GOOD News: 8th June

It’s been Volunteers' Week and two of the Town’s most popular events are recruiting local residents to get involved.

‘Fleetwood In Bloom’ brings colour and life to the streets and is something the Town can be very proud of. Work has begun on preparing the beds and the planting, and if you’d like to be part of the team this Summer please contact Lauren Harrison, Fleetwood Town Council’s Community Engagement Officer on cedo@fleetwoodtowncouncil.org.uk

Looking quite a bit further ahead planning has started for the 2021 Fleetwood Festive Lights and Lantern Parade.

'Switch-On' date has been announced as Saturday 27th November and the hard-working committee are encouraging residents to support the event at this stage by following the Facebook page for all the latest news.

Another group looking for volunteers is Fleetwood Beach Wheelchairs.

The charity provides specially designed chairs to access the beach and with the recent lovely weather has just had their busiest week since launching - they've even had a dinosaur come to visit!

Entirely run by volunteers, they do need more help and anyone who can offer just 3 hours a month is invited to get in touch by email to volunteer4fbw@outlook.com or telephone 03000 111 003. You can find out more about the service at www.fleetwoodbeachwheelchairs.co.uk

In September 2020 Regenda Housing replaced over 50 front doors on their residential properties and they’ve been in storage since with an eye on a finding imaginative, creative uses for them. The doors are now available to local artists and community groups to customize and display, and possibly raise funds for other projects in the future. If you’d like to know more please contact the project coordinator on chris.wyatt@wyre.gov.uk

Healthier Fleetwood hopes to take a few of the doors for our ANON artists to work on and then display at the Affinity Outlet.

Recently some of the group were thrilled to meet up safely and enjoy a couple of hours sketching at Fleetwood Museum. Thanks to Ben and Zara at the venue and local artist Heather Johnstone who mentors the groups.

ANON will meet each week using the Museum and other locations and there are still a couple of spaces available, materials are provided and there's no cost - please call 07399 093835 or email us on listening@healthierfleetwood.co.uk As we await news on what restrictions will remain or be lifted, Healthier Fleetwood is hoping to resume our popular Open Meetings soon. These used to be held monthly at Emmanuel at the Mount and many resident-led groups and projects came from ideas suggested at the meeting. We have held some Zoom meetings over the last year or so and recently around a dozen local groups caught up on each other’s news and to get a feel for the confidence in the community. We’ll announce a date for an Open Meeting as soon as it’s appropriate.

In the meantime, the Community Information Centre at Affinity is a great place to find out what’s happening and to meet up. We’ve been pleased to display some of the artifacts from ‘Just Reminiscing’ ahead of it’s move to a new home at Fleetwood Market from 25th June; the three options for the Town Centre Urban Park have been available for the public to view and comment on; from Friday we will be hosting a display for the forthcoming LeftCoast Arts ‘In Memoriam’ event and we're working with a number of agencies including MacMillan Cancer Care, Lancashire Volunteer Partnership, Age UK Lancashire and Fleetwood's social prescribers. Also over 300 free sunflower growing kits have been handed out to visitors in association with our friends from The Fleetwood Wellbeing Way.

Last but never least, it was wonderful to see and hear some of the lovely Harmony & Health singers meet and enjoy time together again this week.

We were able to put them in touch with the management at Affinity Lancashire who kindly offered a safe, outdoor space for Harmony & Health to hold a practice session, ahead of hopefully resuming their regular events again soon.

Until the next time, take care ...