Tricia, Lustleigh

Tricia has lived in Lustleigh for 6 years, having moved back after spending 35 years in Hong Kong. She has family in the area, as her parents in law lived right next door to the house she lives in now. Tricia is an active member of the local community, participating in the W.I. and helping nearby friends with errands. She felt her balance was ‘not as good as it should be’ and has got gradually worse over the last year. She heard via the local medical centre about the online strength & balance classes that Wellmoor was setting up, and asked to be put in touch. 

Tricia enrolled in the 12 week series of online strength & balance classes taught by local instructor Clare Parker, focusing on gentle chair-based exercises to build balance and improve stability. The classes have helped Tricia become ‘much more confident’, and she ‘doesn’t hesitate when getting up out of a chair anymore’. She remarked that her ‘vertigo is much better’ since starting the classes, and she enjoyed the social aspect, chatting with the other participants. She enjoys the ease of the online sessions, and would consider doing more online classes. 

Jennifer, Exmoor/Chagford

Jennifer now lives in Exmouth, but used to live in Moretonhampstead and then Chagford, having visited friends who lived there. Whilst living in Chagford, she joined local choirs and was struck by the ‘welcoming and helpful’ community. 

She found out about Wellmoor through her friend Becky Beesley, a social prescriber, who told her about an upcoming pilot project that involved online dance and singing classes. Joining the sessions remotely enabled Jennifer to take part even though she no longer lived in the local area. She was ‘a bit apprehensive at first’ but in the end ‘had a ball!’ Having danced and sung professionally, Jennifer enjoyed the ‘unrehearsed dancing and natural flow’ of the sessions. She remarked it was good to ‘do something for me again’, and made a couple of friends who she carried on connecting with online after the classes had finished. At the end of the project, there was the opportunity for the participants to meet in person and perform together, which Jennifer found ‘really moving and cathartic’. 

Jennifer praised Wellmoor for how ‘attentive’ and ‘compassionate’ they were, giving people the opportunity to get involved in projects and introducing them to other activities such as going to the theatre. She hopes that she would be able to join similar projects in the future. 

Joe, Alison & Paul,Moretonhampstead

Joe moved to Moretonhampstead from Bristol in January 2020, and was just settling in and getting to know the community when the Coronavirus pandemic hit. Through requests from Wellmoor and the Parish Council for volunteers to help with shopping for residents who were shielding from the virus, Joe was connected with a local couple Alison and Paul, who were in self isolation. 

Joe remembers, ‘I would get on my bike and go up and get their shopping list, then do their shopping twice a week….for the first 6 months since the lockdown started I was their only contact with the outside world.’ Joe is still friends with the couple, and still does their shopping for them once a week, now almost a year later. He says, ‘It’s great to meet up and chat with them.’ 

Alison remarks, ‘As I am clinically vulnerable, my son is dependant and my mother, who is 98, also lives with us, we were in a bit of a pickle’. They were put in touch with Joe via Gina from Wellmoor, and he started delivered their shopping during lockdown. Alison continues, ‘Joe is so lovely, and he’s actually become a friend now….even after the first lockdown ended, he continues to help on a friendship basis’. As they live too far from the shops to manage walking, the help from Joe is invaluable. Alison notes that ‘without him we would’ve starved!’.