Sole Sisters - Award winning Community fitness group

Blaenau Gwent Sole Sisters & Misters | Facebook

In 2016 I started the Couch to 5k programme with Kath Day. We committed to the nine-week programme and successfully completed it including our first 5k event in Cardiff. During this time, we posted the good, the bad and the ugly on social media. We carried on building on the training and distance and reached 10K so completed the Cardiff Half Marathon too.

Some more friends wanted to do the Couch to 5K programme but wanted some company to do it, so we posted on social media that we were meeting up to support a few friends with the programme. When we arrived at the meeting point nineteen ladies were there and that was the start of the Sole Sisters Journey.

We became qualified Welsh Athletics Run Leaders and supported many women, girls and school children through the programme as volunteers and were supported to receive funding by the Aneurin Leisure Sports Development team.

I recognised there were many other women and girls in the community that wanted to become more physically active and be part of something so I developed a weekly boot camp session at our local primary school along with a girls' gymnastics session (kindly supported by Valleys Gymnastics Academy). This led to a weekly after-school walking and running group, where parents and sometimes grandparents, aunts and uncles joined in.

Not forgetting our older ladies, we held Light Exercise to Music sessions at the local library which was very popular and could be very entertaining. The schoolchildren visited the library to interview the ladies about life when they were children and the ladies visited the school for a few events and afternoon tea. It was a lovely group within the community where lots of friendships and relationships formed. We secured the community defibrillator and arranged the training on how to use members of the community.

Sadly, as with many other groups, we didn't return after COVID but the Legacy of the Sole Sisters lives on in the school as any funding left over was donated to the school and contributed to housing for the school chickens and outdoor fitness equipment.

A Heartfelt Testimonial

Dear Janine

Now that I’ve retired and had time to reflect, I wanted to write to you to thank you for the work you did for the community of Cwm and the school in particular.
Your idea to set up a walking/running group after school certainly helped us to gain recognition and spurred us on to become even more involved in the community. The success of the group can be partly attributed to the funding you secured via grants which enabled us to attract parents who may not have joined otherwise. In turn, the involvement with outside agencies led to the school’s partnership with The University of South Wales.
The exercise class for the elderly provided a great source of enjoyment and fulfilment for those who attended. It also allowed the pupils to visit the older members of the community at the library and in turn invite them to the school for social events.
The gymnastics group which you set up for girls in the community provided them with opportunities that they may not have had if it were not for the establishment of Sole Sisters.
Finally the Couch to 5k, and subsequent fitness sessions, that you and Kath provided gave lots of Cwm females the opportunity to improve their health and fitness which many of them have maintained.
It is unfortunate that Covid disrupted the great work you were undertaking in the community, but I wanted to thank you for all the support that you gave the school during my period as Headteacher.

Rhian Astley

Former Headteacher of Cwm Primary School

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