Sporting fever hits Grimsby

Published by keeley for Longhurst Group in Health and also in Communities

Staff and service users from support agencies across Grimsby have been putting their best foot forward at a mini-Olympics held at YMCA Peaks Lane sports hall on 7^th September.

The sporting event was organised by support staff at L&H Homes in partnership with other organisations in the area in a bid to encourage more multi-agency work, and support service users to find new interests or develop existing skills.

Service users can receive a range of support services, from help with managing a household, finances and dealing with energy suppliers through to helping people who have been homeless or facing homelessness find appropriate, long term accommodation.

Staff and clients of L&H Homes, the YMCA, Harbour Place, The Junction and Open Door were put through their paces with 7 events - welly-wanging, 5 a side football, badminton, volleyball, 50m run, spud and spoon race and basketball hoops. There was also a staff event with a variety of comical activities for clients’ entertainment. Victory went to the L&H Homes team who were presented with the trophy by Cllr Stephen Beasant, representative for the East Marsh area. All service users who attended received a medal, and had the chance to get their photo taken with an authentic Olympic torch.

Of the event Councillor Beasant said, “I am very proud to have been invited to this event and would like to congratulate everyone who took part. It was a fantastic day and it was good to see so many people enjoying themselves. I hope this kind of thing continues with people getting out and getting fit, keeping the Olympic spirit alive.”

Shayna Fletcher is one of the organisers and is a Housing Support Worker for L&H Homes, said, “We wanted to give our clients something fun and active to do and today has been a great success. A lot of the people we work with are going through very tough periods in their life and it’s important that they stay active, socialise and try new things whilst they get things back on track. Hopefully people have been really inspired by the Olympics and Paralympics so this event might help increase their interest in physical activity to improve their physical and mental health. 

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who turned up and to the agencies for their hard work in making this such a great event. Our thanks also go to Gradely Sports Awards Engraving  for their generosity in providing medals and trophies and to Councillor Stephen Beasant who has shown a great deal of interest in our work to support people in the community.”

Martin Williams, who is also one of the organisers and a Housing Support Worker at L&H Homes, added: “On top of giving our clients a day of fun, physical challenges, we also want to encourage more multi-agency work. There are already some partnership programmes in place such as the Shared Care Clinic at the Raj Medical Centre which L&H Homes run in partnership with The Junction who work with people recovering from substance misuse. Through the shared care clinics we are running workshops covering topics such as debt management, budgeting, healthy living, cooking on a budget, substance misuse and harm reduction, benefits as well as setting up a job club.  We are hoping other agencies will feed in to these workshops following this event so that clients across Grimsby can receive the best service possible.”

Dale Coggan, Service Manager for The Junction Substance Misuse Service said, “This is a fantastic example of the partnership working that is developing in North East Lincolnshire. Martin’s contribution on behalf of L&H Homes to The Junction Shared Care service users has been extremely beneficial and well received, helping them on their recovery from substance misuse.”