On Saturday 21^st February we continued with our work to raise awareness of prostate cancer amongst black men in Croydon by organising an Understanding Prostate Cancer session at the Pneuma Christian Centre.

Like our previous sessions at Trinity Baptist Church and Croydon Tabernacle this was a collaboration between The Lake Foundation, Prostate Cancer UK and Eunice Adu-Appiah as part of our drive to reach as many black men as possible with the key messages about prostate cancer and prostate conditions.

Our prostate cancer awareness session formed part of the Pneuma Christian Centre’s  Men’s Week Conference with the theme being: Empowerment for a Healthy Life based on the bible scripture Isaiah 40:28-3.1

The workshop began with a welcome and introduction by Abi Begho of The Lake Foundation followed by an excellent, informative presentation by Georgina Graham from Prostate Cancer UK.  Georgina’s presentation covered what every man should know about prostate cancer and prostate conditions. She explained the three main prostate conditions that affect men, which are an enlarged prostate, prostatitis and prostate cancer and that all of these conditions have similar symptoms such as:

It was stressed that if men experience any of these symptoms they shouldn’t panic as it could be due prostatitis or enlarged prostate, but they must visit their doctor to rule out prostate cancer.

Georgina also covered the risk factors for prostate cancer which are: age (prostate cancer is more common in men who are over the age of 50); ethnicity (black men are twice as likely as white men to develop prostate cancer); and family history (men with father or a brother with prostate cancer are 2.5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer compared to men who don’t have a family history).

Georgina finished off her presentation by letting attendees know that they have the right to have a PSA test if they are 50 or over and that it is particularly important for black men to be more vigilant and visit their GP if they have any concerns whatsoever.

Georgina’s presentation was followed by a Q&A where we discussed prostate cancer treatments, the digital rectal examination,  how often the PSA test should be conducted and what causes prostate cancer.

After a quick refreshment break we heard from Eunice Adu-Appiah who spoke about exercise, diet and prostate cancer prevention.

Eunice explained that several research studies have shown that men who regularly exercise were at a lower risk of developing prostate cancer and hence men can take some control over their health and reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer and other diseases by simply being more active. We learnt that regular exercise means taking part in 150 minutes of exercise a week and that this should be both cardiovascular and muscle strengthening exercises. Eunice explained that whilst 150 minutes of exercise may sound like a lot this can easily be achieved by breaking these up into 10-15 minute slots throughout the day. For example we could do a few lunges and squats in the morning whilst brushing our teeth and preparing breakfast, then we could walk part of the way to work, take the stairs instead of the lift and go for a walk at lunch time. Before you know it we would have easily met the minimum requirement of 150 minutes of exercise per week.

Eunice then spoke about diet recommending that we avoid saturated fat, trans fat and red meat. Eunice ended by explaining that we don’t have to make drastic changes but changes to our lifestyle should be gradual with the ultimate goal being to adopt a healthy lifestyle where we are active, we eat a well-balanced diet and we factor in some time for relaxation too.

This was a really useful event with a lively, friendly and attentive audience. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended, to Georgina Graham and Eunice Adu-Appiah for delivering really informative presentations and to Deacon Dele Ogunlaru and the leadership of the Pneuma Christian Centre for inviting us to host this session.

You can listen to an excerpt from Georgina’s presentation below.

On Wednesday we were back at Christ Church Methodist for another fun AfroFit session. We might have been low on numbers but we were high on energy and motivation being joined by a lovely 15 year old who kept us on our toes!

We started the session once again with a African style warm up and then moved on to circuits where we had to take part in a selection of intense exercises for 30 seconds each. These included lunges, squats, ab wheel rolls outs (double ouch!), plank, push ups and skipping. After doing two rounds of these we were well and truly tired and were so glad to move on to our cool down and relaxation – whoopee!

This was another great session by Eunice, our instructor, who is so upbeat and  really keeps us motivated.

We’ll be back next Wednesday at 7pm. Please do join us. We’d love to see you. For more information and to book a place please email us

We’ll be hosting another Understanding Prostate Cancer session on 21^st Feb 2015 at Pneuma Christian Centre. This event is a collaboration between The Lake Foundation, Punema Christian Centre and Prostate Cancer UK  and is a part of  the centre’s men’s conference which runs from 18^th – 22^nd Feb.

