Wellmoor - a pioneering support programme

The aptly named Wellmoor initiative promotes community health and wellbeing in the North East of Dartmoor.

Originally a project of the Moretonhampstead Development Trust, Wellmoor came into being in after the closure of the in-patient beds at Moretonhampstead Cottage Hospital, when volunteers ‘grasped the nettle’, as chairman Richard Foxwell put it, deciding to take action to fill what appeared to be a gap in provision of community health.

It now covers the parishes of Moretonhampstead, Lustleigh, Manaton, North Bovey and Chagford, and thanks to successful funding applications, has a growing team of dedicated employees.

Project Officer Camilla Rooney said: ‘We decided early on to look into loneliness and isolation and ran a series of “listenings” or focus groups in the community to find out what the issues were in such a rural area. There were obvious issues about limited transport and access to services. But the picture that emerged was one of a really strong and dynamic community spirit and huge advantages to living in such a beautiful landscape. We decided early on that we really wanted to build on those positives.’

As a result of the ‘Listening Project’, an action plan was drawn up and one of the main successes has been the implementation of social prescribing for the area, with a Wellbeing Co-ordinator, Becky Beesley, being taken on board in December 2018.

Social prescribing is a growing movement where GPs and nurses are able to refer a patient suffering with non-clinical problems to a link worker. The link worker will spend time understanding the needs and interests of their client and offer personalised solutions, often by connecting them to local services provided by the voluntary and community sector. Ideally it should be a win-win situation, freeing up GP time while make a real and long-lasting difference the wellbeing of the client.

Camilla said: ‘Becky is ideal in this role - she’s dynamic, she knows so many people locally, she’s really approachable and personable - she’s quite exceptional.

‘She is also really well placed to make sure our community services are accessible and sustainable. She has helped to identify gaps in what we have locally and has looked at starting new groups or services to help fill that need - it’s a really effective way of community building.’

One such project is Wellmoor’s ‘community allotment’, kickstarted by GPs from the local health centre who wanted to be able to prescribe growing and working outdoors to suitable patients. A bramble-covered patch of land at the far end of Moretonhampstead’s allotments was taken on and initial clearance of the site took place, thanks to a band of enthusiastic local volunteers. 

Georgina Rayner, Wellmoor’s Network Co-ordinator who is working on the allotment project, said volunteer energy has been key to transforming the neglected patch of land and paid special tribute to local expert Nicky Scott, Dartmoor’s very own ‘Dr Compost.’ Nicky has championed the use of no-dig ‘lasagne gardening’ which involves layering organic materials which over time will result in nutrient-rich soil.

Before Coronavirus hit, the team of volunteers had been establishing beds for a programme of spring growing, planning a seating area, and a tool shed was on its way for storage of equipment. However, the Wellmoor team have had to quickly adapt to meet new social-distancing rules. A whiteboard has been set up for volunteers to leave messages to each other, including jobs completed and tasks on the to-do list and volunteers can work in the allotment in groups of up to two from the same household.

Another Wellmoor project that has been impacted by Coronavirus is Wellmoor’s health and wellbeing event WellFest, which would have been held on the first weekend in April. WellFest aims to link up the wide variety of organisations and individuals within the communities served by Wellmoor. 

‘The first edition of WellFest in 2019 was really successful - we had a lot of visitors, around 350 people came, which surpassed our expectations. We had a smoothie bike, performances, demonstrations, talks, refreshments and it was a fantastic networking opportunity,’ said Camilla.

‘Unfortunately, we have had to postpone WellFest 2020 until the Autumn, but we hope that it will be back bigger and better than ever!’

In the meantime, the Wellmoor team have had their hands full working as part of the community response to Coronavirus, joining forces with the Moretonhampstead Parish Council and local charity Morecare Moretonhampstead to coordinate a support network of volunteers to provide practical and emotional support through a free ‘Care Line’ telephone service. 

They are also collaborating with Devon-based charity Villages in Action to bring virtual creative workshops run by leading professional arts organisations to isolated members of the community, using Alexa video conferencing technology, with sessions on traditional choral singing and contemporary dance planned over the next few months. 

‘Although no one could have anticipated this crisis, it crosses over with much of the work we already do’, says chairman Richard. ‘Our research into how to combat loneliness has been invaluable, and our Social Prescriber Becky’s expertise on what is available has really helped us link everything up.’

‘Now more than ever we are witnessing the importance of the community in be tuned in to local need and flexible enough to deliver it. Our only problem is sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day!’

Jane Honey