QED Health Group

Chair: Pat Still

Terms of Reference

The Health Group will operate on a voluntary basis within the overall aims and objectives of the Local Agenda 21 Initiative QED (Quality Environment for Dartford). Membership of the Group is open to all individuals and all sectors of the local community. The main aims and objectives of the Group are:

• To promote a positive attitude and encourage and facilitate positive actions toward creating an environment which is conducive to a healthier lifestyle for all.
• To work with statutory and voluntary agencies and organisations in order to facilitate the dissemination of information which will enable people to make healthier choices.
• To act as a pressure Group to ensure that those who have an adverse effect on health by their acts or omissions are made aware of those effects and are encouraged to take a more positive approach to health creation.
• To promote and encourage the general understanding that "Health" is a positive term and does not simply mean the absence of disease.
• To provide support for, and work jointly with the other QED Groups in furthering the philosophy, aims and aspirations of Local Agenda 21.

You can read about the activities of the QED Health Group in the notes/minutes:

• Meeting of the QED Health Group, January 28 1998
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, March 4 1998
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, April 15 1998
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, June 10 1998
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, September 16, 1998
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, November 18, 1998
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, January 20, 1999
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, March 17, 1999
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, June 23, 1999
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, September 8, 1999
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, November 10, 1999
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, January 19, 2000
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, March 15, 2000
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, January 17, 2001
• Meeting of the QED Health Group, March 23, 2001

Getting ready for the challenge: Carol and Jed survey the task which lies ahead for the Gardening Class from the School of Supported Learning at North West Kent College of Technology in bringing this plot at Dartford Road Allotments back into full cultivation. The QED Health Group is interested in helping gardeners with special needs and in all aspects of horticultural therapy. Carol's Gardening Class already have one plot under cultivation, and enjoy the chance to get out in the open air in a stress-free environment and produce real food by their own efforts. They also have a lot of fun in the process.

Allotment sites are for care in the community in a community that cares.

For a report on progress with the Project, Click Here.

Gardening for Health ...

In May 1998 Swaran Panesar and Pat Still of the Dartford and Gravesend Advocacy Network had an opportunity to visit the "Gardening for Health" Project in Bradford on behalf of the QED Health Group. This is their report ...

Gardening for Health is a community allotment project developed with support from Heartsmart and the Bradford Community Environment Project, by the women of the Bangladesh community in Bradford. Since winter 1996, women of the community have been working to reclaim a derelict allotment site and have successfully grown both common British vegetables as well as vegetables and herbs more commonly found in Bangladesh. This project not only creates an opportunity to grow food and generate debate on issues of health and healthy eating; it also provides an opportunity for physical activity and community participation and empowerment of women.

This is an excellent example of work, responding to community needs and raising awareness of issues such as health problems including heart disease, mental health problems etc. A similar project would be very useful in the Dartford and Gravesend area for our client group (people with mental health problems and learning difficulties). They will enjoy going to the allotment, treating it as a social occasion as well as therapeutic work and perhaps planning a harvest festival each year. This will give them an opportunity to meet unfortunate people like themselves who are in the same boat

Swaran Panesar (Advocacy Worker: Ethnic Outreach) and Pat Still (Chair), Dartford and Gravesham Advocacy Network

Swaren appears far left, with one of the participants in the Bradford project.