Contents:
- Editor's welcome
- Paul Waugh: From Rochdale to Westminster
- Rachel Winnard: One in Two Million
- Rochdale Sixth Form College wins at prestigious Further Education awards
- Rev Mark Coleman
- Baillie Street Quarter
- Touchstones reopens with new exhibitions
- Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum
- Highlights of a Mayoral Year
- Fancy dress posties raise £1,700 for MIND
- John Swinden’s Captain Tom 100 challenge
- Littleborough’s Tackling Minds to become first organisation to work with NHS in prescribing angling »
- Keith Hicks retires after 33 years of service at RAFC
- Bid for local digital radio signal
- Carpet Creations celebrates 25 years in business
- Help fill Springhill’s gardens with sunflowers in memory of your loved ones
- Local author reminisces about Rochdale high streets in the 80s and 90s in new book
- After the storm, the healthy hazy days of summer
- Rochdale Heartbeat honoured with Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
- Ian Jenkins: Forty Years of Making Music
- Hairdressing Trend - Babylights
- Lasting Power of Attorney
- Cupcakes recipe
- Brown’s Cakes celebrates 10 years
- Beauty Feature: Coming back strong after lockdown
- Take a walk at Ealees
Summer 2021Littleborough’s Tackling Minds to become first organisation to work with NHS in prescribing angling
Littleborough social club Tackling Minds – which aims to help people through fishing – is to become the first organisation to work alongside the NHS in prescribing fishing for those with mental health issues.
Tackling Minds has teamed up with the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust so that angling can be prescribed instead of antidepressants and anxiety medication.
Tackling Minds is a not-for-profit fishing organisation, which runs angling events for people who are suffering with mental health issues, social deprivation, addiction and recovery, families, disabilities and long-term health conditions.
It was founded in 2020, during lockdown, by David Lyons, who has personal experience of the very issues he is trying to help others with, including battling with alcohol addiction and anxiety.
He explained: “Angling has helped me get my life back on track. If you speak to any of my friends, they’ll tell you that I’d be the least person you’d expect to suffer with mental illness.
“I was on the long road to recovery, using the local drug and alcohol services and slowly trying to turn my life around. A very good friend of mine, Simon Parker, that I have fished with, and who today remains a great support, was back fishing our local waters.
“Simon has an immense passion for the sport and it is only through his passion, that he rekindled my love for the sport. Just thinking about getting back out there again was enough to get me excited.”
Social prescribing takes a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing, by connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support rather than clinical services.
David says this is the first time fishing has been added as an official option for health care professionals.
He said: “This will be the first time in the whole of the United Kingdom that fishing has ever been used in this form, so it’s going to be a huge achievement.
“Tackling Minds has been working tirelessly for months to make this happen. If a patient approaches a doctor with symptoms of mental health issues, instead of prescribing the patient medication, the patient can now be referred to use our service. It has now been recognised that fishing is an amazing alternative to prescription medication.”