Hello all, this is just a quick post to let you know that our name change is formally and legally complete. We have now changed our name from The Lake Foundation to Lake Health and Wellbeing.

As you know, we moved to the Caribbean from the UK and the move provided an opportunity for us to make some improvements to our organisation which involved the name change and an analysis of our work.

We believe the name change better reflects what we do, and we’ve analysed our work and have categorised what we do as follows: research, public health interventions, consultancy and events. This is similar to our previous categories and we’ve now explained each category and included examples of the type of work we do to make it easier for our supporters to understand what we offer.

We still have the same aim of improving the health and wellbeing of the black community and we’re still pretty much the same organisation except we’re now registered as a business rather than a charitable incorporated organisation. This is because the charitable incorporated organisation structure doesn’t exist in the Caribbean, but we’ll still behave in the same way, so we’ll be an ethical business with a social mission.

We have now changed all our social media handles, you don’t have to do anything as we have retained all our followers, but please remember if you want to send us a message via social media or mention us in posts, to use the new handles, which are:

• Facebook @lakehealthwellbeing
• Twitter @lakehealthwell

Our email addresses will remain the same for now, we’ll alert you when we make any changes.

Thank you so much for all your support and we look forward to continuing this exciting journey of change. Have a great week and if you have any questions, please do leave us a comment below.

Last Friday, we were absolutely delighted to be back at Croydon Arena for another round of summer cycling sessions.  We started these sessions last summer after teaming up with the Cycling Instructor with support from Croydon Council and as it went so well we decided to run the sessions again this year.

Friday’s session was the first in a series of four sessions which will run once a week throughout the month of July. The aims of the sessions are to improve confidence in cycling, prepare attendees for road cycling, teach basic cycling techniques and introduce people to an enjoyable way to get some exercise.

This first session was great fun and it was nice to see Brian from the Cycling Instructor again, he led the group last year and did a fantastic job so we were happy he was back with us again this year.  We were also really pleased with the turnout, there were ten of us and it was a really mixed group in terms of age, ethnicity and cycling ability, plus everyone was really friendly;  all the right ingredients for an enjoyable session.

After a round of introductions it was on to the serious part of the session, technique. We learnt how to check that our bikes are road worthy and then were instructed on the proper way to get on and off a bike, maintaining balance, braking properly,  riding with one hand (preparation for signalling) and cycling slowly (to prepare for cycling in traffic).

We were all given plenty of opportunity to practice all these techniques making this a very informative but practical session, and at the end of the two hours we had cycled several times around the track so we got some good exercise too!

The next session will be on Friday 10^th July at 6pm at Croydon Arena.  Please email events@thelakefoundation.com to register or call 07440 146 645, and you can download our flyer below for more information.

We would like to say a big thank you to the Cycling Instructor and Croydon Council for giving us the opportunity to run this cycling group.

 

This week The Lake Foundation became a member of the Croydon BME Forum and thus will be part of a growing alliance of black community groups working together to improve the lives of the BME community in Croydon.

The Croydon BME Forum is the umbrella organisation for Croydon’s BME voluntary and community sector. It engages with members of the community, building capacity and promoting equality and cohesion. It was established to give the BME community a voice ensuring key issues affecting residents of Croydon are raised with decision makers.

Specifically the forum works to:

• Ensure that they are involved in local policy and decision making; regeneration and neighbourhood renewal.
• Facilitate joint-working among BME communities to develop best practice and provide a unified BME voice within local strategic partnerships.
• Promote networking, collaboration and partnership between the BME voluntary sector and mainstream agencies building their organisational capacities.
• Engage with BME communities in all aspects of Croydon life.
• Encourage good race relations, community cohesion and equality of opportunity for all throughout Croydon.

We’re looking forward to being a part of this forum and are already very impressed with the first event we attended which was a Meet the Funder session with the Big Lottery Fund. This was a very informative session that discussed what makes a good grant application.
For more information on the Croydon BME Forum please visit their website here

On 18^th June we were invited by Croydon Council to have a stall at the first annual Croydon Voluntary and Community Fair. This event was organised to allow charities and community groups in Croydon to showcase their work to attendees which included frontline Croydon Council staff, the general public, potential funders and representatives from the private sector.

We had a wonderful time on the day as it gave us the perfect opportunity to meet other charities to learn more about their great work, discuss ideas and get advice on common challenges. We were particularly delighted to meet Fatima Koroma from the Community Food Bank and learn of the work they’re doing to support vulnerable families and individuals. Additionally, it was wonderful to learn about the Mighty Men of Valour and the Ministry of Empowerment who are working to support and empower men and women in Croydon.

Speaking on the day was the mayor of Croydon, Councillor Patricia Hay-Justice who officially launched the fair and Councillor Mathew Kyeremeh, the deputy cabinet member for communities, safety and justice.

This was a really useful day allowing us to raise awareness of our work, connect with some really inspirational people and meet representatives from Croydon Council in person.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Croydon Council for organising this event and also for their generosity in designing and donating pull-up conference banners to every single stallholder. We love our new banner!

