Residents living in Southway will be supported at all stages of life with the opening of a new Family and Wellbeing Hub at the local community centre.
Southway Community Hub has been offering community support and activities for many years, run by Southway Community Group CIC and local volunteers. In partnership with Plymouth City Council, the family and wellbeing offer at the centre has been developed and this will be celebrated at a launch event next week.
The launch of the new Family and Wellbeing Hub took place on August 22 with a range of free activities for everyone to enjoy including circus skills, face painting and arts and crafts. Local residents were invited to go along and find out more about the new support that will be on offer.
Southway Community Hub offers a community café and is also home to one of the council’s Youth Centres. With the addition of the new Family and Wellbeing Hub, it will provide a one-stop shop for residents of all ages to access support and activities, with everything from parenting guidance and volunteering opportunities to debt advice and fitness sessions.
the opening of the new hub
Councillor Jemima Laing, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, said: “Making Plymouth a great place to grow up and to grow old is a key priority for us, and we want to support all our residents to live healthy and fulfilling lives.
“Southway Community Hub has always provided a great range of support to local residents, but this has now been enhanced by the new Family and Wellbeing Hub which means people in the local area have a fantastic centre on hand to help them at every stage of life.”
In 2023, Plymouth City Council was awarded a share of £300 million from the Government to help develop new Family Hubs and establish Start for Life, a programme providing support to parents for the first 1001 days of their child’s life, starting from pregnancy.
The Southway Family Hub, run by Barnardo’s, brings together local services that can support families at every stage, from pregnancy until their child is 19 years old, or 25 years old for young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
Sarah Crawley, director of Barnardo’s South West, said:
“We are delighted to be managing the new Southway Family Hub which will provide unprecedented support for parents from before their child is born until they reach adulthood.
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“Every stage of parenthood brings its own joys and challenges and the hub will be able to help every step of the way. In recent years we’ve had a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis which has made parenting more difficult, but having a family hub in the community means you are not alone. It’s a really exciting time and we look forward to welcoming families through the doors.”
Wellbeing Hubs aim to improve people’s health and wellbeing by building a greater sense of community and bringing local services together in one convenient location. This includes services helping people to improve their physical and mental health, reduce social isolation and take part in new activities that support their wellbeing.
Councillor Mary Aspinall, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said:
“Our network of Wellbeing Hubs play a really important role by connecting people to the huge array of services and activities available locally that will help them to stay fit and well, so it’s brilliant to be extending our offer in the north of the city with the launch in Southway.”
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The new Wellbeing Hub is the eighth to open in Plymouth and will be run by the Southway Community Group CIC, who are currently celebrating ten years of community work in Southway.
Karen Stewart, wellbeing adviser at the hub, said:
“We”ve been working in Southway for a decade now to bring local residents together and create a space they feel is their own. We’re very proud to have been asked to expand on all that work and to run the Wellbeing Hub for this area. We feel it can only serve to make Southway an even better place to live.”
Find out more about Family and Wellbeing Hubs in Plymouth on the Plymouth Online Directory: www.plymouthonlinedirectory.com
