2-MINUTE READ

April 2025

Background

People living in Donnington, Telford & Wrekin are benefitting from an ongoing initiative to help improve their health and wellbeing. Our intention is to work collaboratively with local organisations, groups and residents to overcome barriers to physical activity.

We’re working alongside local organisations, groups, and residents to create a healthier community and reduce health inequalities. This aims to bring together people and resources to make a lasting, positive impact for everyone in Donnington. By joining forces, we’re building a supportive network that’s dedicated to making better health and wellbeing accessible for all.

What's happened in April?

Recent events, as part of the ongoing initiative, have included a Community Open Day and two events for local primary schools.

Community Open Day

Based on the success of a previous community open day held in October 2024, the Open Day on 12^th April event brought together around 100 residents and 25 organisations/local service providers to showcase the variety of opportunities available in Donnington and across the wider Telford and Wrekin borough to help improve the health and wellbeing of local people.

Running from 11am to 2pm, the event saw families, friends, and neighbours enjoying a vibrant mix of free activities, delicious food, and the chance to connect with local services and groups.

There was something for everyone, with crafts and face painting activities for children, as well as healthy eating taster sessions, wellbeing walks, blood pressure checks and health advice for adults. The event also featured 100 free gift bags, each packed with useful information about local services and organisations – plus a fresh, locally sourced apple kindly donated by Green Fields Farm Shop.

A wide range of fantastic organisations joined the day, the atmosphere was warm and welcoming, making it easy for people to explore what’s happening locally and how to get involved.

A huge thank you to everyone involved, including all those who helped out, or simply turned up to make the day such a success, with a special thanks to Silver Threads Hall for taking a lead on facilitating the organisation of the event.

Amy Griffiths, Empowering Communities Manager at Energize said: “We were thrilled with the fantastic response to the event — the support from local services and organisations was incredible, and it was wonderful to see such strong engagement from the community. Events like this are all about bringing people together, creating a sense of connection, having fun, and celebrating everything our local communities have to offer.”

Events for primary schools

Around 400 pupils from two primary schools in Donnington recently took part in two health and wellbeing days.

Pupils aged 7-11 from Donnington Wood Junior School and St Matthews Primary School each enjoyed a day to try a range of different activities ranging from sports and physical activities like squash, basketball, cricket, netball and Nerf, to healthy eating activities including learning about tasty fruit and veg snack alternatives, as well as creative activities such as T-shirt design and more.

Eight different activities were provided in 20-minute rotations giving opportunity for the children and young people to try something new and providing variety throughout the day. In addition to this, local rap artist Dribbz brought the beats and inspired the pupils with his custom-made message around supporting mental health to inspire young minds.

The events were also supported by 12 young leaders from New Road Academy secondary school in Telford. The young leaders used their expertise and experience gained from their Sport and Fitness Level 2 Award which was funded by Energize STW and delivered by Brightstar Boxing as part of this piece of work to support the events.

Following the events, we’ve focused on gathering feedback from pupils to share their thoughts on the day and to connect the schools and local clubs to plan future PE sessions, after-school activities, and youth club offerings based on what the children most enjoyed. 

Jake Jones, Active Schools Officer at Energize said: “These events are about much more than just getting active for a day. They’re about sparking long-term interest and giving young people a voice in shaping the activities that are offered to them.”

The Impact

The very positive impact during the recent events was evident from the interest, smiles and enjoyment of the residents and school pupils.

Robert Fox, Headteacher at Donnington Wood Junior School said:

"Thank you for organising such an inspiring event for our wonderful children. Your foresight, seamless collaboration, and outstanding organisational skills made it truly exceptional. The pupils are still buzzing with excitement and joy from the experience!”

Abie, Pastoral Lead at St Matthews Primary School said:

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you from ALL of St Matthews for the event. The children and staff had a fantastic day. It was so well organised; all adults and children that supported engaged the children throughout the day and made it a very special event.

I do want to thank you, in particular. I very much appreciate the effort and thought that goes into running an event like this and to have such positive feedback from the children is a credit to your hard work.”

Next Steps

We're proud to continue our work in Donnington, creating opportunities for people of all ages to be active, feel connected and thrive.

As our work continues to gather pace, there is plenty to look forward to over the next few months, including:

✅ School and Pupil Engagement – Working with Donnington Wood Junior School and St. Matthew’s Primary School to measure activity after the events in April and supporting the connections made between the schools and the local activity providers.

✅ Older Adult Mental Health Pilot – Supporting older residents with their mental health and wellbeing.
✅ Ongoing Stakeholder Engagement - Continuing to work with partners to improve health and wellbeing across Donnington through a place-based approach

✅ Continued Residents Engagement – With the continuation of the community engagement surveys and a resident working group soon to be established.

Keep up to date with our place-based working in Donnington.