The Mental Wealth Festival took place on 12 October 2023, and we were grateful to be part of it! It’s run by the Good Mental Health Cooperative who were celebrating their 10th Anniversary.
Cycling Without Age is fortunate enough to get invited to many inspiring and important events. Many are aimed at reducing social isolation, decreasing loneliness and improving people’s overall health and wellbeing. With the help of our dedicated team of volunteers we were able to have trikes available all day!
Trike pilots took people out for 20-minute taster rides. These rides introduce our services to those in need. They also help spread the word. We saw some familiar faces who were keen to have another ride. They say that it boosts their wellbeing! Some even convinced a friend to give it a go.
It was great to take Jane Linford from Community Spotlight CIC and Spark Community Café out for her first ride. We also gave a ride to Steve Baker of Seekers Create and Good Company. Steve managed to get a picture of a mural they helped bring to life while on route. It was created during September’s inaugural “Let’s Get Talking About Suicide”.
Riding for mental health
One of our passenger’s came back amazed and inspired by the conversation she’d had on the ride with her fellow passenger. It turns out she’d been paired with one of the volunteers from the Books Alive! team. An innovative project designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding. We took their mobile collection of ‘Books’ out on the roads of Pompey, creating a truly mobile service on the day.
The Good Mental Health Coop have organised three previous Hampshire Festivals of the Mind. Fingers crossed they’ll be doing more. There was something for everyone. And the food was divine thanks to the Solent NHS chefs and the Chat Over Chai Community Team!
All through the day there were activities for people to get involved in. Some of those were:
- doodle trail
- workshops on healing with horses
- creative writing
- self-help techniques
- cooking
- improvising for confidence
- seated exercises
- dancing
Plus, there were plenty of experts from local charities and organisations manning stalls. Such as:
There were so many inspiring moments throughout the day. From the start right up to the end. We were touched by humbling stories. From people in all walks of life in our community who have overcome their own mental health struggles to thrive and become beacons of hope and inspiration.
Well done to Carolyn Barber and everyone else for making this such a success.