The  theme of the conference is Empowerment for a Healthy Life and our prostate cancer session will empower men with the information they need to take quick action should they notice any of the symptoms of prostate cancer.  Our session will cover: what is the prostate, prostate conditions, prostate cancer, signs & symptoms and risk factors.

All are welcome to attend. For more information please visit our events page or email us

On Wednesday, we were back at Christ Church Methodist for another fun session of AfroFit. AfroFit is led by Eunice Adu-Appiah a health promotion professional with ten years of nursing experience. Eunice is extremely knowledgeable with years of experience in fitness training having been an athlete herself (sprinter) in university. She’s absolutely fantastic, explains everything and is really friendly and approachable.

Wednesday’s class was really fun with a slight variation to the previous week’s session. After our funky warm-up and stretch we did a selection of circuit training exercises to improve our mobility and strength. These exercises included plank, lunges across the room, spider lunges across the room and ab wheel roll outs. Once complete it was on to floor work and then our favourite part, cool down and relaxation – yay!

This was another great class by Eunice. The circuit training made it very challenging but with the great music and Eunice’s passion we were motivated to keep going.

We’ll be back at Christ Church Methodist next Wed at 7pm. Please do join us in our drive to get our community fit and healthy.

For more information and directions click here.

Last night was the second session of our new aerobics class, AfroFit, which aims to give attendees a great workout whilst having a whole lot of fun.  The class is inspired by the Afro beats movement and thus the workout is choreographed to toe tapping Afro beats music.  It’s not all about fun though as there is some pain involved, but like our instructor says “no pain, no gain!”

AfroFit is led by Eunice Adu-Appiah a health promotion professional with ten years of nursing experience. Eunice is extremely knowledgeable with years of experience in fitness training having been an athlete herself (sprinter) in university. She’s absolutely fantastic, explains everything and has developed a really fun class that will appeal to everyone.

In last night’s session we worked every part of our body,  but it was so much fun that it really didn’t feel like a workout (well, some of it did, especially the floor work, ouch!). We started with a light warm up and then moved on to cardio which included some great African dance moves . This was followed by some floor work and then we finished with a cool down with some relaxation – ahh lovely.

This was a great session and is part of our drive to get our community fit and active. Please do join us next week at 7pm at Christ Church Methodist in Croydon. We’d love to see you.

For more information and directions click here.

In the middle of last year we started our search for office space and soon found what appeared to be the perfect opportunity – free office space for charities with no bills to pay.  We thought: “Yay! All our prayers have been answered.”  But sadly, after a very frustrating and disappointing process  this fell through and we were back to square one.

Just when we had given up all hope and the year was coming to an end we discovered 3Space.

3Space is an innovative, award-winning charity that was founded in 2010 to unlock the value of empty commercial properties. They work in partnership with property holders to make empty commercial space available free of charge for community use. They create a shared space that builds local networks and provides the infrastructure for innovation by social entrepreneurs and not-for-profit organisations.

They have repurposed properties across the UK giving start-ups and charities the opportunity to access free office space and meeting room facilities,  ensuring that these types of organisations have a great start where the stress and challenges of finding funding to cover the costs of rent,  utility bills and overheads are  eliminated.

We’re based in Croydon and after we come across 3Space we were delighted to learn that they were offering workspace right in the centre of Croydon.  The process of registering was really straightforward and within two weeks we had viewed the workspace, registered and were ready to go. Furthermore the staff at 3Space were great. Harry, Head of Operations and Lucinda, Project Manager, were extremely warm, welcoming and helpful.

The workspace 3Space has to offer in Croydon is lovely. As part of the Cabinet Office’s Space for Growth, it is based on the 5^th floor of Southern House, it has great views of Croydon and is very spacious. It is home to a number of start-up companies and not-for-profit organisations making it a great environment to work in and meet people with similar interests.

In addition to the office space there is also access to meeting and conference rooms making it ideal for external meetings and hosting small seminars.

We’ve been at 3Space for about a month now and love it. It’s a great place to work; it’s an environment that motivates us and gets the creative juices flowing.

