Gwynedd Council’s Exercise Referral Scheme Team has a very good reason to celebrate after being awarded the title of ‘Exercise Referral Scheme Team of the Year’ by Fitness Wales, which is the governing body for exercise and fitness in Wales.
The award acknowledge the excellent work done by the National Exercise Referral schemes (NERS) throughout the 22 counties of Wales.
The award was won by two teams this year, Gwynedd came joint first with Carmarthen after judges were unable to split the two teams. Gwynedd were runners up in 2011 and to win the competition this year is a creditable achievement.
The National Exercise Referral scheme targets clients who are at risk of developing chronic disease, providing an opportunity for referrals to access a high quality supervised exercise programme to improve their health and wellbeing.
Emma Quaeck, Gwynedd Council’s Coordinator was delighted with the award: “The award means a lot to the team and myself, we are all passionate about the work that we do, especially when we see the difference it makes to people’s lives.
“We all work hard and go that extra mile for our customers and its great to get recognition for that. We have also bettered our skills and qualifications over the past four years in order to increase our knowledge to deal with the different medical conditions that we work with, which has been a challenge but its also been amazing.”
Gwynedd’s team impressed the judges because of their involvement with community events and the new green initiative – the fruit and vegetable garden currently being piloted at Glaslyn Leisure Centre, Porthmadog to encourage customers to get active in the outdoors.
Jeannie Wyatt- Williams, the National Coordinator said: “As the National Exercise Referral Scheme is developing and improving so did the standard of entries making it a very difficult to establish an outright winner for this years Fitness Wales NERS team of the year award.
“Gwynedd along with joint winners Carmarthenshire impressed the judges with their efforts to develop partnership working to enhance the delivery of their schemes. Gwynedd’s gardening project and its future role in developing a ‘grow your own’ attitude along with healthier eating was highly praised.”
For further information please contact Emma Quaeck on 01766 512711 / 07768 988095 or [email protected]
