Dunstable Town Football Club – Community Benefit Society (CBS),
Monday (weekly) Sphere at The Glider. Sphere is a mental health peer support group for people with lived experience of mental health problems and who are in recovery. We are not able to support attendees who are in crisis and are acutely unwell. The group meets for three hours every Monday. We can have up to 12 members attend at any one time. It’s not a “drop in” group. We tend to take new referrals from NHS staff, or from recommendations from current members. The group does a lot of arts and crafts activities and entered the Wheelbarrow section of Dunstable in Bloom last year coming third overall. https://www.dunstabletownfc.co.uk/post/the-sphere-at-the-glider
https://www.dunstabletownfc.co.uk/post/sphere-at-the-glider-awarded-3rd-place-in-dunstable-in-bloom
Tuesday. No activities, currently.
Wednesday. On alternate Wednesdays we hold a Community Walking Football group open to anyone over 18, regardless of age, gender, (dis)ability etc. The group has been going since we became a CBS in July 2021. Our target demographic is middle aged/older people with Pre-Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity and people with mental health problems around anxiety and depression where it is evidence based that exercise and company can improve mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety. Unlike traditional Walking Football groups which tend to be for over 55’s our group is “open age” in order to be as inclusive as possible.
The session lasts for one hour and now that we have our CBS Hub (portacabin) on site, the group can meet and relax afterwards and benefit from the social side of the group and provide input for those who may need additional support.
Our second Walking Football group on Wednesday is a specialist group for Adults with Complex Needs and lasts for 30 minutes.
Ted’s Story | How Walking Football Has Helped Ted – YouTube
Clive’s Story | How Walking Football Has Helped Clive – YouTube
On Wednesday afternoons our second mental health peer support group, S.O.U.L. meets in the CBS Hub. S.O.U.L is an abbreviation of Support, Optimism, Understanding & Laughter. It runs on a very similar model to Sphere at The Glider. The group is limited to 12 places and meets from 1.30pm – 4.30pm.
Thursday. We run a group for lonely and socially isolated people called Chums & Crumbs. It’s a joint partnership with the Social Prescribers from Titan PCN. We meet in the Dunstable Centre for two hours every week. We can take up to 12 members at a time. Anecdotally we know how much our attendees value coming to the group. For some, we will be the only people they get to see or chat to on a weekly basis. The group meets every week between 11am and 1pm.
https://www.dunstabletownfc.co.uk/post/chums-crumbs-christmas-party
https://www.dunstabletownfc.co.uk/post/chums-crumbs-asda-token-scheme
Also, on Thursday mornings we are running six taster sessions for a new Walking Football group for people living with Dementia. The group meets in the Dunstable Centre at 10am every Thursday until October 12th. The group is a partnership with Tibbs Dementia Fellowship.
Dunstable Town FC Announces Partnership With Tibbs Dementia Foundation During Dementia Action Week
Friday. Every Friday evening, we run another Walking Football group for an hour. This is a more competitive group than Wednesdays and we have formed a Dunstable Town FC Walking Football Team who have played several friendly matches against other Walking Football teams. Their kit was generously provided by Asda who generously provide Chums & Crumbs & Sphere at the Glider with tea, coffee, biscuits etc. We again decided to make it “open age” as an acknowledgement that many disabilities are hidden.
All our groups are free to join and participate in.
For more information on the Club’s community support groups, please contact Andrew Madaras chair.dunstabletownfc@gmail.com
or Ian Bateman for Walking Football enquiries only
