Active in Redbourn

Active in Redbourn News letter October 2020

Notes prepared for a conversation with Redbourn Parish Council

Why was AIR created?

Around 20 of us from across Redbourn got together in Spring 2019 and formed a constituted community group. We all love the place we choose to live in.  We agreed a shared aim that Redbourn would become the healthiest and happiest village in the UK. We want to help those who seek to be more active and improve their well-being and see AIR as their first choice for support.

What have you achieved so far?

In short bringing the community, the active and not so active and all ages, together in different ways to start our journey.
  • The sight of over 100 Redbourners inaugurating the Redbourn Mile as part of the Fete du Velo will live long in the memory.
  • Weekly “Health Walks “along the Redbourn Mile were established.
  • Over 120 people had a lively evening in the village hall at our Grand Quiz night and we raised over £2000 for our community water-fountains.
  • We have introduced to the Common what we hope will be the annual Conkerthon event.
  • Almost 600 people follow us on our AIR Facebook page.
  • Behind the scenes we have agreed a constitution and all the policies that a credible community groups needs plus our own web site to provide a huge range of information on how and where to be healthy.

How have you responded to the challenges of COVID-19?

Like many organisations, COVID-19 stopped us in our tracks. All our planned events.  Health Walks, Fun Run, Fete du Velo and Conkerton were cancelled.  But, we were not completely lost. In April, along with Redbourn Care Group we produced a 12 page booklet ‘How to keep physically and mentally well while self-isolating’ and delivered it to every Redbourn home. Then we developed 2 major initiatives – ‘Live Well with Air’ and ‘Community Call’

WELLBEING WORKSHOPS

The “Live Well with AIR” Wellbeing Workshops have had over 25000 hits.  They provided free of charge Facebook Live on-line classes for all. Subjects included Pilates & Supple Strength, Yoga, Song and Dance, Nutrition and multiple wellbeing techniques – we have had over 25000 hits on Facebook

WEEKLY COMMUNITY CALL

The Community Call takes place every Wednesday at 11.00 a.m. Each call lasts 30 minutes and invites two Redbourn “celebrities” to chat about this and that. At the end of the call Will Gibbs offers a ‘Thought for the Week’. We reckon that each week we reach up to 50 isolated residents. The calls will continue until early December. You can access the calls every Wednesday at 11.00 a.m. by calling 0800 022 9009 (if using a landline) or 0330 336 0036 (if using a mobile) the PIN No. is 726747. We look forward to inviting any and all callers.

What are you planning for 2021?

Over the next few weeks look out for a “Laughterthon” on Zoom – a pre-Christmas 30-minute slice of family fun. In the next phase of the successful Live Well with AIR programme we will be promoting a wide range of Wellbeing Workshops. In addition, we have teamed up with New Leaf College, Hemel Hempstead, to promote a series of one-off free educational courses to help people take better control of their wellbeing. For more information visit  www.newleafcollege.co.uk.

If COVID-19 allows, we hope to run a community event based around the Redbourn Mile.  We will re-instate what we had planned to do in 2020. These are a Conkerthon in early Spring, support the Redbourn Fun Run in May, the Fete du Velo in Summer and continue fund raising for our water fountains campaign. You may wonder how we can run a Conkerthon in Spring out of the Autumn conker season – we have frozen 500 conkers.

We also hope to strengthen our relationships with other community groups in the village. Lastly look out for the AIR video which will be available across the village! 

What other things would you like Redbourners to be aware of?

We are always looking for new active members for AIR. A chance to implement your creative ideas in support of the community or be a pair of hands at any of our events. AIR will continue to support the Redbourn Playing Fields Trust and their ambitious plans for the Leisure Centre and surrounding playing fields.

Our goal will always be to help the active be even more active and happy.  Above all, we seek to support those who are not so fit and who struggle to be in good shape – both physically and mentally.

We are always looking for new colleagues. For more information go to our contact page  or email info@activeinredbourn.co.uk or call 07770 863864