A charity which boosts health and wellbeing in one of the city’s most deprived and culturally diverse areas is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Darnall Wellbeing, which was set up by Jack Czauderna, and based in Main Road, Darnall, offers a combination of services including group activities, peer support, volunteering opportunities, social prescribing and health campaigns.
The team consists of 17 members of paid staff and over 40 volunteers, who speak over 14 different languages across the team.
Communications and contracts manager, Fran Arnold, 48, said: “Darnall is a diverse area and our team speaks a lot of different languages – but can also understand the culture and background of the people. It can really help with their confidence.”
The team runs an annual general meeting, which tends to have around 100 people in attendance. This year’s meeting is to take place in November.
Mrs Arnold said: “We always have a celebration at the end of these meetings, last year we had a Somali dance flash mob and because it’s a big anniversary we will have to do something like that but better.”
The charity’s chairman Mr Czauderna, 73, of Nether Edge, said: “It’s fantastic that it’s continued because many organisations haven’t, I’m proud as someone who has been there since the beginning.”
Mr Czauderna was inspired by the Peckham Experiment, a project which aimed to determine whether people as a whole would, given the opportunity, take a vested interest in their own health and fitness and expend effort to maintain it.
Mr Czauderna said: “When I was a GP I became interested in the idea of health as I believe it is entirely different to sickness.”
Darnall Wellbeing is funded by Sheffield City Council’s public health department, known as People Keeping Well but has also collaborated with Sheffield Hallam University, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield United FC Community Foundation, among many others.
Mrs Arnold said: “Working here has helped me learn so much about barriers to accessing health care and support and I’m so glad to be part of a team who are so dedicated to addressing these issues.”
The charity provides more than 13 regular activities and support groups, six dementia and carers support groups with group attendees from over 15 different ethnicities.
