Uclan Students Sarah Cann and Vaiva Kisunaite from the School of Language Literature And

UCLan Students Sarah Cann and Vaiva Kisunaite from the School of Language Literature and International Studies visited Preston’s 15th annual Health Mela.

On 16 April UCLan’s Foster building was fit to burst with stalls for the 15th annual Heath Mela.

The event comprised of more than 75 stalls from various well known health groups, such as Diabetes UK, Macmillan Cancer UK, Herbalife, and smaller groups that work within Lancashire, such as Preston and District Older Peoples Forum, Progress Lifeline, and the Teddy Bear Clinic.

This year the event, which is held by The National Forum for Health and Wellbeing and supported by the UCLan Creative Communities Group, is celebrating its 15th anniversary as well as two years partnership with UCLan. The first Mela took place in 2001 in a small community centre and has gradually grown.

The chairmen of the charity, Professor Romesh Gupta OBE, said: “We started the Mela in 2001 and it was very popular. Actually we did it for two days. We thought since it was so popular we need to involve other communities.” He added: “The main purpose of the Mela is its motto: Enjoy, Educate, Empower. In line with this we need to keep thinking how we’re going to engage the community and empower people.”

Before The Health Mela began its partnership with UCLan in 2014, they used the Guild Hall in 2012 for the Guild Year. The organizer of the event¸ Ishwer Tailor MBE JP DL, treasurer, said: “In 2012 we were offered the Guild Hall by the Mayor. So we staged it at the Guild Hall because we wanted a wider access for people and then two years later UCLan hosted us.” They also have partnerships with Bolton University, Leyland’s Worden Academy and host events in other locations across the country. The event had an estimated 1,500 people in attendance, including the exhibitors, visitors and volunteers.

Some of the exhibitors were veterans of the Health Mela, such as the Chorley Women’s Center and the Teddy Bear Clinic. The resounding comments from the exhibitors were wholly positive, praising the Melas ability to create connections between the groups.

The Teddy Bear Clinic was created in order to familiarise children with the environment of hospitals. The idea for the clinic was created by Linda Sanderson and UCLan Honorary Fellow and co-founder and chair of the UCLan Creative Communities Group Russell Hogarth. They began their work in local schools. Linda said: “Russell came up with the idea to go into schools, rather than expecting them to come to us. At the time his wife was a school teacher so it was quite handy and we set it up with his wife’s school. We do that two or three times a year.” This seems to have worked as the children looked quite at ease surrounded by teddy bears as they had their blood pressure taken.

Russell said: “The UCLan Health Mela has yet again been a tremendous success and is a shining example of community engagement. It was a pleasure to see so many students from across UCLan working in partnership with our University staff, honorary fellows and community members. Taking health and wellbeing awareness into the community via the Health Melas is now a major part of the UCLan Creative Communities Group activities. The Group now supports the seven Health Melas held throughout the year across Lancashire and Yorkshire.”

When the Chairman of the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing, Professor Romesh Gupta OBE, was asked about the future of the event and reaching the public he said: “We need to think of more ways of engaging them, encouraging them, because this is all about reaching communities which are hard to reach.”

The Next Health Mela will take place in Bradford University and Carlisle simultaneously on the 14 May.