Health Support Programme

Interested in how community building and creative activities can support community health? Do you have an idea to make this happen? 

We can offer:

  • Free space to trial a new idea for up to 6 weeks
  • Marketing Support – to help you reach new people via Gregson channels 
  • Mentoring – evaluation and fundraising support with Gregson CEO and our partners from the Division of Health Research at Lancaster University. 

Want help starting a group?

Join our Health Support Programme today!

This programme aims to nurture a critical mass of regular daytime health based activity across the different spaces in the centre and help new ideas happen by minimising financial risks to facilitators and organisations that want to try something new.

If your project is selected we will ask you to complete basic monitoring forms to help capture data about your project. This information will be used to help you, the Gregson and partners in the Division of Health research, determine health and wellbeing priorities for funding applications and research – either your own, the Gregson’s or both! 

We hope the Health Support Programme will enable you long term to run activity at the centre either through using this time to build an evidence base to enable you to apply for further funding or to operate as a sustainable enterprise.

We are interested in hearing from people and organisations that can offer creative activities in the day time to address loneliness and social isolation.  All ideas are welcome. In line with the Gregson’s strategic aims and following community consultation in 2023, we are particularly keen on supporting ideas that benefit and support:

  • Young People
  • Accessibility
  • The Environment

There is no deadline to apply but early applications are encouraged as we are only able to support 8 new initiatives. 

Thanks to funding from LCVS Health Champions Fund for making this project possible. 

Register your interest in the Health Support Programme here
Breath of Fresh Air Choir singers and facilitator Charlie Brown - image taken by Lancaster CVS

T&C’s

We encourage everyone to apply to our Health Support Programme but can only accept applicants who are running new activity in the centre. You may be an existing facilitator of activity here but you would have to apply to run a new project.

In signing up to the programme you are booking a minimum of 6 sessions – these can be weekly/fortnightly/ monthly and we’d discuss what works best with each successful applicant.

The Health Support Programme is subject to availability of the Gregson’s spaces. Each group can run a session for 1.5 hours and will receive 6 free sessions.

You can charge participants a fee and you will keep 100% of the takings but as part of the programme you must include at least one place for free as a non means tested place for those on a low income.

We will ask you to complete monitoring forms of your work here for ours/yours evaluations.