Spring into Easter holiday fun with MonLife

EASTER 2023 – Spring into Easter holiday fun with MonLife

If you’ve been looking for things to do during the upcoming Easter school holidays then look no further, MonLife has the answer – a whole programme of activities and events to keep children of all ages entertained.

MonLife Heritage has hatched some plans for family fun at Old Station Tintern, Shire Hall, Monmouth and Caldicot Castle which include egg decorating Easter bonnet kits, craft activities plus much more! They have also created play-filled spaces for children to play freely, surrounded by history.

The ever-popular Monmouthshire Games (TMG) returns to all four Leisure Centres across Monmouthshire from Monday 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th April, and Wednesday 12^th – Friday 14th April. It’s a chance to learn new skills, build confidence, meet new people, and most importantly, have fun through sport. Each day promises to be action packed, and booking is essential as there are 30 spaces available per day. Children and young people between the ages of five and 11 will get the chance to experience, across the sessions, over 30 different sports. Sessions run from 8am to 5pm, and it costs £21 per day. Places can be booked by clicking HERE.

MonLife Active Play programme which will be taking place across Monmouthshire is 1 hours and 55 minutes where children aged 5-11 can be left with our highly trained and experienced playworkers and choose from a range of activities to play including physical play, arts and crafts, archery or wherever their imagination takes them. Parents will need to complete a registration form to book their children to attend. Further information on venues and how to book can be found on the MonLife Holiday Activities Website link below.

Monmouth’s Play Centre at the town’s Leisure Centre will also be open, offering three-storey action-packed fun. There’s even a special enclosed toddler area. Adults can relax with a cup of tea in the café, with free wi-fi access available. Don’t forget the swimming pools, gyms and classes are open throughout the holidays (excluding Friday 7^th and Monday 10^th ).

For more information how to book and ideas visit:

https://www.monlifeholidayactivities.co.uk/activities/

Council gets ready for Nature Isn’t Neat 2022

Spring is officially here and Monmouthshire County Council’s grounds team are about to start preparing the county’s open spaces for the year ahead.

At the end of last year, the council’s team left some areas for hibernation sites for insects, left seed heads for winter food, as well as other wildlife-friendly considerations. Now, as we head towards summer, the council will be following the selective mowing regime that was such a success last year. This will start with a ‘first’ cut that will see most areas mown to reset the grassland. After this, successive mowing will follow the Nature Isn’t Neat principles to make space for wildlife and pollinator plants in open spaces across Monmouthshire. This includes not mowing under trees (which will reduce stress and disease), creating meadow spaces throughout our open spaces and road verges. Some areas will be cut less frequently or on rotation, and some areas will be left until late summer or early autumn to allow the grasses and flowers to set seed.

A spokesperson for Monmouthshire County Council said: “The feedback we received about Nature Isn’t Neat showed overwhelming support of the approach and offered some valuable insights on what was working well and where we can improve. Taking account of this feedback, discussions with our operational crews and the reduced impact of Covid on our ability to manage the work, residents will see some changes to the mowing this year compared to the last two years and we will continue to take feedback, and we will continue to make sure that play areas and sports pitches are cut to the full extent.”

Nature Isn’t Neat is an important part of the council’s response to the biodiversity crisis and climate change. The management principles help pollinators and other insects to thrive. This in turn supports other wildlife and improves long term food security. The changes in management also increase the amount of carbon drawn down into the soils and increases the ability of open spaces to absorb water, reducing runoff, flooding and pollution and makes our environment more resilient.

While most council owned green spaces will receive the Nature Isn’t Neat approach, some areas are owned by housing associations and not all of these have adopted the Nature Isn’t Neat approach, although they are mown by the council under contract. It is hoped that more organisations will get onboard with the selective mowing regime through the support of the regional Nature isn’t Neat project, and help the county’s mission to improve biodiversity and support wildlife.

If you would like to get involved, a new Nature isn’t Neat survey will be launched in May, Monmouthshire want to know what you think about its approach to ensure the right balance is maintained between nature and recreation. For more information visit: www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/nin/ and www.monlife.co.uk/outdoor/nature-isnt-neat/o.uk/outdoor/nature-isnt-neat/ or follow @MonmouthshireCC and @Natureisntneat on social media channels.

Register now to vote in May, TikTok star reminds Monmouthshire’s young people

Register now to vote in May, TikTok star reminds Monmouthshire’s young people

Monmouthshire County Council’s MonLife Youth Service team have been out in schools across Monmouthshire to promote the up-coming elections. So far they’ve visited Caldicot and Abergavenny comprehensive schools and plan to make their way to Monmouth and Chepstow before the Easter holidays.

