Partnership hosts Women and Girls Festival in Bennetts End, Dacorum

The event was about highlighting the achievements and talents of local women and girls from all walks of life, offering free taster sessions in Zumba, Walking Football, Buggy Fitness and Fitness Pilates to name a few, with the aim of either connecting or reconnecting them with sport and physical activity. The festival was supported by partners from Everyone Active, Apex 360, Dacorum Borough Council and the Healthy Hub, Healthy U Gym, Little Movers, Inclusive United, Bennetts End Local Surgery and Longdean School, who collaborated to make sure the local community was at the heart of the event. The festival also received the support of Annie Brewster, the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, who showed her support by engaging with some of the activities whilst dressed in traditional court attire!

Bennetts End is one of the Partnerships Active Local areas, whereby a collaborative place-based approach is adopted to support targeted communities in highlighting their strengths, whilst also responding to local need and identifying where support, intervention or extra capacity could help create a more joined-up approach to tackling inequalities and reducing physical inactivity. Through Active Local, the Partnership seeks to use sport and physical activity to address inactivity, social disadvantage and health inequalities within Bennetts End, and the Women and Girls Festival provided a great opportunity to celebrate and empower local people.

Over 70 local residents attended on the day, and it was a privilege for the Partnership to be able to support with signposting them to local sporting provision for continued engagement as well as distribute items that had been received via our association with Goods for Good. The branded t-shirts and long sleeved black jumpers proved to be extremely popular with attendees – “Wow, I get to keep this top? Amazing!”- as were the many pairs of sliders that were handed out. It is hoped that these items will help remove some barriers that the women and girls may have previously experienced, such as not having suitable clothes to be active in.

“It was amazing to see the faces of the women and girls when we told them that for participating in the event they could take home a new top. A big thank you to the Goods for Good team for enabling us to surprise attendees who may not have been able to afford such high-quality sports clothing themselves.”