St Helens
St Helens
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Our goal for the coming season
will be focused on winning a
Major trophy whilst playing an
entertaining brand of Rugby League.
We also aim to continue to grow the
profile of the team and individuals
within the team.”
St Helens RFC is about far more
than success on the field and also
plays a vital role in the community
through their Saints Community
Development Foundation. They
recently took the time to tell Rugby
Club Magazine more about some of
the outstanding work that they carry
out in this area.
Main objectives of the foundation
• We do what we do for the benefit
of the public generally and in
particular the inhabitants of St.
Helens and Merseyside including
the surrounding areas.
•
We
promote
community
participation in healthy recreation
by providing facilities for the
playing of rugby league and other
sports. In addition to this we have
various projects and activities that
allow us to facilitate those with
different needs within our very own
community.
• We look to provide and assist
in providing facilities for sport,
recreation or other measures, it does
not matter by reason of their age,
ethnicity, disability, poverty of social
and economic circumstances. We
look to reach as many individuals
within our community.
• We also advance the education
of children, young people and
adults through such means as sport,
various projects and activities.
Our 2019
2019 has been a big year for
Saints Community Development
Foundation, we have added a
number of new projects and causes
to help those within our very own
community.
Veterans of the Foundation - The
Veterans of the Foundation provide
essential services and support to the
Armed Forces community, including
dependents in St Helens and its
surrounding areas, along with all
serving personnel, reservists, early
service leavers, veterans, and their
families. We also have a Veterans of
the Foundation Breakfast Café every
Thursday Morning for veterans to
socialize, as well as Veterans war
memorial clean-up campaign and
War graves adopting campaign both
lead by our ambassadors Andy Reid
MBE and Stephen Boardman MBE.
Christmas Presents give away
- This year, Saints Community
Development Foundation wanted to
give back to those less fortunate than
us this Christmas, we announced a
collection of toys and selection boxes
to be collected and distributed to
those that need these items the most
in our community.
Homeless Outreach Engagement
- On a monthly basis, Saints
Community
Development
Foundation visit homeless members
of our community. They deliver hot
snacks, drinks and during the winter
period, hats, gloves and scarves. The
relationship between Foundation
Staff and our homeless members
of the community is very positive
and we look forward to helping
individuals less fortunate than us
further in the future.
Touchline to Tryline - These
community awareness programmes
specifically aim to combat anti-
social behavior and bullying among
children in St Helens, as well as
ensuring that their mental health is
looked after and maintained. The
Anti-Social Behavior (ASB) and
Bullying Project was devised after
figures demonstrated the growth of
ASB in St Helens over the past five
years.
The
programme
delivers
workshops tailored to specific age
groups on anti-bullying and cyber
bullying, as well as providing a
Parent’s Awareness Programme,
helping parents to spot signs
of bullying in their children
and helping them to make the
right moves. The Mental Health
Awareness Programme delivers full
mental health awareness workshops
to specific age groups, incorporating
coping
strategies,
resilience
techniques and practice workshops.
They also provide Bulimia
and Eating Disorder Awareness
Programmes, with handouts and
easy reference glossaries of terms
designed to help children understand
these types of disorders. This project
also aims to teach parents and
teachers how to spot the signs of an
eating disorder in children and how
best to deal with this.
Sepsis awareness/Guide dog appeal
- Saints Community Development
Foundation had launched this
appeal to raise the awareness of
Sepsis by partnering with Sepsis UK
to spread the word. This project also
aims to bridge the gaps for people in
St Helens who are in need of a guide
dog to enable them to complete
everyday duties. This is led by our
ambassador Stuart Lanham.
Appointment of Mental Health
Ambassador - By understanding
the local needs regarding the Mental
health and St Helens having the
highest male suicide rate within the
England, SCDF has taken a proactive
approach to address this local issue
by the appointment of Mike Webster
to help raise awareness. SCDF has
also submitted proposals to bring
OFFLOAD mental health project to
St Helens to support and address the
local needs.
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Stroke Awareness/Blood Pressure
Awareness campaign - Using the
power of home fixtures, as part of
the health strategy, SCDF create
the awareness of checking blood
pressure regularly and how this can
be the silent killer. This project has
saved lives in St Helens.
Learn 2 Swim this summer
campaign - A project to raise the
awareness and dangers of swimming
in quarries, canals and unmanned
spaces which has contributed to a
high number of deaths and injuries
to local people. SCDF educate people
and provide opportunities for people
to swim in a safe environment with
no barriers.
Bikes for the Community - Part
of the SCDF getting people active
strategy and in partnership with CIC
and St Helens Get Active Campaign,
the foundation has sponsored the
community access bicycles in St
Helens parks with a view to breaking
down participation barriers and
encouraging people to be healthy
and active across the town.
The Reminiscence Café
The Reminiscence Café has
evolved into a powerful coming
together of people in our own
community. The sessions are geared
towards the dementia sufferer, who
can reminisce about the town and
it’s sporting history. It uses various
methods of triggering the memory
including the footage of our town
and of Saints past games.
SCDF also bring in memorabilia
to the session to hold and discuss
their own experiences of the items.
Historians, current and past players
come along and tell a few tales of
their time playing our game and
the best (and worst) games they
have been involved in. Using the
open microphone method to get the
audience to ask their own questions
and share with the player their
memories of them playing. There
is a session of chair exercises and a
singer to bring back a few musical
memories.
After lunch we complete the
events with a quiz which again
serves as a trigger with some older
questions and questions of our
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