community Support and Traffic Officers (PCSTOs) can now fight crime quickly and efficiently after a £1,000 donation from Knowsley Housing Trust (KHT) to purchase two mountain bikes.

The bikes mean officers can provide greater coverage in their patrols in the Leathers Lane area.

Neighbourhood inspector for Halewood Gary Wilde said: “A fully operative PCSTO is pivotal to the continued success of neighbourhood policing. They are our eyes and ears in the community.

“A PCSTO equipped with a mountain bike provides a greater coverage of their ward and can get to places that a police car cannot, like grassy areas or railway lines.

“They are also able to respond more quickly and effectively to incidents than on foot, particularly incidents of anti social behaviour.”

Steve Hughes, Neighbourhood Manager from KHT, said: “We are fully committed to working with police to crack down on anti social behaviour in our neighbourhoods.

“PCSTOs are vital in helping to ensure our communities are safe. We hope our contribution will mean greater coverage, and more residents having the reassuring sight of officers on their streets.”

PCSTOs Allan Marsh and Alan Mason try out the bikes.