Conservative led Wiltshire Council is working closely with a Trowbridge local school and partners to continue to run a summer programme to help children stay active during the holidays.
Fit and Fed is a national programme combining sport with healthy food choices, as a response to the threat of hunger, isolation, and inactivity that some children experience during school holidays.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wiltshire Council will be delivering it a little differently this summer, in partnership with Studley Green Primary School, Selwood Housing Group, The Trussell Trust, Anybody Can Cook and Active Trowbridge, ensuring families on lower incomes and those accessing free school meals continue to receive support during the holidays.
Wiltshire Council's sports development team has worked in partnership with Studley Green primary school, to secure £2,000 from the Wiltshire Community Foundation Coronavirus Response Grant. This funding will support 48 families by providing printed Fit and Fed activity packs and multi-sport equipment bags. This includes ideas on how to keep active at home in the coming months with specific exercises using the equipment contained in the pack.
Wiltshire Council Conservative Cabinet Member for Leisure, Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, said "The Fit and Fed initiative will help young people to keep active at home and offers valuable support for the whole family on living a healthier life.
"We are pleased to be able to work in partnership with Studley Green Primary School to help the local community achieve long term positive health and wellbeing benefits."
Sarah Garbutt, Head Teacher at Studley Green Primary School, said "It is great that we have secured the funding which has enabled us to provide our vulnerable families with a range of multi-sport equipment and a Fit and Fed activity pack by working in partnership with Wiltshire Council and Selwood Housing Group. The packs contain lots of helpful information for the families to keep active at home and will support them to keep positive and engaged with activities at this difficult time."
The packs will complement the recently confirmed Government COVID Summer Food Fund to support children in England during the summer school holidays.
The sports development team is also working with Salisbury Foodbank to include an Active Communities information leaflet in their food parcels to support low income families, including opportunities to stay active at home and additional COVID-19 support information. These are being distributed in all emergency food parcels, as well as the food boxes being organised and delivered through Wiltshire Council's Wiltshire Wellbeing Hub.
For further information, people should please contact Karlene Jammeh, sports development officer, via email at [email protected].
To access the Fit and Fed activity pack and other support information, people should visit the Active Communities webpage.
