In January youngsters in Poulton, Fleetwood, St Annes and Kirkham have the chance to join a free course which can transform their health with the support of their families.
The 10-week MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition…Do it!) Programme for overweight 7-13 year old children is seeking members for its next course, one of over 250 which are currently being offered in locations across the UK. Fylde Coast YMCA is working in partnership with NHS North Lancashire to run the course, which starts at Fleetwood, Poulton and St Annes YMCA’s and runs on twice a week from 5pm to 7pm. Thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Fund, a further 12 places on the course worth up to £400 per child are being offered to families completely free of charge on a first come first served basis.
The MEND Programme is the UK’s largest healthy lifestyle programme for overweight children and their parents and aims to help people understand and change unhealthy attitudes towards food and fitness. Held in twice-weekly sessions and delivered by specially-trained health and fitness professionals, the unique course helps children become fitter, healthier and happier and delivers long-term results. The course gives families the skills and information to make healthier food choices and children join in fun activities designed to improve their self confidence and self esteem as well as their physical fitness.
Families who have attended previous courses at our YMCA centres have achieved fantastic results. Youngsters saw their body mass index and waistlines reduce whilst their self esteem and fitness soared.
Lucie Blower aged 8 years successfully completed the MEND Programme in St Annes in June.
Following her success she was invited down to Westminster to join forces with other children from around the country who have also completed Mend to share in their success.
Mend had selected Lucie to represent the North West following her great success on the programme, she attended and shared her experiences with members of the public and even took part in a little gentle exercise to round the day off.
Lucie made significant changes during Mend and has kept the ball rolling ever since by regularly attending Football and Family Fit classes at St.annes YMCA.
James Wheelhouse, MEND Programme Coordinator for Fylde Coast YMCA said, “Having seen first hand the success Lucie achieved on the Mend programme just reinforces the fact that Mend really does work. I was very happy that Lucie was selected to attend the Westminster Mend event. Lucie has shown the way and become a real ambassador for the Mend programme."
Families interested in participating should contact James on 01253 882105 or visit www.mendprogramme.org and click on ‘Join a MEND Programme’. Please note a parent or carer must accompany each child to every session.
