Summer Student 2012

Many thanks to our 2012 summer student Lauren O'Neil who worked with us over the summer. She was working on a project with Belfast Healthy Cities and East Belfast Partnership to collate data to assist community groups across the city using the Regeneration Indicators Framework (http://belfasthealthycities.com/PDFs/9074%20URBACT%20Web.pdf)

Upcoming Seminar (2)

Upcoming seminar

UKCRC Centre of Excellence for

Public Health (NI)

&

Active Belfast Partnership

Invite you to attend a seminar on:

Social Marketing for Health Behaviour Change: What to do and what not to do

Keynote Speaker:  Professor Alan Tapp, Bristol Social Marketing Centre, University of West England

For more information on Professor Tapp, click here

Tuesday 12 June 2012 @ 12.30

Reception Hall – Belfast City Hall

(Tea/Coffee will be provided)

If you wish to attend please contact:

Debbie Donaldson (parc@qub.ac.uk)

 

Titanic Yardmen Cycle and Walk

Congratulations to all those involved in the Titanic Yardmen Cycle and Walk on Sunday 1st April. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17579625

Titanic Yardmen Cycle and Walk 2012

Following on from the successful Greenway Santa Cycles of 2009 and 2011, The Connswater Community Greenway are holding the Titanic Yardmen Cycle and Walk for Bowel Cancer UK , on 1^st  April 2012.

If you want to join in, sign up here:

Titanic Yardmen Cycle and Walk

Worth a watch...

Connswater Community Greenway Evaluation Report

The Connswater Community Greenway Monitoring and Evaluation Team have produced the first baseline evaluation report. 

Click the link below to view the report:

http://www.communitygreenway.co.uk/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=5&&Itemid=16

Thanks to PARC Summer Students

The PARC Study team would like to thank Mark, Sam and Caoimhe for all their hard work with us over the summer working on various aspects of the PARC Study. 

PAL Scheme Launch

On Friday 15th April, we launched the first phase of the Physical Activity Loyalty Card Scheme (PAL Scheme) at Stormont Estate. 
Using the latest technology, sensors are placed around Stormont Estate and users of a 'loyalty card' can collect points for being active.  Users can also use their loyalty card to keep track of the number of minutes of activity that they undertake, the amount of calories that you have burned and distance covered.

This is an exciting new initiative that we plan to roll out along the Connswater Community Greenway in the future.

PARC Study Ezine

Hot off the press! We have produced the first issue of the PARC Study ezine.  You can read a copy of this ezine by going to the Connswater Community Greenway website (http://www.communitygreenway.co.uk/).

Park Usage

This week the PARC study team along with the help of 16 volunteers from East Belfast are out along the Connswater Community Greenway route collecting information on the number of people using the parks and green spaces in the area.  This part of the study will finish on Sunday 6th February.

The PARC study team would like to say a big thank you to all those volunteers who have come back to help us again and to the new volunteers who have joined the team.  Thanks to you all for braving the cold, wind and rain to help us out.

PARC Household Survey

Exciting news! On Monday 31st January we finished the year long data collection of our large household survey of residents in East Belfast.  The PARC study team would like to say a big thank you to Perceptive Insight Marketing Research for all their hard work in completing the feedback. Over the next few weeks we will be busy analysing the data and will report back on our findings soon.

Walk Score

 

Check out our new Walk Score app added to the end of the page.

Walk Score allows anyone to calculate how walkable their neighbourhood is.

http://www.walkscore.com/ 

Living in a walkable environment has been linked to wellbeing, obesity, physical activity, diet and the list continues to grow!

Good to see the CCG office is in a very walkable area

UK Society of Behavioural Medicine Conference

Researchers working on the PARC study recently attended the UK Society of Behavioural Medicine 6th Annual Scientific Meeting in Leeds (http://uksbm.org.uk/).


Prof Frank Kee delivered a key note lecture on new paradigms in public health medicine.


Dr Alberto Longo presented his work on the influence of safety, ease of access to local facilities and aesthetics on changes in physical activity. 

Dr Ruth Hunter presented a poster on physical activity and deprivation.

Claire Cleland presented her work on  community leaders' experiences of physical activity interventions in a socio-economically disadvantaged area.

Latest article about physical activity from the PARC team

There is a lot of interest in using objective monitors to promote and measure physical activity.
Here is a link to a recent article on the subject

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/ptr/2010/00000015/00000003/art00001

It is an editorial article as part of a special edition on the use of activity monitors in clinical populations.

Santa Cycle

The Connswater Community Greenway team are hosting a Santa Cycle on Sunday 5th December 2010. The aim is to set a Guiness World Record for the largest number of cycling Santas! The cycle is due to start from Titanic Quarter at 11am.


The Connswater Community Greenway team are looking for volunteers. You can take part as a cyclist or if you're not feeling so energetic, marshalls are needed to help the day run smoothly. One small catch...you have to wear a Santa suit!

We are looking for a number of people involved in the PARC study to support this event. If you are interested can you please contact the organisers using the details provided.

http://www.greenwaysantacycle.co.uk/

 

Looking to get fit?

If you are looking to get fit...why not try the new NHS Couch to 5K programme.

Download the free podcast to you MP3 player or Ipod and follow the routine!
http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/couch-5K-running-plan.aspx?Tag=Fitness+tools

Belfast Business Top 50 Poll

Wendy Langham- Project Manager of the Connswater Community Greenway has been shortlisted for an award for the social entrepreneur business which has made the most difference across the city.
 If you would like to vote for Wendy and the CCG please click on this link:
Belfast Business Top 50 Poll

Scenes from the Greenway

Observing Physical Activity in East Belfast

Thanks to the help of 20+ volunteers, we spent last week observing approx. 2000 people using the parks in East Belfast.


After two day training, the team were ready and spent 4 hours per day counting the number of people using the greenway and recording what they were doing.

The method we were using is called SOPARC (System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities). We plan to repeat this the first week in February 2011 if your interested in getting involved!