THE Ireland Fund of Great Britain has today invested £45,000 over a three-year period to deliver community projects through a partnership with Celtic FC Foundation and North Lanarkshire Leisure. �
Reshaping Care for Older People is a national strategy to ensure older people within local communities have the opportunity to enhance their health and well-being.
Each geographical area has specific targets and within North Lanarkshire it is poor health, diet and lack of exercise that have been identified as the key issues. �
Our project helps to tackle these issues by delivering weekly activities, such as walking football, Thai Chi, armchair aerobics and lunch clubs for older people. �
Already, the programme has received fantastic feedback with extremely positive results among participants. �
Tony Hamilton, Chief Executive of Celtic FC Foundation said: “We are very excited about this new partnership between Celtic FC Foundation, the Ireland Fund and North Lanarkshire and it is one which will allow us to make a real contribution to a range of community projects. �
‘Celtic is a Scottish club with proud Irish roots and a football club open to all. We engage with many Scottish, UK and global organisations and we are pleased to connect with the Ireland Fund on this particular project and make a positive difference to the lives of local people.”
The Ireland Fund of Great Britain is a charity which looks to assist the elderly. ��
Sheila Bailey of the Ireland Fund said: ‘The Ireland Fund of Great Britain is delighted to have the opportunity to work with Celtic FC Foundation and North Lanarkshire Leisure as partners in a project that is intended to garner the power of sport to motivate and inspire people in the community and to enhance their lives.�
‘We are also grateful for the opportunity to invest in the local community in Glasgow which has been a welcome home to generations of Irish people.”�
Eddie Dollochin at North Lanarkshire Leisure said: “North Lanarkshire Leisure, in partnership with the Ireland Fund has been able to increase community- based preventative care for older people within the Coatbridge area which is reducing the more expensive expenditure on acute, public sector services.�
‘The programmes we have developed with the funding received from the Ireland Fund will enable older people from Coatbridge to participate and contribute to their local community and to stay functionally fitter and independent for longer.�
‘The project is enhancing the health and well-being of older people whilst reducing the feeling of isolation.’
Through this new partnership with the Ireland Fund, Celtic FC Foundation will also connect with this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival in North Lanarkshire. �
The festival has increased from a one-day event to a programme which is delivered over two weeks in March and is promoted and delivered to the entire community of Coatbridge.�
The partnership with the committee will entail a monthly Irish club for Coatbridge’s ‘forgotten Irish’ with a view to facilitating the re-engagement of these people with the worldwide Irish diaspora and the wider Coatbridge and Lanarkshire communities. �
