Following some great engagement with the voluntary sector in February, we are excited to announce a programme of free and subsidised activities and training coming to Southend this Summer.

Funded by the Active Thames Partnership, this programme will provide a fantastic opportunity for those who haven’t had the chance to experience blue space before to participate in great activities from a handful of local providers. A key focus for the funding is to tackle the inequalities that prevent local people from accessing the water. In Southend, we have a wide variety of sports and activity offers which are currently available along the Thames, but we wanted to build on these strengths and enable more people to access them. Thanks to the funding that we have received, we can provide many of these offers to our most disadvantaged residents.

Open Activities

We have partnered with a range of activity providers who were keen to help our residents get active in and out of our blue space. The list will be updated as more activities are added, so be sure to check back often or sign up for our mailing list to be the first to know about the latest additions. All sessions are suitable for beginners, with guidance provided by instructors.

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Yoga4all – Free sessions

Details: Adult East Beach yoga sessions

Schedule (All Sessions happen on a Wednesday, starting at 9.30am and finishing at approx 10.15am):

• 12th June
• 19th June
• 26th June
• 3rd July
• 10th July
• 17th July
• 24th July
• 31st July
• 7th August
• 14th August
• 21st August
• 28th August

Location: East Beach, Shoeburyness

Price: Free

Additional requirements: Please bring your own mat. If you don’t have a mat, please contact the organiser; they have a small number of spare mats that can be used at the sessions.

Kids Yoga

Details: East Beach yoga sessions for children. These sessions run alongside the adult sessions so if you’d like to bring your children with you, they can take part in their very own yoga session.

Schedule (All Sessions happen on a Wednesday, starting at 9.30am and finishing at approx 10.15am):

• 31st July
• 7th August
• 14th August
• 21st August
• 28th August

Location: East Beach, Shoeburyness

Booking: To book your place on these sessions, please click here. To book the Active Southend-on-Thames, click the ‘book online’ button underneath the East Beach-Shoeburyness card and navigate the calendar to find the above dates.

Price: Free

Additional requirements: Please bring your own mat. If you don’t have a mat, please contact the organiser; they have a small number of spare mats that can be used at the sessions.

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Blue Therapy Active – Free sessions

Details:

Kayaking sessions (ages 13+): Starting on Saturday, July 27th, and last two hours.

Schedule: 27th July (4pm-6pm), 3rd August (11am – 1pm), 10th August (4pm – 6pm), 17th August (11am – 1pm), 24th August (4pm – 6pm) and 31st August (11am – 1pm)

Guided cold water dips (ages 8+) Starting on Sunday 28th July and lasting 1 hour.

Schedule: 28th July (5pm – 6pm), 4th August (1pm – 2pm), 11th August (5pm – 6pm), 18th August (12pm – 1pm), 25th August (5pm – 6pm) and 1st September (12pm – 1pm)

Cold water therapy workshops (ages 8+) Starting on Sunday 18th August with sessions lasting 1 hour.

Schedule: 18th August (10.30am – 11.30am), 25th August (3.30pm – 4.30pm) and 1st September (10.30am  – 11.30am)

Sea safety workshops (ages 8+). Starting on Sunday 4th August and lasting 1 hour.

Schedule: 4th August (10.30am – 11.30am), 11th August (3.30pm – 4.30pm) and 18th August (10.30am – 11.30am)

Location: All activities will take place on the beach opposite The Camelia Hotel, 178 Eastern Esplanade, Southend-0n-Sea, SS1 3AA

Booking: To register your interest, please use the online booking form

Price: Free

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Everyone Health – Free sessions

Details: A weekly health walk led by fully trained walk leaders to help you get more active and make new friends. Each walk lasts between 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes and will help you to sit less and move more.

Schedule (All sessions happen on a Friday, starting at 10.30am and finishing at approx 12pm):

• 14th June
• 21st June
• 28th June
• 5th July
• 12th July
• 19th July
• 26th July
• 2nd August
• 9th August
• 16th August
• 23rd August
• 30th August

Sessions may continue past the initial schedule.

Location: Southend Pier

Booking: To book the pier walks, you will have to fill in Everyone Health’s self-referral form which signs you up for their service. After you’ve filled out the form, you need to specify that you’d like to take part in the Active Southend-on-Thames pier walk. You can also register by calling 0333 005 0095

Price: Free. The cost of the pier entry will also be covered by the provider.

