HEALTHY LIVING CENTRE DARTFORD - MEET THE TEAM

Our aim at The Healthy Living Centre Dartford is to reduce health inequalities and improve health and wellbeing in our local community in Dartford. We achieve this by delivering and facilitating projects that offer a range of opportunities for training, volunteering, social interaction and community engagement.

Local people looking for affordable and fun activities are invited to join us at Healthy Living Centre Dartford for our weekly or monthly sessions. Our calendar is jam-packed with a wide range of activities, classes, and clubs from exercise to language lessons to gardening and arts & crafts. Many of these activities are offered free, and those with a cost are just £2.50/£3.50 per session. You can find Healthy Living Centre Dartford activities at both Tree Estate and Temple Hill Community Centres, where our team of friendly volunteers and staff will be happy to welcome you. For all our most up-to-date information follow us on Facebook or Instagram, send us an email at info@hlcdartford.org.uk or call us on 01322 311265.

This month we thought we would introduce you to the team!

involved in a number of community projects across the town.

Sharon – our Chief Officer. Sharon leads Healthy Living Centre Dartford projects and co-ordinates activities with other organisations.

Sharon is a Dartford native and is actively

Joan says “I have been with the Healthy Living Centre for over 10 years starting out as a volunteer administrator. I quickly became a member of the staff team as Volunteer Coordinator and supported in building the fantastic volunteer base of truly marvellous individuals! Our volunteers come from all walks of life and are of all ages enjoying the projects that that they get involved in. My background was corporate, and I was also a member of the Recruitment employment confederation (MREC) for many years which gave me the skills to recruit to engage with the team. No two days are the same at the HLC! The projects are diverse from gardening through to IT Tuition. This is not your everyday office Job but a great Community Project for everyone to get involved with!! “

Tim says “I’m the new Centre Coordinator for Dartford Healthy Living Centre, helping manage our two busy centres. I get involved with organising our different weekly sessions, courses, community lunches and also family events during the school holidays. Every day here is different which I love! I have a background in Primary teaching and before that Project Management and Finance so I bring a few different skills – including tea making (essential). Our friendly staff and army of brilliant volunteers have already made me feel very welcome, and I look forward to getting to know them more, and meeting lots of new faces when they walk into our centres.”

Knowing first-hand the benefits gardening can have for your mental health and improving your life, I hope that I can use my past experiences to help others to improve theirs too.”

Frances says “Hi, I’m Frances and have recently joined HLCD as the Growing Community Project Officer. My passion for Horticulture and community involvement is what drew me to this position, as well as my want to use the knowledge and experience I have gained to help others improve their mental and physical health.

I caught the gardening bug as a very young child, helping my grandparents to grow plants in their greenhouse, after raising my own children I went through training with the RHS under the previous head of Royal Parks. I currently hold the position of gardener at Lullingstone Castle and The World Garden and was previously a gardener for Hall Place and Gardens in Bexley.

Having grown up in Dartford, I’m really looking forward to being able to help my community.

Debbie says “Hi, I’m Debbie and I’m the Community Engagement and Activities Co-ordinator at HLCD. I joined HLCD during lockdown and have loved watching the Community Centres come back to life with the groups and activities – hosted by us and other local organisations. Helping organise our Welcome Back events in Temple Hill Square in 2022 were a particular highlight!

I run our kids Hatchlings Cookery course and really love watching the children’s confidence grow across the course, encouraging them to ‘throw away the recipe’ and learn to cook - to their own taste - with what they have available. I’m very passionate about learning to adapt in the kitchen - my Monday ‘Chop and Chatter’ cookery club are used to me arriving with a recipe or an idea and then changing it completely according to what we find available in the kitchen! But every week we enjoy a delicious lunch together.

Watching the repair café in action has made me more determined to reduce waste and so often try to upcycle old, unwanted things into something useful and new! And lots of the craft activities I plan are often inspired by upcycling and using scrap materials.

I’m looking forward to help organise more events and meeting more of our wonderful community throughout the year!”

Nelson says “Hi, I have been volunteering at the HLC since Sept 2022 after moving into the area from Maidstone. I started by volunteering at the Hygge on the Hill group participating in recreational games and activities and socialise with the service users. I began working as the HLCD Finance Officer in Jan this year - where I process invoices, set up payments and run weekly reconciliations and the payroll. In my spare time I enjoy playing table tennis, badminton, going to church and attending peer support groups.“

That’s the core team at HLCD, but we would not be able to do what we do without the support and help of our amazing army of volunteers!

Volunteering With Healthy Living Centre Dartford

We deliver and facilitate projects that offer a range of opportunities for training, volunteering, social interaction and community engagement and our volunteers are the core of who we are and what we stand for. Our wonderful volunteers are from all backgrounds and vary from retired people, jobseekers and local people with time on their hands. Mostly they are people who want to share their skills and give something back to the community.

Would you like to learn how to teach others to cook and prepare meals or maybe you already have those skills to share with others? Would you like to share your IT skills or learn and progress in a regular IT class? Or if the outdoor life is for you, you can join the team on our community allotment to grow your own vegetables, fruit and flowers.

If you would like more information on these or future activities or have any suggestions, please email us: info@hlcdartford.org.uk and follow our social media pages: Facebook @ healthylivingcentredartford and Instagram: @ hlcdartford.