Successful September: Health & Social Care, Voluntary & Workplaces

The rain of September 2019 did its best to keep us indoors (especially for our parkrun day), but there has been some truly impressive work from across the Active Calderdale network that we’d like to update you on:

Working with GPs to understand Utopia

GP Practice staff scoring themselves on the influence framework

In the picturesque surroundings of Shibden Park, we worked with staff from GP surgeries from across Calderdale to get a benchmark of how well we’re currently embedding physical activity, and how we can work to build the perfect scenario for physical activity in our surgeries.

Working together with GP Surgeries for GP parkrun Day!

GP Parkrun Day in Shroggs Park, Halifax

Saturday the 28th of September saw the first Calderdale GP parkun day! We worked together with GP practices from across the borough to promote our local parkruns. Although there were some issues with the weather, we still had quite a turnout at 2 of our 3 runs. We’re planning to have more events like this going forward.

Testing the effectiveness of new technologies to increase physical activity

As part of our search for new ways to get workplaces to move more, we are trialling a digital solution – the Better Points app. Over a 6 week trial, Calderdale Council Staff have been asked to download the app to their phones, and allow it to track any walking and cycling they do throughout the week – with everyone who does at least 10 minutes a day being entered into a draw for weekly prizes!

Calderdale outperformed again in Cycle September!

Some of our top Cycle September Ambassadors

For a relatively small council workforce, we always perform well in Cycle September Here’s how we did this year:

• We came second in the “large public sector West Yorkshire” league table, streets ahead of Wakefield and Kirklees Councils.

• We also came seventh in the “2000+ Employees” category!

Next year we’ll aim even higher!

We brought free activities to the Beechwood big picnic

Big Picnic, Beechwood Park, Illingworth

The second Beechwood Big Picnic took place at Beechwood Park in Illingworth, North Halifax on September 7th. The Picnic brings together the whole community. This year it helped to launch the Active Agenda by providing free activities for all, including the 1k run, jog, walk, cycle tracks, yoga, traditional children's races and even a beach for sand castle building! There was a great turn out and plans are in place for the next Picnic. 

More Successful September:

Local Residents, Parks and Open Spaces, Sport and Communications