Staying Warm with Staying Well
Written by Zain Ghani – Staying Well Worker & Event Lead”

“Interesting Fact 1: Did you know an air fryer uses one tenth of the energy used by a gas cooker?

On Thursday 3^rd November, the grand hall of Christ Church Pellon was home to the “Staying Warm with Staying Well” event, a community event to raise the awareness of support available from different services in Calderdale for people who may struggle to keep themselves and their homes warm this winter.

The event began at the 11:00 sharp with staff from NHP and volunteers from Christ Church Pellon and VSI arranging the room, getting the food and drinks ready and preparing to welcome the public and different services into this space.

Throughout the day, the public, staff, and clients had the opportunity to visit different stalls and hear how they can keep themselves and their homes warm this winter. Lunch was served by the amazing Kath from Christ Church Pellon who made four different homemade soups: Nana’s Soup, Lentil Soup, Cauliflower Cheese and Leek and Potato. In addition to this, there was homemade sweet treats from Cherry Bakewell to Parkin and teas and coffees available. Allowing people to reminisce classic traditional British bakes and memories with their own grandparents cooking. We can say there were conversations amongst everyone on which soup was the best! That answer is still unknown, but we can say everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!

We had 3 talks from 3 different services: Anna Dawson-Jones from the Greener Together Project at Newground, Sarah Buczynski from the Housing Energy Action Team at Calderdale Council, and Emily Madigan from the North Halifax Primary Care Network all took to the mic and gave a talk on what their service is and what support they have available.

   

The event came to a close with a quick team effort in returning the hall back to normal and the departure of all services present (with some sneakily taking more of Nana’s Soup and Cherry Bakewell’s home! As you can see, we don’t like food going to waste). Although numbers at the event could have been higher, the opportunity to network, build on new and existing relationships and find out more on what the locals want in the area was very beneficial for all who attending. I would like to thank:

Craig Watson, Nic Webster and Georgia Oikonomidou from NHP for your support on the day with setting the room, taking pictures, and supporting with registering new arrivals and encouraging the public to engage and leave feedback

If you are hosting an event or would like to work in partnership with us, please get in touch with us at StayingWellProject@calderdale.gov.uk.

Interesting Fact 2: Did you know contractors that perform internal insulation through Calderdale Council’s HEAT support will redecorate that same wall for you with your requested paint or paper at no extra cost?

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The Staying Warm with Staying Well event took place on November 3rd at Christ Church in Pellon. Members of the public had the opportunity to meet with the Staying Well Team, VSI, Vita Minds, Healthy Minds, Newground Greener Together, Calderdale Council, North Halifax PCN and Citizens Advice for helpful information around what’s available to keep energy bills down while keeping themselves and their homes warm.