At King Henry School VIII in Abergavenny the team were joined by Welsh TikTok Star Lewis Leigh. @Lewisleighh’s TikToks with his nan currently have 1.6million followers – to create some short clips to encourage young people to register to vote.

The Youth Services sessions have shown that Monmouthshire’s young people are keen to get involved and are interested in knowing more about the basics of the elections and the process. The Youth Services team are planning an online session on Wednesday 13^th April for young people 14-25 who are interested in finding out more. They team will be joined by the Youth Council to discuss topics including ‘what is a local election’, ‘how can I take part’ and ‘where can I get information on my ward area and what members will be standing in my area’. If you are under 18 and would like to be involved in the discussion apply via this link https://forms.office.com/r/d7Rm49SBQ9

In this year’s elections, on 5^th May, 16 and 17 year-olds will be able to take part but it’s essential that they register to vote before 14^th April 2022. From the age of 14 young people can register to vote here:

https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Case Study: Green Infrastructure through Section 106

Objective:

Develop and / or improve community facilities and various open spaces in Monmouthshire via Section 106 funding.

Implementation:

Funding known as Section 106 (S106) can be used to develop and / or improve community facilities and various open spaces. This funding has been secured through a planning obligation request which is a deed or agreement attached to the land that is the subject of a planning permission. Contributions secured through planning obligations are used to mitigate or compensate for the negative impacts of a development. As a result, MonLife’s GI team carried out the following projects:

The Caldicot Corridor Improvements project – Aimed to create enhancements along Woodstock way and Newport road in Caldicot.

Caldicot GI enhancement project – Green Infrastructure (GI) improvements in the eastern part of Caldicot town as part of the Council’s Green Connections project, made along a selection of green route ways and in parks and amenity spaces in Caldicot which form important Active Travel routes through the town.

Caldicot Castle Country Park Pollinators project – Aimed to deliver a grassland enhancement and tree planting scheme. The project delivered a grass cutting plan to maximise wildflower meadows at the site and included ‘over-seeding’ of some areas with native wildflower seed.

The Monmouth Community Nature Spaces project – Complimented the WG Local Places for Nature funding to deliver a total of 11 significantly enhanced greenspaces. The scheme will also result in a reduction in the use of pesticides across the area. Local interest groups have been involved in the site development and are keen to undertake tree and food growing once the sites are complete.

Link Road Corridors Enhancement project (Monmouth) – Fully funded S106 project delivering species and habitat management and enhancement to compensate for loss of habitat to facilitate development nearby.

Results

The Caldicot Corridor Improvements project:

– 31 trees, 40 fruit trees, 100 bee friendly shrubs, 4 climbing plants, 1685 indigenous hedgerow plants, 8 sacks of daffodils, 20 trays of pollinator friendly bedding plants.
– 100 volunteer hours ( Keep Caldicot Tidy, Caldicot in Bloom, Keep Wales Tidy, Caldicot Castle Community Garden, Local Sustrans rangers, Caldicot Comprehensive School)

Caldicot GI enhancement project:

Caldicot Castle Country Park Pollinators project:

**Caldicot Country Park Grassland Management**

The Monmouth Community Nature Spaces project :

**Figure 1:** Significant tree planting has taken place across the area including at the Hendre Close open *space where a tree nursery will also be located*

**Figure 2:** Tree shrub and hedge planting has been complemented by pollinator plants and wildflower seed to deliver a more diverse space including wild play

11 sites improved for pollinators

9 sites with improved mowing practices

11 areas of pollinator planting

11 tree planting sites

9 areas of community orchard planting

3 community food growing beds

1 tree nursery

11 Improved seating areas

Link Road Corridors Enhancement project (Monmouth)

– 0.4ha grassland /scrub to maintain and enhance grassland species; supporting habitats for slow worm & dormice.

– 1.3ha woodland management supporting a variety of species of breeding birds

– Installation and monitoring of 44 dormice boxes and 2 reptile refugia.

– The scheme involved the Building Bridges group (young people with additional needs) to make dormouse boxes and undertake nut searches in the woodland.

Case Study: Ladies Stronger Together

Objective:

Ladies Stronger Together was developed to encourage women to engage with fitness and wellbeing. Several studies proved that women reduced exercise much more frequently than comparison to their male counterparts. Many barriers were highlighted such as; child care, confidence, finance, times, expectations and unknown. The ladies Stronger was designed to reduce barrier by providing a low cost taster of a variety of fitness classes . Ultimately, the main objective was to create a support system for women and therefore create friendships!

