Category Archives: Ballymena LPG

NHSCT Health & Wellbeing Officers Win Runner Up in the 2022 NHSCT Chairman’s Awards

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NHSCT Health and Wellbeing Officers have won Runner up in the 2022 NHSCT Chairman’s awards – Population Health and Wellbeing for their work on the NSPCC PANTS Campaign.

For the past two and a half years, NHSCT Health and Wellbeing Officers have worked with NSPCC and partners to roll out the NSPCC PANTS Campaign across Northern Trust area.

The NSPCC PANTS Campaign aims to empower parents and professionals to have age-appropriate conversations with their children 4-8 years to prevent or stop sexual abuse through training, resources, and activities co-ordinated by NSPCC and Northern H&W Officers. They planned to launch the campaign Spring 2020. Despite the pandemic, redeployment and staff changes over the last two and a half years they have trained 683 staff, given every school and pre-school setting PANTS resources, information and PANTS library books, and reached 7952 children with the PANTS message.

 

Mid and East Antrim Council launch ‘Little Free Toybox’ at People’s Park, first for the Borough

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The concept of a ‘Little Free Toybox’ is simple – a passer by can lift a toy to play with or leave a toy for someone else.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor William McCaughey, said “I am delighted to see the first ‘Little Free Toy Box’ in the Borough installed at People’s Park and pupils from Ballymena Primary already enjoying it. This is will be a great addition to the park and the wider community.

I hope it will provide children and young people with more play resources and the opportunity to play, relax and reconnect with others after what has been a difficult year for everyone. The Toybox can also encourage sharing and creative, imaginative play, as well as potentially going some way to help reduce waste going to landfill as toys are essentially being recycled.

I’d like to extend my thanks to the Antrim Ballymena CYPSP who funded the project and Council Officers, CYPSP,  and Northern Trust Health and Wellbeing Team, who co-ordinated the project, with support from a local artist and Ballymena Primary School.”

Lynsey McVitty, from the Northern Trust said “This toy box is a great example of the ‘Take 5’ steps to Wellbeing. Installed in a local park the toy box gives users a chance to connect with the natural environment and other park users. It encourages children to get involved in play, by picking up a new toy, all the while giving and supplying the local community access to toys and new play opportunities. We were delighted to work with Council on this creative initiative and to see it so well used already.”

Parents/guardians are responsible for supervising children when using the Little Free Toy Box and for appropriate sanitation before and afterwards.