Testing New Uses – New Beach Facilities for Walpole Bay

The council delivered a pilot Coastal Wellbeing activity programme in or around Walpole Bay beach in the summer of 2023 and 2024. The ambition was to test what works well for our residents and communities. Feedback and learning from these pilot activities will help shape future activity and inform local businesses and organisations who wish to continue to build on these pilots.

Iterative feedback was used from both years, helping to ensure that activities delivered were of interest, in the right place, with the people who most needed the support.

The Coastal Wellbeing activities were free of charge and offered as a six week course, for people who wouldn’t normally take part in classes or paid activities. We wanted residents to help shape the programme, and asked people to vote for the activities they thought should be included through the council’s public engagement platform – Your Voice Thanet.

Rather than a whole course, the 2024 sessions were booked weekly through Eventbrite to help reach more residents and to fill empty spaces. We gave priority booking to charities and community groups for client referrals, then advertised the empty spaces using the Active Thanet Facebook page. In addition to these activities, we delivered 35 Cycling UK events, including free bike fixing and ‘Learn to fix’ workshops, with additional funding secured through Cycling UK.

A new post was created with Town Deal funding – Coastal Wellbeing Participation and Skills Coordinator. Successful engagement with community organisations, groups and service providers has laid the foundations for collaboration to improve Coastal Wellbeing in our Cliftonville and Margate communities. This involved trialing a new registration process for individuals or organisations delivering activities, including supporting organisations to identify and successfully bid for funding streams, and/or develop viable business models to sustain some of their activities.

We have put together details of the activities delivered as part of the Town Deal funded programme. The funding associated with delivery includes the facilitator/instructor fees, venue hire, and marketing materials for each of the pilot years.

• September 2023 – November 2023
• Total cost £6,269

Flints Permaculture for families

Hula Hoop

Belly Dancing

Self Defence

Clubbercise

Social Singing

Boxing for Mental Health

Bootcamp for Weight Loss

Yoga

Street Sport

• June 2024 – October 2024
• Total cost – £11,012

Bowls Taster

Gardening for Calm

Nordic Walking

Arabian Dancing

Over 50’s Self Defence

Bootcamp

Mini Bootcamp for children

Flints Coastal Connection

Social Singing

SUP Yoga

Movement Meditation

Skateboarding for All

Street Sport

Parkour

Arabian Dancing

Hula Hoop and Circus Skills

User surveys were used to evaluate the activities.

Of the 38 surveys completed in 2023;

100% of participants said they would be interested in attending future activities

89% of participants said they thought attending the sessions improved their health and/or wellbeing, and specific improvements around feelings of anxiety.

Of the 96 surveys completed in 2024;

97.9% of people said they would recommend these activities to someone else.
85.4 % of people thought these sessions improved their health or wellbeing.
94.8% of people wanted the activities to continue.
51% of people said they would pay for the sessions to continue, with 21.9% of people saying they would like to, but couldn’t afford to.

There were mixed reasons why people missed sessions, but the most common were health and family. We found all the sessions decreased in numbers as the weather got worse.

Find out more about the Coastal Wellbeing activities below.

Positive State CIC built an outdoor youth club where the weekly activities included archery, football, basketball, table football and table tennis on Friday nights from 5pm to 7pm at Jubilee Park. This was well supported by the community, with between 60 and 100 young people and families attending each week. Scorcha Skate School also ran beginner skateboarding sessions that attracted between 10 to 20 young people each week. Weekly drop in facilitators included Yo Street Zone and Wisewoods Dance, supported by sports graduates from East Kent Colleges Group, who helped run the activities with youth workers from the Northdown Family Hub.

During these sessions there was a mix of families and young people from all of Cliftonville’s communities. There was no anti-social behaviour, just great feedback from all concerned. This provided fantastic early engagement with the local community ahead of the Town Deal skatepark project, and shows how street sport can unite a community.

The Street Sport sessions won Highly Commended in the Street Games Sport for Development national Awards 2024.

Scorcha Skate School delivered beginner skateboarding sessions that were all fully booked. This activity was aimed at promoting skateboarding as a sport to young people in Cliftonville, to help build early engagement ahead of the Margate Town Deal Skatepark project. With extra requests to join the sessions, 81 young people in total were taught, aged from 4 to 64 years.Scorcha provided all of the skateboards, pads and helmets.

