Join Mayor Marvin Rees in the big debate on local health and wellbeing

Join Mayor Marvin Rees on Saturday 15 October to
celebrate health and wellbeing in our city, at the community launch day of Bristol’s
Healthy City Week 2016.

The Mayor will be joining a panel debate at 4pm at Wellspring
Healthy Living Centre in Barton Hill, chaired by Elaine Flint, Chief Executive of Wellspring Healthy Living
Centre, offering people the chance to ask questions and have their say
to city leaders. Alongside the Mayor will be Cabinet Member for City Health and
Wellbeing, Councillor Fi Hance, Councillor Asher Craig, Mohammed Elsharif
of Bristol City Council’s public health team, local sustainable food champion
Sid Sharma and James Cleeton, England
Director South for Sustrans and a Director of Bristol Green Capital
Partnership.

People can get involved in this discussion about the big health
issues that are affecting their family and community. Lawrence Hill ward has the lowest life expectancy for men in
Bristol and 41.9% of children in year 6 (10-11 year olds) are overweight or
obese.

The debate is the culmination of the community launch day at
Wellspring Healthy Living Centre and Barton Hill Settlement, which kicks off at
10am. The event is jam-packed with free activities supporting both physical and
mental wellbeing, from dance classes to pottery and Somali weaving. There will
also be practical workshops addressing energy efficiency and how cold homes impact
on health, Dr Bike repair sessions, as well as stalls showcasing nature projects,
Fair Trade produce and tips on reducing medicines waste. For those who need health advice, there will
be experts on hand and drop-in health check appointments, as well as taster
sessions for complementary therapies.

Children of all ages will be entertained with science workshops,
bike rides, the Bristol Playbus and smoothie-making. And no-one will need to go
hungry or thirsty as there will be free teas available all day, courtesy of
Pukka Herbs, and a free three-course community meal laid on by Bristol Food
Cycle at the Barton Hill Settlement from 2-4pm.

The Mayor, Marvin Rees, highlighted:

“One of my
priorities is to help create a resilient, sustainable, clean and healthy city.
The can only be achieved by working together across agencies and within
communities, so it’s great to see initiatives such as Healthy City Week helping
people build new connections across neighbourhoods.”

Ian Townsend, Chief Executive of Bristol Green Capital Partnership
CIC said:

“The linkages between our personal health and the health of our
environment are at the heart of Healthy City Week. The community launch day
offers an opportunity to bring those
links to life. We’re offering these great activities in a part of our city that
faces significant health challenges, so we hope many local people, as well as
visitors from other parts of the city, will come along too and join the
conversation about how we can all help to create a sustainable city with a high
quality of life for all.”

Russell Thomas, Migrant Health Manager at Bristol Community Health, said:

“We’re delighted to be co-hosting this event. Our aim is to stimulate
debate around our city’s strategy towards managing health, particularly for
migrant communities. We’re looking forward to hearing from people who have
experiences to share and ideas for how we can make things even better in the
future.”