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Active Life – £2.50 per session

Details: Adult mixed Beach yoga sessions

Sunday Schedule (All sessions start at 8.30am and finish at 9.20am):

• 9th June
• 16th June
• 23rd June
• 30th June
• 7th July
• 14th July
• 21st July
• 28th July
• 4th August
• 11th August
• 18th August
• 25th August

Wednesday Schedule (All sessions start at 9.30am and finish at 10.20am)

• 5th June
• 12th June
• 19th June
• 26th June
• 3rd July
• 10th July
• 17th July
• 24th July
• 31st July
• 7th August
• 14th August
• 21st August
• 28th August

Location: Chalkwell Esplanade, Westcliff-on-Sea, England, SS0 8JJ

Booking: book the Sunday sessions, please click here. To book the Wednesday sessions, you can book them here instead.

Price: £2.50 per session

Additional requirements: Please bring your own mat. If you don’t have a mat, please get in touch with the organiser; they have a small amount of spare mats that can be used at the sessions.

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Gone for a swim – Free sessions

Details: 6 x Estuary-based swimming/water safety sessions for children and parents to be aware of beach and sea safety and how to be safe in our water locally and more widely around our coastlines. Sessions will be delivered at the beach in two parts over 60 minutes with part 1 covering beach-based safety and part 2 involving practical sea-based sessions. During the sea-based session, the instructor will cover “Float to Live”, treading water, calling for help and getting to safety.

Schedule:

• Saturday 20th July from 10.30am to 11.30am
• Sunday 21st July from 11.30am to 12.30pm
• Thursday 1st August from 10am to 11am
• Sunday 4th August from 11.30am to 12.30pm
• Tuesday 20th August from 12pm to 1pm
• Friday 23rd August from 2pm to 3pm

Location: Shoebury Common (SS3). More details can be found by emailing the provider.

Booking: If you’d like to book these sessions, please email Jo at jogoodgoneforaswim@gmail.com and mention the Active Southend-on-Thames sessions.

Price: Free

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Lower Thames Rowing Club – Free session

Details: Lower Thames Rowing Club will be hosting a rowing open day on 8th September as part of Leigh Regatta following a successful open day that they hosted on 21st April. The open day is currently in the planning process, and more details will be revealed here in due course.

To register your interest in advance, please email Jamie at jlangstone@savs-southend.co.uk.

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This programme has been made possible thanks to the funding from the Active Thames partnership. The funding was granted following a successful bid from a consortium of organisations coming together to look at how we can break down some of the barriers people face in accessing activities on or by the water. The consortium SAVS leads consists of VCSE organisations, activity providers, local groups, Southend City Council and sports initiatives. Following our successful bid, Southend City Council also added a small pot of money to the funding to support some additional training which will be used to bring new skills to our local clubs and residents.

Part of our commitment for the funding is to engage our residents who are often labelled as ‘hard to reach’. By working with our incredible voluntary sector, we are confident that with your support, we can engage some of our residents and provide them with fun experiences, hopefully encouraging new hobbies to form. If you work with or know anybody who would be interested in participating in one of these activities, please encourage them to register, as we expect spaces to fill quickly.

As well as our open offer, which is available to everybody, we are also doing some targeted sessions which are open to organisations who work with our residents who fall into the following criteria:

• People with disabilities (physical and mental)
• People with long-term health conditions
• Low-income families
• Ethnically diverse communities
• Women & girls

If you’d like to work with us on a targeted session for your organisation or group, please email Jamie at jlangstone@savs-southend.co.uk. We already have some exciting activities coming up with other organisations and would like to see how we can bring activities to your clients.

This is a fantastic opportunity that residents of Southend have been given, so don’t miss out on the chance for you and your service users to go kayaking, cold water dips, rowing, yoga, organised walks, family beach days, and more starting from June 3rd.

“We are very excited to work with a range of incredible partners to bring Active Southend-on-Thames to life. Being situated along the Estuary, we have a rich offer of waterfront activities that are an important part of our physical activity offer. With the funding kindly provided by Active Thames, we are looking forward to bringing these activities to more people through subsidised activity sessions, dedicated training and more.

One of our key aims is to improve the uptake of activities among under-represented groups of people such as those with long-term health conditions. We want everybody to have the opportunity to experience the fantastic activities that are available and we will be working closely with the VCFSE sector in Southend to deliver sessions to many of our residents who have not previously had the chance to be active on the Thames”

Jamie Langstone, Sector & Partnership Manager at SAVS