Serving communities
across Bedfordshire and Luton
Events
For details of forthcoming events please click the links below or scroll down.
Ugly Bug Ball 2008
The Ugly Bug Ball Forest of Marston Vale 2Oth July (special Sunday rail
service, the nearest station is Millbrook). An ideal event for people of all
ages!
YMCA Course in Chair-Based Exercise For the Frailer Older Person
Free places are available on a YMCA course in chair-based exercise for the
frailer older person, which will be running in Mid Bedfordshire from April
2008.
The course, which has successfully run in Bedford, Clophill and Maulden, is delivered by Dunstable College, and is targeted at frontline staff, community volunteers and active older people who would like to promote the benefits of exercise, no matter how gentle, to frailer older people. Exercise keeps bones strong and helps improve balance and co-ordination which helps to prevent falls. In addition, exercise in community settings encourages social interaction, which helps overcome isolation, and promotes positive mental well-being.
The course will run for ten weeks on a Tuesday morning from 10am - 2pm between 15th April and 1st July 2008, with two weeks off on the 29th April and 27th May. The venue for the course is Sandyacres Sheltered Housing Scheme, 35 Sandyacres, Maulden, Beds, MK45 2BS.
To be considered for a place on the course, potential students will be expected to have a basic level of fitness and be relatively mobile with reasonable joint movement. The course will be centred on seventeen chair based exercises but in addition, students will also learn about the skeleton and joints, the muscular system, the cardiovascular systems, the nervous system and specific conditions associated with ageing.
Students are assessed in their delivery of a chair based exercise class and through four theory papers. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to deliver safe and effective programmes of chair based exercises to frailer older people in a variety of settings e.g. community buildings, village halls or sheltered housing schemes.
The qualification
will help to increase the number of qualified exercise instructors for older
people in Bedfordshire and increase the number of community based physical
activity opportunities for older people.
As a community volunteer your place on the course will be free.
If you are interested in joining the course or would like further information, please contact Laura Osgathorp on 01525 636868 or laura.osgathorp@bedfordshirepct.nhs.uk
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