Havant And East Hants Mind is celebrating after being awarded £323,556 of National Lottery funding from Sport England to help low income families in Havant, over four years, to get active with their children.
Mind, based at Leigh Park Community Centre, will work will Oarsome Chance to deliver the scheme, helping 120 families. Over the course of six months, families will be given the chance to try sailing, rowing, building bikes and going for walks together, as well as get support from Mind to improve mental wellbeing.
The Havant and East Hants Mind Fun Families project is one of the first to receive investment from a £40 million National Lottery funding pot that Sport England has dedicated to helping families get active together, because parents and close family members can have a big impact on children’s experiences.
John Gillard, Oarsome Chance principal, welcomed the £323,000 funding and the chance to work with Mind. He said: ‘It is a great project. We are working with some of the children from these sort of families already and this is a great boost for them. It means Mind can work with these families and get them engaged and doing different activities together.’
Maria Morrell, director of services at Havant and East Hampshire Mind, said: ‘We are ecstatic to get all of that funding from Sport England. We feel it will give us the opportunity to make an impact and some difference to the Havant community.’ She added: ‘The funding means we can work with families and improve their health and wellbeing. We want to empower children and their parents to be active, as we know that four out of five primary school children don’t meet the target of activity they are meant to do each day. So the project is about increasing activity but also supporting the whole family in their wellbeing.’
