Halcon is a ward in the Taunton Deane District of Somerset which has some of the highest levels of social deprivation in the county. It is within the top 5% of the most deprived areas in the UK.
At SASP we felt we had an opportunity to make a hugely positive impact on the community through providing the residents with opportunities to be physically active. With levels of deprivation being very high it is extremely important that people are given the opportunity to become more physically active and also understand the social and emotional benefits activity can bring.
It was vital for us at SASP to engage with local residents and to begin to find out what sort of physical activities people would be interested in and which activities could be sustainable. The long term aim was to build an active mind set within the community, making physical activity habitual and developing a healthy lifestyle ethos among residents.
‘Great fun being out in the park and playing with the kid’. – Local Parent
‘The circuits are great! They are on our doorstep which means people can work out together, have fun and get a bit fitter’. - Rhiannon
‘I have lost weight recently and wanted to start running to help keep the weight off and help me to give up smoking’. - Denise
In the Community
From February 2016 onwards community consultations have taken place during local holiday activity days, visits to the community centre and Link Power (Halcon One team) offices. Along with this we visited existing groups in the area and met with organisations already working in the community.
We have continued throughout this time to listen to the public, include them in decision making and ultimately it has been the community members who have voiced which activities they would want in their area. This gave us a firm foundation of where to begin with the physical activity programmes and also very importantly started to build relationships with residents of the local area.
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