Camden council praises The Armoury
23rd September 2013
On Thursday 19th September, Jubilee Hall Trust (JHT) was invited to Camden council’s Health & Scrutiny Committee meeting to explain the work that is done at The Armoury, and to demonstrate how it improves the health and wellbeing of the local community. JHT Chief Executive, Phil Rumbelow, explained that the charity had been founded in 1978, but that its work promoting physical activity was probably more important today than ever, as we face an increasingly sedentary society. In the recent Camden Children and Young People’s needs assessment, it was found that only 11% of local children are doing the daily amount of exercise recommended by the Chief Medical Officer. The charity is uniquely placed to help improve that statistic.
JHT has operated The Armoury for over 20 years and now has 2000 members, 85% of whom are Camden residents and 41% of whom receive a concessionary discount. The Armoury offers Exercise on Referral for patients from local GP surgeries, as well as hosting regular cardiac rehabilitation classes, child weight management programmes and a children’s gymnastics club. The Armoury freehold has recently been bought by the Royal Free Hospital Charity, who were represented by Steven King, and he referred to the potential for future partnership working on health initiatives, whilst JHT Chair, Steve Cabrera, mentioned the great opportunity for making a real difference to community wellbeing.
Committee Chairman, Councillor John Bryant, wondered if the unique partnership could be replicated elsewhere in the Borough to bring greater benefits to more Camden residents and Phil Rumbelow concluded by asking if JHT could come back in six months time to give the committee a further update.<