Happiness Fund: how it has helped nearly one year on

Harrow Cycle Hub

Last year, Harrow Cycle Hub became the first recipient of a Happiness Fund grant. The charity became a registered charity in 2021 and was established to meet a massive need in the diverse community.

One of the numerous projects the Hub runs is adaptive cycle sessions for those with physical and mental disabilities and health needs, such as dementia. A local centre, The Bannister Sports Centre, allowed the charity to use its running track for a taster session, and 50 people arrived, proving a significant demand.

It had been planned to use the £2500 Happiness Fund grant to buy a specially adapted trike to use in these sessions. However, the charity has faced some frustrating logistical challenges, which meant the purchase had to be postponed as there was nowhere safe to store any new equipment.

We are pleased to report that the issue has now been resolved, and the sessions for riders with disabilities with the Happiness Fund cycle will soon start again on a new site.

Harrow Cycle Club Chair, Veronica Chamberlain, said: “We are now moving to a new site in the car park of Harrow Civic Centre, which is currently empty and being redeveloped. Until they have a business plan, they are allowing us to use the huge space and put a storage container there.” 

Meanwhile, the project continues to be as popular as ever, and its plans to expand continue apace. Harrow Council is also investigating the possibility of a permanent home for cycling in the borough, which will provide the Hub with permanent facilities.

“The sky’s the limit for this project; we could be running it seven days a week with the demand we have and are investigating ways of expanding into stroke and cardiac rehabilitation,” said Veronica. 

Bambers Inclusive

“Happiness Fund has added something special – helping us expand and support younger people.”

Last year, Bambers Inclusive Swimming became one of the first recipients of a Happiness Fund grant when it won £2,500 to expand its swimming club. 

The community initiative was set up by the mother and daughter team, Ellie and Nicola Bamber. They run occupational therapy-led swimming lessons for disabled and disadvantaged children and adults in Manchester and High Peak. 

Not only does Bambers Inclusive Swimming teach people to swim, helping those with a range of disabilities, including autism, ADHD, dementia, and brain injury, but it also puts disadvantaged young people through teaching qualifications to become professional swimming instructors. 

We caught up with Ellie and Nicola recently to see what difference the money has made. And the great news is that it has enabled them to take the dive and add a new weekly session to their timetable. 

50 new young people attending swimming lessons because of the Happiness Fund

“It is all set up now, and we have around 50 new young people attending,” says Nicola. 

And the new session has an added and very welcome bonus.

She continues: “We have lots of new volunteers who have come along to help and to be trained up as teachers, which we are really pleased about.” 

Ellie adds: “It spiralled through word of mouth. There are a lot of older young people with disabilities who have come back to help younger people with disabilities. We have older girls with cerebral palsy helping younger girls with Cerebral Palsy, and we have a lower limb amputee helping a young lad with a lower leg amputation, so the new session has added something special.”

It’s not just swimming; it’s teaching qualifications, too, giving people confidence and skills for jobs in the future 

Indeed, the organisation now provides swimming sessions for 200 people and has a waiting list of around 70. It is hoped that as the new volunteers gain their teaching qualifications, they will stay on to help teach at the sessions and enable Nicola and Ellie to expand their services further. 

“The Happiness Fund grant enabled us to take the punt on a new session and also paid for things like insurance, safeguarding certificates and DBS checks,” says Ellie. “We couldn’t afford to make a loss, so it gave us a chance to expand, and the result has been lots more people and volunteers, which is great.”

We’re pleased to see such a worthy organisation making waves with Happiness Fund money.