Thanet Parkour Academy taught young people to assess risk when attempting parkour. The sessions taught safer parkour techniques to help reduce accidents and injuries from young people copying YouTube videos. We had 41 attendees for this season, with four children joining Thanet Parkour Academy as a result of attending.

The empty space behind Thanet Judo Kwai and Martial Arts Centre had become a polluted fly tipping zone. A team of volunteers spent hours clearing the garden, fitting an access gate, and building raised beds ready for this course. We advertised at the Cliftonville Bowls Club Coastal Wellbeing taster sessions to try and attract more volunteers to help grow vegetables for the Cliftonville Community. The Wellbeing Garden received an East Kent Mind Award for improving Mental Health in Thanet.

Coastal Nordic Walking sessions supported older adults with long term health conditions to get safely outside and enjoy the open spaces, and improve their mental and physical health. Walking with poles can improve balance, core strength, coordination and confidence, particularly helping people to start walking again after an injury. This was a sociable course, allowing people to talk as they walked. Two participants continued with Nordic Walking and signed up to Your Leisure community sessions.

Sparkles Bellydance taught Arabian Dancing sessions on Walpole Bay beach. This activity was popular with mums who brought their children to play on the beach or join in the dancing. It was also popular with children with additional needs because of the non-competitive nature of the activity, combined with the bright colours of the fans and scarves. This activity brought joy to participants and bystanders.

Thanet Judo Kwai and Martial Arts Centre delivered sessions aiming to improve self confidence and teach self defence skills to older adults too. This was our most successful course, and 6 of the 10 regular participants signed up to be Tai Chi members at the club. There were 46 regular attendees each week. Group members grew in both physical and mental confidence, which can be seen by how many people have chosen to continue the activity. There are also participants from the autumn Coastal Wellbeing sessions who are still attending Tai-Chi sessions at the Dojo.

This Outdoor Bootcamp for Beginners was aimed at mums that can’t usually access evening classes because of childcare. The sessions were delivered by O.C.Dean’s Fitness, with 76 adults and 30 children attending over 6 weeks. We found this session to be more inclusive for adults, and children with additional needs who can get overwhelmed with the noisy Sports Hall. We provided a second instructor to run a mini-bootcamp for children on the sand at the same time.

Newgate Gap CIC was fully booked on Eventbrite with 58 participants attending. The preparation, detail and care that went into each unique session created an experience that took people away from normal everyday life – back to the past, teaching about nature, the coastal environment, traditional art methods and foraging. This course was a combination of learning, resetting and connecting better with the coast. This was the first adult Flints adult course which the CIC hope to continue through successful funding applications. Flints has been awarded an East Kent Mind Wellbeing Award.

The social singing activity at the Darwin Court residential home was held inside so that residents with long term health conditions could attend. The sessions were also open to members of the public. The participants reported this activity helped their breathing and made them feel better. Many of the residents don’t usually leave their rooms in the evening, so this activity really helped to reduce social isolation.

Sup Yoga by Another Journey Begins was fully booked. These sessions were a great way to test how sessions could be delivered in the Walpole Bay Bathing Pool. They demonstrated that there is space in the pool for respectful, organised paddleboards and swimmers. None of the participants had tried this activity before and there was great feedback from the sessions; it was easy to see why there was a long waiting list. A significant amount of time and preparation was needed to set up each session. Some sessions were cancelled due to poor weather conditions.

Mergate CIC delivered the Movement Meditation sessions, which aimed to improve mental health and connection to our beautiful coastline. This outdoor course was attended by 48 women and worked particularly well with the beach setting. The facilitator has attended Mencap Sport Training, Mental Health First aid and safeguarding training since signing up as a Coastal Wellbeing facilitator with the council.

A group from East Kent Mencap joined the activity, having walked from their Northdown Road Hub. Their support workers also joined in the activity. Other participants included mums with children in buggies that wouldn’t otherwise attend classes. The final sessions were moved to the Walpole Bay Shelter which was easier for people with buggies and more sheltered for hula hooping.