Blackpool team get £10,000 grant to kick start health

Special schools children are set to team up with the football club to help keep them healthy.
Youngsters from primary schools taking part in a previous Blackpool FC Community Trust activityYoungsters from primary schools taking part in a previous Blackpool FC Community Trust activity
Youngsters from primary schools taking part in a previous Blackpool FC Community Trust activity

The youngsters across Blackpool and Fylde are set to learn how to live heart-healthy and active lifestyles thanks to a £10,000 grant from national charity Heart Research UK.

Blackpool football club’s Community Trust will aim to make a positive impact on over 300 disabled children and their families from seven special schools in the area when its year-long Family Fit2Go project begins shortly.

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The Trust wants to create an active culture, including healthy heart education sessions, to year 9 and 12 pupils with messages they hope will also reach their parents, carers and siblings via additional activities.

It hopes the sessions will:

n Improve understanding of how the heart works and how to look after it

n Increase awareness of the risk factors

n Improve knowledge and a better attitude to healthy eating and exercise

n Improve community cohesion

Family Fit2Go started this month and will run for a year.

The children and their parents will be questioned at the start and end of the project to measure changes in their behaviour and attitudes towards heart health and healthy eating and exercise.

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With support from the Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) the Trust will also encourage parents to have their blood pressure and cholesterol checked as part of the programme.

Ashley Hackett, chief executive of Blackpool FC Community Trust, said: “We are very excited to be working with Heart Research UK on this very important subject and working with young people with disabilities and their families to live healthier and longer lives.”

Heart Research UK National Director, Barbara Harpham, said: “Teaching children about healthy lifestyles and how to look after their hearts is very important because good habits learned at a young age will last them for a lifetime.

“The close involvement of parents, carers and teachers with Family Fit2Go means that these important messages can be reinforced as well as shared.”

The trust works with schools and community groups to improve social cohesion, education and fitness with a range of events and activities.