The Chairman of the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing Professor Romesh Gupta OBE thanked Mrs Julia Bramhall, Headteacher of the Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School on behalf of the NFHW for organising a successful Health Mela in her school.

In his letter to Mrs Bramhall, Professor Gupta writes

“Dear Julia,

“I am writing to you as Chair and on behalf of the Steering Group of the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing, to thank you, the teaching and support staff, governors and parents for the collaboration and comprehensive support you unstintingly provided to ensure the success of the recent Health Mela held at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School on Saturday, 27th June.

“By basing a Health Mela in a thriving primary school we were uniquely able to gain access to the heart of the local community. The event attracted over 800 visitors and it was good to see so many family groups amongst them. As you know, they had a very positive experience; talking to the wide variety of exhibitors, providing and enjoying the entertainments and taking advantage of the programme of Health Checks available. This was clear evidence of how effective a community based event like this can be in empowering whole families to take an interest in and responsibility for their own healthy life styles.

“The extensive, enthusiastic and effective involvement of the children of Sacred Heart Primary was also noteworthy throughout the day’s programme. The positive influence this engagement will have on their own attitudes to and responsibility for healthy life style choices in the future, cannot be overestimated.

“You will be interested to know that around 150 visitors took advantage of one or more of the health checks on offer. 100 individuals completed the basic ‘Health MOT’ and 25 referrals were made for further investigation (1 case of suspected diabetes, 18 individuals with high cholesterol levels and 6 with abnormally high blood pressure). The figures show that 25% of the individuals tested were at risk and dramatically demonstrate the importance of the non-threatening environment of the Health Mela in encouraging visitors to check out their own health.

“The success of the first Baguley Health Mela would have been impossible without the massive support and involvement of Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School. To everyone involved, please accept our very sincere thanks and the hope that we may continue our collaboration into the future.”