A PAEDIATRIC nurse at Furness General Hospital, is following her passion to improve the physical and mental health by leading a new health and wellbeing initiative.

ParkPlay is held every Saturday in Barrow Park from 10am-11am.

Around 120 people have taken part in the initiative so far, which offers free fun and games for people of any age and gives people the opportunity to meet, move and play together with others in their local community

Laura Fieldhouse Leigh, a play leader for Barrow ParkPlay, said: “I’m passionate about getting people moving, getting them active and improving physical and mental health.

“The way things have been with the pandemic and lockdowns it’s so important to get people out socialising again, through ParkPlay.”

The initiative is delivered by ParkPlay working in partnership with Barrow Integrated Care Community (ICC), Active Cumbria, Barrow Borough Council, Barrow Local Committee and Cumbria County Council.

Maxine Baron, development lead for Barrow ICC, said: “A teacher at one of our local schools introduced us to Rick Jenner who is the chief executive of ParkPlay and we all felt it would give people in Barrow another opportunity to improve their health and wellbeing.

“It is fantastic that so many people have taken part in the first event in Barrow. In the future, we hope we can put on more events in different locations around Morecambe Bay so there are more opportunities for people to join in.”

She added that the events of the past 18 months have demonstrated the importance of building strong, happy, active communities.

ParkPlay will help by providing regular, fun, informal opportunities to be active with others. You can find out more about ParkPlay and how you can get involved at the ParkPlay website here https://park-play.com/