From this experience of securing office space, I have definitely learnt a lot.  I can now vouch for the saying that goes: “when one door closes a bigger and better door will open”. That’s what has happened to us. All I can say is: if you are going through a hard time with your business or project, hang in there, be patient and know that it’s only temporary. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you 3Space!

For more information about 3Space please visit their website.

Happy New Year all! We wish you a happy, healthy and successful year ahead and thank you for all your support in 2014.

The Lake Foundation is still a fairly new charity having started in July 2013. Through all your support and encouragement we have been very productive and have made significant progress in working towards our mission of improving the health and wellbeing of the black community.

We are delighted to share our achievements for 2014 with you. Over the past year we have:

• Launched our African Caribbean Cancer Support Group which meets monthly at Mind In Croydon.

• Developed our hereditary cancer booklet which aims to raise awareness of inherited cancers, the importance of knowing your family’s medical history, what to do if you have a strong famly history of cancer and what preventative options are available for people at a high risk of developing cancer because it runs in their family.

• Launched our fibroids survey that aimed to explore the needs of women with fibroids and published the findings

• Established our Fibroids Ask the Expert to provide women with questions or concerns about fibroids with access to experts in the field that can provide them with accurate reliable information

• Started our cycling group which reconvenes in April/May of this year

• Delivered a range of health awareness presentations to the  community

• Consulted with Breast Cancer Care on their new PROWESS service

  “I can honestly say that having your input into PROWESS has been great and a massive benefit to me and the project, so I’m looking forward to working with you again in the New Year.”

• Obtained funding from Prostate Cancer UK as part of their engagement and empowerment pilot

• Secured office space

• Appeared on TV and radio.

• Launched our weekly blog enabling us to discuss health issues of concern to the black community

• Carried out our first annual aerobathon

We had a really enjoyable and productive year and look forward to 2015.

The Lake Foundation would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

You can still indulge today whilst being healthy. Remember to include lots of vegetables with your Christmas dinner – try Brussel sprouts, parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes and  baked/grilled plantain – and for dessert try a lovely vegan cashew cheese cake.

Additionally, select white meat and fish instead of red meat and keep active – try taking a walk regularly throughout the two week Christmas and New Year period

We were delighted to be featured in this week’s Six Weeks to Fitness podcast where we were interviewed by the Vincent Ferguson, the president of Body Sculpt of New York, a not-for-profit health and fitness organisation.

In this 30 minute podcast we discuss the work of  The Lake Foundation and our plans for the future.

You can listen to our interview below.

Today, we had a great time at Croydon Tabernacle raising awareness of prostate cancer. This event was part of Prostate Cancer UK’s Engagement and Empowerment pilot which aims to reach black men with the key messages about prostate cancer and prostate conditions.

The event took the format of a presentation followed by a Q&A. Abi Begho delivered the presentation covering: what is the prostate; prostate conditions; symptoms; risk factors; and know your rights

We then moved on to what symptoms men should look out for and these included:

• Needing to pee more often, especially at night
• Difficulty starting to pee
• Straining or taking a long time to finish peeing
• A weak flow
• A feeling that your bladder has not emptied properly
• Needing to rush to the toilet
• Dribbling urine

It was stressed that these symptoms are associated with non-serious prostate conditions as well as prostate cancer so if men do experience any of these symptoms it could be due to a number of reasons.

Furthermore, we gave an overview of the risk factors for prostate cancer, which are:

• Increasing age (prostate cancer is more common in men over the age of 50),
• Ethnicity (black men are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than other men)
• Family history (men with father or a brother with prostate cancer are 2.5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer compared to men who don’t have a family history)

We explained that if  attendees ever experience any symptoms they should visit their GP who will conduct a series of tests to determine if there is a prostate problem. These tests will include a urine test, a PSA blood test and a digital rectal examination.

We finished the presentation by informing attendees that they have the right to more information if they are concerned and they have the right to have a PSA test if they are 50 and over.

The Q&A after the presentation led to discussions on prevention, differentiating serious symptoms from non-serious symptoms, the PSA test, diet and prostate cancer and why prostate cancer is more common in black men.

After some mingling and refreshments the presentation was repeated in a more informal format for late comers – more of a roundtable discussion.

We had a great day, the audience was very receptive and engaged and we’d like to say a big thank you to Croydon Tabernacle and Prostate Cancer UK for their help in making this event a reality.