Fitness organisation Active Cheshire has won a national award for its Cheshire Girls Can project.
The team picked up the Good to Great Impact Award 2015 for the impact it has made on the communities in Cheshire and Warrington.
The award was presented by the CSP Network of county sports partnership.
The Cheshire Girls Can programme was designed by Active Cheshire to influence sustainable behavioural change in inactive mums from deprived backgrounds, by providing opportunities to change their lives, through physical activity and healthy eating.
From the outset the programme was designed to be user led, tailoring the sessions to suit the group’s needs.
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Participants were empowered to make choices around what activities became part of the programme - from boxing to dance - and guidance on nutrition enabled them to take positive steps towards healthier living.
Funded by Active Cheshire reserves the programme ran for nine months and impacted the group’s social, physical health and mental wellbeing and brought about positive changes in behaviour and attitudes towards embedding and maintaining active lifestyles and healthy eating habits.
Hairdressers Guyz N Dollz in Winsford were involved in the project.
Leeanne Forsey, of Guyz N Dollz, said: “I’ve lived and worked in the community my whole life and it was great to be able to give something back through this programme. Many of the women who come into the salon talk about exercise and diet, and express concerns over their wellbeing but don’t know where to start. Thanks to Active Cheshire we’ve bought this to life and the girls and their families have really benefited from this”.
Active Cheshire’s CEO Anne Boyd said: “We are delighted to receive the ‘Good to Great’ Impact Award 2015 in recognition of the outstanding impact this programme had on the lives of those women taking part. The focus wasn’t just on the short term gain, like losing weight or getting fit we wanted to support the group to make small changes and to celebrate baby steps, to learn about simple mistakes that can easily be fixed and to gain knowledge that they will use for the rest of their lives - for them and their families”.
She continued: “The results have been really pleasing. This is a great example of how being active and healthy can change lives."
