Father and son support people to be healthy

Story posted on April 20, 2020

A member of Wiltshire Council’s Active Health team has enlisted the help of his son to put together a short exercise video to support those individuals who are currently isolating at home.

Richard and Mace

The council has been working to develop a wide range of online services that are now available on Wiltshire Council’s Active Communities resource page at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisure-active-communities.

Richard Latham, with the help of his 17-year old son Mace, a Warminster Kingdown School A-Level student, made a 20-minute video to help those who don’t have access to their usual exercise programmes.

Active Health is Wiltshire Council’s physical activity referral programme to support those people referred by GPs and other healthcare professionals. Richard and Mace realised it was important that they offer something to the thousands of local residents who had previously been referred to them to help manage their health conditions while the leisure centres are closed.

The video is a simple follow along video that most people can participate in from home. Within days of being uploaded to YouTube, the video has been viewed more than 850 times and received great responses from those who have seen it, with one person commenting “I really enjoyed it and found it easy to follow”.

Cllr Allison Bucknell, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Leisure and Communities, said: “Despite not being able to offer these fitness sessions in person, our teams are still managing to reach a wide number of people and helping to keep them healthy during these difficult circumstances.

“The innovative approach our teams are taking is all for the benefit of our communities and we’ll do as much of this type of work as we can.”

Wiltshire Council’s Active Health team will to work hard to keep in touch and assist as many of its referred members as it can during this period to support them.

The fitness video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WnC3osBDss

More advice, guidance and resources can be found at the council’s dedicated COVID-19 page at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/public-health-coronavirus