We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded a Support Group Start-up Grant from Macmillan Cancer Support. This grant will help us reach more of our community and ensure that we can help as many people as possible.

Our support group started in June 2014 thanks to a grant from Croydon Council and it’s facilitated by a trained counsellor, Hazel Williams. The group provides an informal, friendly environment to connect with people who have been affected by cancer, share experiences and learn how to cope with a cancer diagnosis.

Our support group members have found the sessions to be very useful and have said the following about the group:

“The facilitator was very insightful and had a lot of meaningful things to say. She gave me a lot to think about.”

 

“The relaxation and mindfulness session was really useful.”

 

“I was feeling very down and really wasn’t going to attend but I am glad that the organisers called me and picked me up. I found the session to be very useful and I am so glad that I came.”

The group meets on the first Wednesday of the month from 4pm – 6pm at 3Space in Croydon. If you’d like more information about our support group or would like to attend please email us at info@thelakefoundation.com or call 07440 146 645.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Macmillan Cancer Support, we really appreciate their support and look forward to putting this grant to good use.

We’re so excited to once again team up with the Cycling Instructor with support from Croydon Council to provide free cycling sessions over the summer. This is a fun way to get fit and active and can be a journey of discovery of the beauty of south London as we cycle through the many hidden green spaces along route 21.

This group has been organised as part of our drive to improve the health and wellbeing of the black community and it aims to: provide members with the opportunity to learn how to cycle; provide tips on cycling technique; improve confidence in cycling; prepare attendees for road cycling; and introduce an enjoyable way for people to get some exercise.

Last year we had a great time with our sessions being led by very experienced and friendly instructors from the Cycling Instructor. Our favourite sessions were the off-road cycling sessions where we discovered beautiful locations like South Norwood Country Park, the Waterlink Way and Riverpool Linear Park.

We’ll be starting on 3^rd July at 6pm at Croydon Arena.  Please do get in touch if you’d like to join us. You can email events@thelakefoundation.com  to book your place and to find out more. Our leaflet below also provides more details.

We are delighted to introduce you to our Founder, Abi Begho.  In the video below Abi tells us a bit about herself, our work and what inspired her to start The Lake Foundation.

The Lake Foundation is pleased to announce that we have a new corporate partner. Evolution Media Lab has selected The Lake Foundation as its charity of the year and will be donating 10% of its profit to our organisation.

We would like to say a big thank to Evolution Media Lab for their support and look forward to working with them in the coming year.

We are absolutely delighted to be featured in the debut edition of AFRO RETRO  magazine, which was officially published on 14th March 2015.

AFRO RETRO magazine aims to celebrate Afro-Caribbean and African culture with a view to enlightening future generations about the richness of African culture and history.  The magazine focuses primarily on showcasing black history, Afrocentric businesses and African writers, fashion designers and chefs.

We are honoured to be featured in the first edition of this excellent magazine and would like to thank the editors for giving us this opportunity to raise awareness of our work.

You can read the first edition of below.

On Saturday, we attended the Croydon Tabernacle Women’s Breakfast to deliver presentations on both breast cancer and fibroids.  This was a lovely event that brought together the women of Croydon Tabernacle to discuss important health issues over a delicious breakfast.

We were given a one hour slot to discuss two important health conditions. We started with breast cancer and gave attendees some background discussing what is cancer, what happens in breast cancer, the different types of breast cancer, stages, diagnosis, treatment, risk factors and current statistics.  Once we had set the scene with a bit of background we then provided attendees with information on what they can do to prevent breast cancer or ensure an early diagnosis. Here we focused on three areas, understanding the signs and symptoms, taking part in breast cancer screening and adopting a healthy lifestyle.  We finished the breast cancer session with a lively Q&A and then moved on to fibroids.

Wonderful programme. Very educational, informative and interesting. I learnt a lot – Bosola

For our fibroids session we covered what are fibroids, the types of fibroids, causes, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, facts and figures and prevention. It was stressed that fibroids are not usually life-threatening but can be very painful and affect fertility. We discussed the importance of understanding the risk factors and symptoms and that if they have symptoms they should visit their doctor. Information was also given on the lifestyle changes that women can make to reduce their risk of developing fibroids – being more active and eating a healthy diet.  Furthermore we noted that fibroids are more common in black women and when black women develop fibroids they tend to be more aggressive, bigger, multiple and develop at a younger age than their white counterparts.

We finished off our presentation by stressing that if women are diagnosed with fibroids they should ensure they have enough information to make an informed decision about how they’d like to manage and treat their fibroids. Women were advised to speak to a gynaecologist who specialises in fibroids to get the best possible advice.

After our session, Pastor Yinka Ayeni gave an excellent, inspiring presentation on self-esteem.

We thoroughly enjoyed this event and would like to thank Croydon Tabernacle for inviting us to attend and for their very warm welcome.