Big Way Of Life

The F-Factor project have convened once more for their final community festival of round one, this time in a rather wet and windy Denbigh.

The project have already run a series of successful festivals throughout round one in Rhyl, St. Asaph, Corwen and Ruthin. The set up this time around was fairly similar to the preceding events with a variety of sports activities and healthy eating information stands.

There were several sports on offer including football, rugby and golf, with other activities such as running races and a bouncy castle.

Although the weather could be described as torrid at best, there was still an encouraging turnout and those who did attend looked to be having a great time.

Ian Hepburn from the Way of Life Support Team said: "It's a shame that the weather has clearly affected today but those that are here do seem to be enjoying it and there is plenty to do. All those running activities and sports were very enthusiastic and were more than happy to take the time to talk to us and even give us a demonstration of what they were running."

Tony Dutton, working on behalf of Denbighshire County Council, runs football classes for children as well as working with Prestatyn Town FC and Tranmere Ladies FC, and was very impressed with what F-Factor is trying to do. He said: "I think what the project is trying to do is brilliant. So many kids these days are sat in front of the TV playing computer games, so to try and get them outside playing sport and taking part in activities is really important. It doesn't really matter what it is that the kids are doing just as long as they are active. The healthy eating part of the project is also great, that's also really important. I hope there are some more of these things happening in the future."

There was also a healthy cooking demonstration with Denise 'Cook 'n' Eat' Harris, who knocked up a rather tasty stir fry. Denise works in Wales delivering cooking courses to a variety of groups from disadvantaged children to adults with learning difficulties, and she finds that children can be really passionate about healthy eating. She said: "If children actually get involved then they are always really proud of what they produce. If they can then take that home and help their parents cook healthy food then it's ingrained in them from an early age."

Project lead Richard Griffin is the man who has organised and run the F-Factor festivals and he is very happy with how they have been received. He said: "Obviously the weather has dampened things a little today but overall the project is going really well. Throughout the festivals we have had an average attendance of around 80 people which is a good turnout for relatively small places. We have been analysing what works and what doesn't at the festivals so hopefully in the future we can learn from what we have done and make some improvements. For example this festival is being run at a local school which is perhaps a bit closed off for the public. In the future we may look at holding it in a more public space such as a playing field. 40 per cent of children in Denbighshire are overweight by the age of ten and we really need to do something about that. We are happy with round one but we do need to adjust for round 2. We need to target individuals and see what we can do to help them."