Tendring Community Assets Full Final Report

32 members of the community or ‘sticky people’ who are reducing inactivity hyper-locally, self- motivated and unaffiliated to any groups or associations. 8.1.4 There are at least 7 walking football groups in Tendring, enabling those who are less physically active but have a passion for football to continue to enjoy the game, at a different pace and with some rule differences, improving fitness at the same time. These groups are primarily people age over 50 years. 8.2 Food and Diet 8.2.1 There is a challenge in tackling poor dietary choices, particularly in coastal towns that have large numbers of cheap fast food shops catering for visitors and locals which make healthier choices harder to make for many people. Some children will grow up in a family environment where home food preparation is not the norm so they too will find it easier to resort to the low cost unhealthier options that they are used to. 8.2.2 Despite this there is little evidence of regular or widely available community services aimed at encouraging healthy eating or improving diet or improved home food preparation. There are some occasional local sessions, for example Colchester First Site is running food support training at Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre and a few groups in schools specifically for families with pre-school children or young people (below). There are commercially run weight loss groups such as Slimming World and Weight Watchers operating at a number of venues but these provide very specific weight loss programmes, only accepting individual adult members above a minimum BMI or weight loss requirement and paying a weekly fee. 8.3 Children and Young People 8.3.1 Tendring also has the highest level of year 6 childhood obesity in Essex. There are some sessions which might help parents encourage healthier eating for toddlers and children but these are not widely available in all areas. However, there is an opportunity to access the multitude of mother and toddler groups which are in place and use these to encourage healthy eating. For example, this might include holding fun events such as indoor picnics to give parents and toddler an opportunity to try out healthier options or encouraging children to plant and grow simple salads or vegetables which they can tend and eat. 8.3.2 Schools are already equipped with kitchens and may be able to host courses or events during school holidays which families can attend. There are examples of these already successfully in place with a model that might be replicated across the district, such as St James’ Children’s Centre Clacton offers a weekly, 6 week Confident Cooking course for families with 2-5 year old children where families can learn new healthy recipe ideas and make simple snacks on Friday mornings. Teen Talk runs a 6 week cookery course for young people ages 12-25 in Harwich. The course is split into 2 age groups, 12-16 and 17-25 and runs weekly for one and a half hours on a Tuesday evening, a time when people can get to it. Home Start Colchester, Clacton and Jaywick also provides advice and support in healthy eating and includes this as part of its workshops for children between 5 and 11 years of age. 8.3.3 There are a number of sole traders across the District providing dance classes, fitness, arts and outdoor activities for children, young people and adults. Sometimes this is unaffordable for parents and carers, so the opportunity is perhaps lost to those who need it most. One sole trader (Diddi Dance) reduced the price of dance sessions from £5 to £2 and found that the take up increased significantly, but this is not a sustainable model. There may be scope for innovation to facilitate inclusion.