BHC Dumfries and Lower Nithsdale: June 2013

Saturday 29 June 2013

Veterans Event

BHC was delighted to be asked to attend the recent veteran’s event where we had the opportunity to promote our activities/initiatives and volunteering opportunities. The event was very much an Intergenerational celebration:-

Friday 28 June 2013

MSP Visit

BHC Volunteers recently had the opportunity to share the activities that they either lead or support Dr Aileen McLeod (MSP).

The event was very much a showcase of volunteer’s creativity, skills and training and learning in practice.

Sunday 9 June 2013

Tai Chi for Health and Wellbeing Celebration at Nithsdale Community Achievement award (Nithsdale- Health & Wellbeing Category)

The Tai Chi for Health, one of Building Healthy Communities initiatives, has won a community achievement award at the Nithsdale Community Achievements Awards evening on

The initiative, which began in North West Resource Centre as a basic Tai Chi for Health initiative, has now expanded to give more local people the opportunity to participate within accredited Tai Chi instruction and exercise. The initial focus was to enable people with Long term conditions to feel more confident about taking control of their own health issues and increase their understanding of what is required to make any necessary changes to their lifestyle. This in turn was to increase wellbeing and combat isolation. However as the programme evolved a social/community Tai Chi network has been formed, a self help aspect approach has become established and some participants have stepped up to become trained Tai Chi Volunteers thus ‘building in’ a lasting legacy.

The Tai Chi Volunteers were nominated for this award by service users (participants) and all 14 volunteers received well deserved recognition by winning the Nithsdale Community Achievement Award for Nithsdale Health and Wellbeing

The award was given in the light of the hard work carried out by the volunteers and BHC staff in driving forward this innovative ‘asset building’ programme which now all 14 trained volunteers/ tutors now have accreditation though formal training funded by BHC / PYF . They are now in a position to cascade the approach to other areas of Nithsdale and beyond. The volunteers continue their personal development by adding onto their qualifications new Tai Chi training pathways such as – First Aid and Tai Chi for Diabetes/Arthritis level 1 and 2 delivered via the internationally acclaimed Paul Lam Institute

Dumfries and Lower Nithsdale Blogpage

Welcome to Building Healthy Communities Dumfries and Lower Nithsdale Blog

Our new Blog has been developed by Luke Utting who is a volunteer for BHC Machars. We are very grateful to Luke for all his hard work and opening a new pathway which will enable BHC to feedback and communicate with communities and wide a range of Partners.

Please take the time to explore our blog and feel free to get in touch with any suggestions, contributions or you may see the blog as an opportunity to promote your own community programmes/projects and activities

Paul McGregor - Chairperson

My Name is Paul McGregor and I am delighted to have this opportunity to introduce myself. I have recently taken up the position of Chair within BHC Dumfries and Lower Nithsdale Area Partnership and over the last few weeks much of my time has been spent familiarising myself with the staff and a whole range of other areas of BHC. We are currently living in a ‘time’ where we are all experiencing ‘change’ in many different ways and Building Healthy Communities is no exception so with this in mind and with the support of staff it is our intention to re-establish and restructure the BHC Dumfries and Lower Nithsdale Area Partnership. BHC Dumfries and Lower Nithsdale are therefore keen to invite members of the community who are interested in supporting Building Healthy Communities by joining us for an Induction throughout the month of November 2013 where there will be an opportunity at the end of the induction to decide whether to join as a member of the Area Partnership and continue to build and create new opportunities for our communities. If you or you know of someone who would like join us initially for the Induction process or more information is required please contact any member of the staff team and they will be able to assist with your enquiry and arrange for us to get together for a chance to discuss further.