Implementation:

The ladies Stronger Together program was introduced in 2018 as an 8 week block booking and has since seen a wide variety of activity classes provided to it’s members.

In 2018 the group encountered many different activities: including kettlebells, circuits, core work and tai chi. Each year since, the schemes has continues to follow an 8 week block with each week offering a different activity. Each year, our groups have seen a range of different ages and backgrounds. At the start of each program we start with some icebreakers, as everyone starts rather quiet and not all the group know each other. Therefore, the group introduces themselves and we ask the reasons for their participation. The majority of the time we saw members wanting to try fitness after not keeping active for some time. Others wanted to have a bit of time out from a busy family /work life and whilst others wished to lose weight.

After that, we discuss the layout of the sessions with the groups so they know about the different sessions they will be taking part in each week. The latest layout included:

SESSION 1: Introduction/ icebreakers
SESSION 2: Circuit Class
SESSION 3: Tai Chi
SESSION 4: Stretch and Tone
SESSION 5: Couch to 5k Introduction
SESSION 6: Box-fit
SESSION 7: Positive Mindset Session
SESSION 8: Review

The driving force behind each session is that of wellbeing. Within these sessions the topic of well-being is frequently discussed as we looked to open dialogue about how our minds react to physical exercise and the importance of taking time out in a busy day to unwind . As a results, throughout the course we ask participants to do some work with the team of life framework and were given gratitude journals to use during the week to write out what they are grateful for each day. Each session also ended on a mindful mediation to celebrate mindful Mondays.

Results:

This project has grown each year since it’s inception in 2018, with last year seeing a particularly large increase in members to the scheme:

2018/19: 15 women introduced to different fitness opportunities and create new habits.

2019/20: 17 women introduced to different fitness opportunities and create new habits.

2020/21: 45 women too part in the scheme whilst also creating a partnership with Mind Monmouthshire. This has led to many events and sign posting for members new and old.

Over this time, members have frequently given feedback relating to creating good friendships and improving both health and well being. Some have even gone on to get involved in the local park run together whilst others have became fully pledged fitness members, attending yoga and Pilates frequently.

Leisure and Physical Activity Strategy

Leisure and Physical Activity Strategy

MonLife together with Monmouthshire Council are developing a Leisure and Physical Activity Strategy which is a strategic review of the delivery of our physical activity, leisure, wellbeing and sport service provision across Monmouthshire.

It is widely recognised, that strategically directed physical activity, leisure, wellbeing, sport services and facilities can have a significant and positive impact on helping communities:

Connect
Recover and reinvent from the pandemic;
Provide positive experiences for children and young people;
Improve health & wellbeing;
Increase active environments.

This strategy will seek to help us set the future direction for MonLife Active by improving access to and developing future facilities for sport and physical activity whilst also ensuring we continue to meet our business aims of:

Enriching people’s lives through participation and activity.
Building strong communities in Monmouthshire.

The strategic review approach will follow the structure, set out below;

Stage 1 – Outcomes – Developing shared local outcomes for Monmouthshire
Stage 2 – Insight – Understand the community in Monmouthshire;
Stage 3 – Interventions – Identify how the outcomes can be delivered sustainably;
Stage 4 – Commitment – Secure investment and commitment to outcome delivery.

As part of this strategy process, it is important that we understand and consider the views of the community. We invite you to take part in a survey to help us understand the barriers that may prevent you from being physically active and how we can help overcome these.

You can complete our survey here:

WELSH LINK

ENGLISH LINK

New trees planted in Bailey Park to improve Green Infrastructure

With help from Cantref Primary School’s eco club, Abergavenny’s Bailey Park now has five brand new English Oak trees and five Copper Beech trees, which have been dedicated to Her Majesty the Queen for the Platinum Jubilee under the Queen’s Green Canopy project.

After inspections of Bailey Park’s green infrastructure, a number of the trees in the park had to be removed for safety reasons. To compensate for the loss, 21 trees have been planted this year. Working well as a team in some challenging weather, Cantref Primary School’s eco club gave a helping hand to the council’s grounds staff with the planting of ten of the new trees, five English Oak and five Copper Beech. The Friends of Bailey Park have also planted wildflowers during the winter and plan to improve the park’s green infrastructure will be developed this summer, including a review of the brook and a long term tree management and planting plan.

Grants from Welsh Government, through the Gwent Green Grid Partnership (GGGP), have allowed the council to improve and develop green infrastructure in Monmouthshire, with Bailey Park being the latest beneficiary. The GGGP is a three-year project running from March 2020 to March 2023.

