The Chief Executive of Darnall Well Being has been appointed to the Board of Directors at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.
Lucy Melleney will act as a conduit and help capture a local community perspective, working with the Board to deliver one of its key Olympic legacy objectives – to provide local people with significant improvements in health, wellbeing, education, skills, training, and job opportunities and to contribute to the economic regeneration of the local area.
Darnall Well Being is a local, not-for-profit, community anchor organisation working to help the people of Darnall, Tinsley and neighbouring areas stay healthy.
Through an integrated programme of activities and services, it aims to reduce health inequalities by working with local people, to help build knowledge, connections, cohesion and resilience.
Lucy Melleney said: “Darnall Well Being has 20 years’ experience of engagement with the community in Darnall, Tinsley, and Acres Hill, building trust and working in partnership to help people in ways that work best for them. We offer one to one and group support, workshops and training, as well as signposting information about local and national support to help improve health and wellbeing.
“We are well placed to collaborate with Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and partners to further develop this work and achieve greater outcomes.”
Lucy added: “Enabling people to focus on what matters to them and encouraging opportunities in education and specialised training, will assist the economic improvements that are much needed, and which can in turn impact positively on the health and wellbeing of the local community.”
Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park brings together a unique partnership of organisations with a vested interest in improving physical activity and wellbeing and a commitment to harnessing the power of education, research and innovation to deliver transformational change.
The 80-acre site is attracting substantial investment in one of the most diverse areas of the city, which is acting as a catalyst for regeneration and growth. It is expected to create 3,500 high value jobs and generate £1.38bn in benefits.
The Park is home to an Oasis Academy and a University Technology College, which has an employer-led curriculum supported by Sheffield’s two universities and over 70 employer partners – equipping the workforce of the future with skills in Health Sciences, Sport Science, and Computing.
Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park is also home to Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC), a global centre for research and innovation in physical activity, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of whole populations. The partnership with Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park will build on the collaborative work Darnall Well Being is already carrying out with the AWRC.
Darnall Well Being is also a recognised Community Hub organisation, providing an essential role during the current Covid-19 crisis, working closely with a range of services in the local area and acting as a conduit between the City Council and local community.
Sandi Carman, Assistant Chief Executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “As a founding Member of Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is delighted to welcome Lucy to the Board as a Community Director which will help us deliver improvements in the health and wellbeing of the local community through collaboration, education, awareness, activities and events.
“We already work closely with communities in the surrounding area through our Park partners but by having Lucy on the Board we hope to engage even more to help with the delivery of the London 2012 Olympic legacy through the themes of sport, community, environment and economic regeneration.”
