Where did the ‘Brereton Can’ come from? 

The idea for setting off the Brereton Can came from the projects and priorities in Brereton Million.  Once the park projects had gotten on their way an event to launch the success once again would have been ideal. This then got us thinking about a Health and wellbeing type event. Over the years of working on the outdoor gym and years of consultation we have met many suppliers and fitness folk who have wanted to support residents into fitness programs.

 

The first idea was just to have a day with as many health and finesses bodies as possible with displays. With us advertising the new outdoor gym, running track and nature walk. Whilst looking into this we came across the Newcastle can campaign featuring Chef Hugh Fearnley- Wittingstall and how he supported the campaign with the support of Newcastle Council challenging Newcastle resident’s to loose 100,000 lb. in weight in a year.

 

Getting local businesses, community groups, churches, health officials, local gyms and more to get involved. Supporting each other in weight lose through healthy eating, gentle exercise and proportioning food correctly. This program really interested me and I have since researched Chef Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall and his work and just how far Newcastle Can has come. Newcastle Can is a ground breaking social experiment encouraging communities throughout the city to work together to get healthier and fitter.  

 

They have now lost over 100,000lbs. Plus many other areas have started to challenge their Communities to do the same. There are now 4 other Can areas Norfolk Can, Southampton Can and Cornwall Can. I appreciate that these are all really big areas Newcastle has 300,000 residents and Cornwall has half a million. I believe this is fantastic campaign and one in which we can follow rather than reinventing the wheel and inventing our own health campaign. Each area has had a really good backing off their councils, as this is an area all councils are being pushed to support right now.  

 

So this is where I tackled Cannock Chase council and asked them to loo into launching Cannock Chase Can. They were tempted but wanted more information. So, we continued to build our information and research and how Brereton Can would work. 

 

Unfortunately just as we were ready to really get Brereton Can going in 2020 along came the Pandemic. We had to adjust our project and work to provide our community with a Covid Support group, which moved us along to gaining our Compassionate Communities Status. 

 

We continued to work with the Council and we are proud to say Cannock Chase Can has now been formed in an app.  The app is a fantastic way to bring the community groups, local services and businesses together. The vision we had anticipated.

Welcome to Cannock Chase Can | Cannock Chase District Council (cannockchasedc.gov.uk)

 

A statement from Newcastle  “We all might have a pretty good idea of what we need to do to loose weight and get fit, but doing it alone sometimes feels like an uphill struggle. So lets come together to change the way we live, work and play and make Newcastle the healthiest, happiest city it can be.”

 

 

So where does Brereton Can go from here? 

Brereton Million started out by getting all our local businesses, services and community groups together. So, we could sign post residents to the right support. We never wanted to reinvent the wheel but find better ways of working with the Community we have. Now Cannock chase Can is launched we intend to support all these groups and help them come up with lots of challenge ideas which wont only support residents working on their wellbeing but it will also help groups getting new members, volunteers and business. 

 

We also have changed the way we work going forward naming all our projects under the Well themes. So as people start to identify the areas they need to improve on they can see a lot more locally what is on offer for them to improve those areas. We are constantly looking for groups to cover these areas and will be highlighting them in this area of our website so people can link straight them. We will also be looking to fund or run any projects that we find are missing in the Brereton Area. 

 

We are looking at a few other wellness areas that can be added to also support our residents so all themes connect, this is at the early stage though so will be added at a later stage.