The GGGP aims to improve and develop green infrastructure – a term used to describe the network of natural and semi-natural features, green spaces, rivers and lakes that intersperse and connect villages, towns and cities – as well as providing green job opportunities within the area.

A spokesperson for Monmouthshire County Council said: “Improving our green infrastructure is so important to our green spaces. The Gwent Green Grid Partnership aims to improve green infrastructure in the Gwent area, providing real benefits to local communities. Green infrastructure has a crucial role to play in addressing nature, climate and health emergencies. It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm of local school children planting trees in Bailey Park to improve our natural environment, and their local park.”

Monmouthshire County Council, working with Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Newport and Torfaen councils as well as Natural Resources Wales, Forest Research and the Severn Wye Energy Agency, leads the GGG Partnership. The organisations will work together to ensure that the area’s natural resources are healthy, resilient to pressures and threats and thereby better able to provide vital health and well-being benefits for current and future generations.

This project is supported by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe Investing in Rural Areas and is funded by the Welsh Government’s Enabling of Natural Resources and Well-being Grant.

Case Study: Monmouthshire Under 5s Provision

Objective:

Utilise funding to provide young children with opportunities to engage in various sports and physical activities across Monmouthshire.

Implementation:

Since January 2022, MonLife Sport Development have co-ordinated and delivered an extensive foundation phase/TOTS provision aimed at young children aged between 0-5 years old across the whole of Monmouthshire. This provision has provided young children the opportunity to engage in various sports and physical activities, many of whom were engaging in physical activity for the first time. This project has been facilitated through a collaborative effort of a wide range of service areas within MonLife and MCC including our Sport Development Team, Leisure Centres, Flying Start, and our Early Years teams. The overarching aim of this project has been to provide physical activity opportunities for young children who due to the Covid – 19 pandemic have had their opportunities reduced during this important stage of their development. Below is a summary of the project with headline figures and feedback that demonstrates the impact of the offer provided to young children across Monmouthshire.

TMG Tots Sessions

MonLife’s four Leisure Centre’s have been providing free accessible opportunities for children aged 3 – 5 years old to attend an 8 week block of Multi Skills Sport sessions. Over 40 children have been engaged in the sessions in which children have been taught fundamental movement skills through fun and inclusive activities delivered by MonLife staff. The children attending these sessions have been allocated spaces through Flying Start and Early Years services we have been working closely with. Each child that has been signed up for the session has been allocated a MonLife membership card, which in turn has enabled parents’ access to our Clarity live program which will display the children’s achievements. This will also provide data for flying start around the physical competencies of the children and track their performance.

Bespoke Parent and Child Swimming Sessions

An authority wide approach has been taken to provide Parent and Child Swimming sessions for allocated families within Monmouthshire. These bespoke Swimming sessions have been provided for children as young as 6 months old as an opportunity to experience the water for the first time and build their confidence with the supervision of parents and Swimming Instructors. These sessions across the authority have continued to demonstrate the partnership with Flying Start and has helped support children with a barrier to entry into our Aquatics pathways. Three of four MonLife Leisure Centre’s have co-ordinated the delivery of a Bubbles and a Splash session, with 65 children targeted through the provision. Abergavenny Leisure Centre will be launching their provision over the upcoming weeks.

Flying Start Physical Activity Sessions

The Sport Development team have been delivering a series of physical activity sessions focused on fundamental skill development and physical literacy messages for Flying Start and Early Years settings across Monmouthshire. The team have visited 31 Nursery settings over a 4-week period to deliver 4 sessions of physical activity, in which sessions have been devised to cover 4 themes: week 1 safari, week 2 Nature, week 3 seaside and week 4 farm animals. The sessions that have been delivered encompass elements of the new curriculum where children will be able to explore decision making, physical movement, healthy eating and mindfulness. Through the delivery within these pre – school settings over 500 children have had the opportunity to engage within the sessions.

Results:

Please see a few of the testimonials we have recived as a results of this project:

“I was surprised at how well my child has managed to grasp the concept of healthy eating at such a young age (aged). We now continue the good work at home and discuss food options more than we ever did before” – Parent.

“I feel like this is such a great initiative from MonLife, the Physical Literacy sessions will help children and their parents to make healthier choices and set the path to a healthier lifestyle” – Parent.

“These sessions have provided excitement for the children, encouraging their confidence to develop both in and out of the sessions. These sessions have also given the staff a variety of new ideas for physical activities that we can implement at the setting. It also provided the children to get out of their usual learning environment and change their routine”. – Early Years Setting.

A look inside Abergavenny’s newest youth centre

Opening on Friday 4^th March, The Cabin is a safe space for 11-25 year olds to socialise, meet new friends and talk about any issues, with help from Monmouthshire County Council’s Youth Service.

