Age Well and Be Well grants awarded

PROJECTS and organisations in Tendring helping people to make healthy lifestyle choices or to live safely and independently as they grow older have shared a £277,237 funding pot.

Community Voluntary Services Tendring (CVST) managed grants for the Age Well and Be Well domains – part of a series of Live Well domains to address health inequalities.

Funding was given to nine organisation projects, who were invited to a special event on Tuesday.

Sailship Training and Learning for Life, which was awarded £21,675 from Age Well and £85,208 from Be Well, hosted a morning of talks and presentations as well as a tour of the site and produce made by volunteers.

Liz Barritt, chief executive officer of Sailship, said: “With the Be Well funding, for our Fit4Life Together project, we will be working with Open Road and other organisations to improve mental health and wellbeing.

“We hope to improve physical activity, reduce suicide rates which are high in Tendring particularly in men, and promote healthy and sustainable eating.

“For the Age Well funded project, Grow a Friendship with Sailship, we will work with Tendring Community Transport.

“It will be a dementia friendly garden, which the Be Well group will hopefully help to construct.

“There will also be a French boules pitch and an exercise hotspot.

“We want to rebuild self-esteem and develop an increased sense of worth, combat loneliness and address weight issues.”

The two projects will include hiring new staff at the Fairclough Avenue based site in Clacton, which provides work and life skills training for people of all ages living with a learning disability.