ON THE RIGHT TRACK Join our free exercise classes in parks

On the right track

Meet Born Barikor, 39, the man who created Our Parks – a community focused exercise hub that is helping Brent residents to get fit and healthy through free exercise in local parks.

On the right track

One of the barriers to exercise can be cost”, says Born whose commitment to providing accessible fitness classes is not at the cost of quality. “We are very specific about the people we choose to be trainers; it’s about being personable and caring about families and communities.”

Inclusivity and openness are the core values of Our Parks with more than 8,000 Brent families using the hub since it launched seven years ago. “The consistency of the programme has helped

Brent residents move from inactive to healthy”, says Born.

“Seeing people become healthier is one of the best things about my work. There are inspiring stories of those who have been severely unhealthy or unwell who have gone on run marathons or half marathons.”

“So many friendships have been formed, when people talk to each other they realise they have more in common and families become friends. Many families take part in Our Parks with parents invested in exercises classes also inspiring their children to be healthier.”

Our Parks, which is funded by the council, provides everything from box fit to body weights training and some members of the Our Parks classes, nicknamed ‘parkers’, have even gone on to become instructors. To find out more visit www.ourparks.org.uk

Dealing with diabetes

The COVID pandemic has exposed deep-rooted health issues such as diabetes – with one in three people who died in hospital in England with COVID-19 also having diabetes.

Diabetes causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high and can come about through inactivity, obesity and a poor diet. The poorest people in the UK are 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes and people of Black African origin are up to three times more likely to develop diabetes.

In Brent 17 per cent of all deaths can be attributed to diabetes; which can lead to serious complications, such as reduced circulation, kidney disease, blindness and heart disease.

Cllr Neil Nerva, Brent’s Cabinet Member for

Public Health, Culture and Leisure, said:

“Diabetes is a really important issue and one of the key health inequalities we need to address as part of Brent Health Matters”.

Brent Health Matters (BHM) is a joint programme between Brent Council, local NHS services and the community to address health inequalities. BHM has organised events attended by over 1,000 residents everywhere from Hindu Temples to supermarkets, sports centres and factories.

At an event at the Central Mosque of Brent on 4 February, Brent GP Nigel De Kare-Silver said: “The trouble with diabetes is it can sit in our bodies for many, many years and be causing underlying low level damage on a continuous basis and give us the awful illnesses which maybe can kill us or maybe leave us severely debilitated for the rest of our lives.”

Mistura Yusuf, a Harlesden Community Champion, who helped at an event at the Jason Roberts Foundation, on 6 February, said, “It was great to see so many local people getting an assessment, a health check and advice about how to combat diabetes.”

Diabetes has been discussed at the BHM monthly health session on The Beat 103.6FM, and there are resources on the BHM webpages and new social media groups for residents to connect with one another.

The BHM website content is available at www.brent.gov.uk/bhmdiabetes. Watch the Beat session and other videos about diabetes at: youtube.com/user/ BrentCouncilLondon/videos’

Diabetes is a really important issue and one of the key health inequalities we need to address. ‘‘ ‘‘

Cllr Neil Nerva, Brent’s Cabinet Member for Public Health, Culture and Leisure

Tea, time and a side order of poetry

Care home residents are enjoying poems especially written for them by poet, Charlotte Baldwin, who wanted to use her time as a way of giving back to the community.

Gypsy Rose Poetry and Brent Libraries developed a programme to give vulnerable customers the opportunity to experience poetry in their own homes, with funding from the Mayor of

London’s Culture Seeds fund.

Charlotte visits home library customers and care homes around the borough getting to know each resident and having a cup of tea and a chat before creating unique poems for each person.

The experience gives residents the opportunity to reminisce about the past and take away a memento of their life captured in a poem.

Charlotte said, “This was a very rewarding project which could not have happened without the hard work and dedication of the Home Libraries team. It was a joy to learn more about the lives of people living in Brent and to see how moved some were to read the resulting poems. I will treasure their gratitude and hope they will treasure their poems.”

For more information visit: www.brent.gov.uk/libraries