Prior to its replacement, The Cabin had been very small with limited capacity, and was not fit for purpose. With significant help and support from Abergavenny Town Council and Monmouthshire County Council, funding for the removal and replacement of the existing Cabin with a more fit-for-purpose structure was provided to use as a youth centre, with brand new equipment and activities being provided by Monmouthshire Housing.

The Cabin acts as a hub for young people to gain information such as sexual health, addiction, relationships, to informally meet peers and to take part in recreational activities. Following its refurbishment, The Cabin has a larger capacity, with features including comfortable areas, TVs, game consoles and a pool table.

The Youth Workers that reside at The Cabin carry out important support for Monmouthshire’s young people on many issues, such as employability, youth homelessness, alcohol and substance abuse, mental health, self-harm, and sexual harassment. The key purpose of Youth Work is to enable all young people aged 11-25 years old to develop holistically through a range of activities and opportunities. Youth Work supports young people’s personal, social and educational development, empowering them to develop their voice and influence, and supports them to reach their full potential.

This has been made easier due to The Cabin’s refurbishment, as there is now a quiet room for these personal and private conversations. Monmouthshire Youth Service’s Shift project, which supports young people aged 11-25 with mental health and emotional wellbeing support needs, will also operate out of this room.

Councillor Lisa Dymock, Monmouthshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing and Social Justice, said: “The refurbishment for The Cabin is such fantastic opportunity for young adults in Monmouthshire to have a safe and secure place to, not only have fun, but to get any support that is needed. Our Youth Service have done an excellent job in creating this safe space for 11–25-year-olds, and I am looking forward to seeing how much The Cabin will positively affect these young adult’s lives.”

Youth Work is primarily based on a voluntary relationship between young people and Youth Workers, where young people choose to take part and are involved in the decision-making, design, and delivery of a service to meet their needs.

Monmouthshire County Council’s Youth Work takes a person-centred, rights-based approach which works to the Five Pillars of Youth Work in Wales, where young people who access the service have opportunities for learning that are Educative, Expressive, Empowering, Participative and Inclusive.

Drop-in sessions will be available at The Cabin every Tuesday (3-8pm), Wednesday (3-8pm) and Friday (3-6pm).

For more information, please visit: Youth Service – Monlife

The next steps in the improvement of Chepstow Leisure Centre

At Wednesday’s meeting of Monmouthshire County Council’s full cabinet, the ongoing improvements to Chepstow Leisure Centre was discussed, which when completed will represent a total investment of more than £1.6million.

The programme of work, which has been underway since March 2021, forms part of the council’s ‘Looking Ahead, Delivering Now Our Strategy to Summer 2022. Chepstow Leisure Centre is benefiting from significant improvements to facilities which include the sports hall, outdoor playing facilities and pitches, swimming and fitness facilities. The investment is also testament to Monmouthshire County Council’s MonLife commitment to addressing the issue of health inequality, enabling more people have an improved experience in its leisure centres, and more opportunities to continue to increase their health and wellbeing.

There are three main phases of the investment for the overall project at the Chepstow site. The first phase included measures as part of the council’s aim to reduce its carbon footprint and is already completed. Improvements included LED lighting and shower upgrades, swimming pool plant and boiler replacements and a refurbishment of the pool hall.

The second phase starts next week and is expected to be completed by July. This will see health, fitness and wellbeing improvements including an upgrade of the fitness and studio equipment.

The third and final phase of proposed improvements to the outdoor facilities and pitches see improvements to the outdoor play areas and pitches. In December 2021, MonLife was invited to apply for a grant from the Welsh Government, via Sport Wales, and a separate grant from Football Association of Wales, to develop the outdoor playing facilities and pitches at Chepstow Comprehensive School and Leisure Centre. The overall total project funding and grant funding was £101,997 from Monmouthshire County Council, with an additional £433,058 sought from the funding bodies.

The proposed project of improvements has been developed in consultation with Chepstow Leisure Centre, Chepstow Comprehensive School, Sport Wales, Football Association of Wales, Hockey Wales and Monmouthshire Junior Football League.

Cllr. Lisa Dymock, cabinet member for Social Wellbeing said: “These proposed improvements will see the Chepstow site future-proofed, with the ability to enhance and improve many different sports, enabling growth and providing opportunities for all.

“The sustainability of outdoor facilities, fresh air and the ability to exercise and play in a safe, secure environment.is more important than ever before. The leisure centre will continue to build on the excellent work already being undertaken to increase provision and an improved community sport hub.”

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